Object: A cradle

Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you know what this piece of furniture is used for in the home? That’s right, it is a baby bed. Although very few of them are used today, it was the inspiration for one of our favorite Christmas carols.

There was a man named Martin Luther who was a famous leader, teacher, and preacher who loved to write hymns. Usually he wrote hymns that made the whole church shake when the organ boomed out the notes. He liked hymns that told of God’s power and might. Luther was that kind of man, so it was natural that he wrote those kinds of hymns.

One night Martin Luther sat looking at a cradle which held one of his own little children. The child did not look big and powerful, and Luther did not think that Go…