First, every Christmas is our reminder that the universe is personal, not mechanistic.

The coming of Jesus, the Messiah, does not answer all our questions about God and about the universe, but it does answer the most important question: What is the character of God like? What is it that lies at the very heart of the universe? Christmas tells us that there is a God who sent His Son, Jesus, into this world. Christmas tells us that God is the God who is like Jesus. The universe is not a giant machine ticking inexorably toward its fatalistic demise.

The God who created the heavens so loved this old world He made that He sent His only Son that those who believe in Him might not be doomed to destruction but have life everlasting. God is concerned. God cares. God loves. God knows. God longs for the people, the object of His concern and care and love, to love Him in return. Christmas is a reminder that at the heart of this world, this universe, is a living, personal God. It is not a mechanistic thing.

I can't help but think that Christmas which reminds us that this God is personal also reminds us that this God has a sense of humor. You say, "Where is the humor?" I think it is kind of funny that for a world that is so full of its pretensions of social order and economic and material strategy that this God of the universe would come into this world in the person of a son born in a manger to grow up to be a carpenter. That is almost like someone important coming to Highland Park who doesn't wear a Polo shirt. Can you believe it?

The way He entered the stage of history says, "Wait a minute, you have gotten all wrapped up in a wrong set of values," and lovingly and kindly yet very firmly and gently, He pokes fun at our pretensions and says, "That is what life and love and loyalty and faith and hope are all about." Yes, God has a sense of humor.

Every Christmas is a string around our finger to remind us that the unchanging God still stands above the changing history of the world.

"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. His name is called Emmanuel, God is with us."

All over Eastern Europe there are magnificent cathedrals, some of them five to seven hundred years old. Many of these cathedrals were damaged during World War II. When we were in East Germany recently we were surprised to find the government was paying for the restoration of many of these churches. The cost for the restoration would have to be very expensive when you consider that some of it was done in gold leaf.

When we asked about it, we were told that the buildings were great works of architecture and that they contained the priceless, artistic treasures that were a part of the cultural heritage of the nation. To the authorities and probably to the masses, the churches were not any more than that. They were simply magnificent structures that needed to be remembered as a part of the cultural past and they have become museums for priceless works of art.