A little boy in a Christmas program had but one sentence to say, "Behold, I bring you good tidings." After the rehearsal he asked his mother what "tidings" meant. She told him tidings meant "news." When the program was performed, he was so scared before the large congregation that he forgot his line. Finally the idea came back to him and he blurted out, "Hey, I got good news for you!"

Each of our lessons from the Scripture this morning is about the good news of Christmas. Isaiah tells us that a virgin will conceive and bear a son and his name shall be Emmanuel, "God is with us." Matthew tells us the intimate story of Joseph's discomfort over the condition of his bride-to-be. St. Paul sums up the meaning of it all in his letter to the Romans. He draws our attention to five truths concernin…