My story today is about FAMILIES.  And believe me, there are all kinds of families!  There are LOUD  families, like Mr. Potato Head, the son and his wife Mrs. Potato Head and his mother Mrs. Potato Head .  You can tell which one is his mother because she has a hearing aid, see?  And his two children Polly and Haman Potato. 

There are QUIET families, like Elizabeth and her mommy and daddy. This is her daddy.  Her mommy is in the kitchen baking cookies.   And there are families of one, like Margaret.  Her brothers all live far away.

And there are busy families, like the one Loretta and Larry live in.  Do you remember who their parents are?  Pastor Ed and The SCS Teacher!

There are families with only one parent, like Sam and his father Mr. Konde.  You may remember that Sam’s mother ran away and joined the circus.

There are some families that seem to have sad things happen to them, one right after the other.  Barabas’s mother died and his father is in jail.  So now Barabas lives with his Uncle Floyd and they are a family.

Here at Trinity we have all kinds of families and we are glad that all of you are here.  Church is a good place for families to be.

It seems to me that God’s plan is for families to be safe places for children and grown-ups to experience His love.  That must be true because when God decided it was the right time to come down here to earth, he came as a baby into a family.

And the family God choose was not a rich family, or a powerful family.  It was a very ordinary family, just like yours or mine might be.  God choose Mary to be the mother and he choose Joseph to be the father.

In my home we have a crèche set and it has a Mary and a Joseph and a baby Jesus.  Do you have one in your home?  We even have one here in Fellowship Hall.  Because it is not yet Christmas, Mary and Joseph are not yet in the manger.  See, they are still walking to Bethlehem.  The shepherds and the kings are also in the room here.  It is fun to try to find all of them each week. 

A song that we are going to sing after the sermon is called “What Child is this?”

WHAT CHILD IS THIS WHO LAID TO REST ON MARY’S LAP IS SLEEPING.

God placed his only son, Jesus, in Mary’s lap to be kept safe and to be loved, in a family!

Let’s bow our heads for a prayer.

Dear God, We pray that as Christmas is coming we will experience your love in our families and that you will keep us safe.  Thank you, God.  AMEN

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