Author: Dwight Clough

I originally wrote this when my oldest daughter was a little girl. It has become a favorite here. Merry Christmas!"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy … " — Luke 2:10I remember my first Santa Claus doubts. How could a fat man get down a skinny chimney, not just at our house, but at the houses of little boys and girls all over the world? I mean there must be hundreds.Then came the fateful day when I learned the Truth. Two truths, in fact. My mother was cleaning something in the living room and she…

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. — Luke 2:19What are you treasuring? What is buried deep in your soul? I think about a four year old boy, sitting in a farmhouse kitchen, warming up near the cookstove, eating homemade toast with a thick layer of sugar on the top, while Grandma rolled out lefse and prayed in Norwegian. I think of a young man, a bit shy, posing for a snapshot next to a young woman with a beautiful smile. I think of five words written on a yellow piece of paper folded…

… the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," He said, "take the child and His mother and escape … " — Matthew 2:13I like to play chess with my brother, even though he is a much better player than I am. I plan out how I’m going to trap him, and sometimes he plays along. He lets me trap him. But what I don’t realize is that when the trap is over, his pieces will be exactly where he wants them to be and his position will be stronger than ever.Herod tries to trap God’s Messiah. Sometimes…

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. — Luke 2:7They didn’t have a cradle. They didn’t have a crib. They didn’t have expensive baby clothes. But what they did have, they gave.What is a manger? It is nothing by itself. Yet, given to Christ, it has become a powerful message that has rocked every generation for centuries.God transforms plain things into works of wonder. A picnic lunch became a miracle meal. A jar of oil became an investment property. What do we have? Our homes might…

… she gave birth to a son … — Matthew 1:25This has become a special day for me because twelve years ago my son Alan was born. It was the shortest day of the year, but one of the longest days of my life. I woke up early, went to work, drove to Chicago and back (over 300 miles), got permanently laid off from my job, came home, drove my wife to the hospital, and, by the end of the day, my namesake, Dwight Alan Clough, Jr., was a little baby wrapped up in a blanket.He seemed so fragile and…

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. — Luke 2:6-7In the recent movie version of "The Count of Monte Cristo," the count makes a spectacular appearance to the elite social circle of his day. He arrives in a hot air balloon, complete with fireworks, dancers, dozens of servants — all the fanfare you could imagine.By contrast, the first appearance of Jesus seems like an…

He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. — Luke 2:5I have a question for you: Did Mary need to make the trip? Were they officially married? Could she have stayed home with her parents? Or, now that she was pregnant, did she get kicked out of her home? What kind of rejection did she put up with? Was Joseph the only one who would take her in? They didn’t seem to be in any hurry to return to Nazareth — it looks like they spent the next…

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem… — Luke 2:4Like migrant workers, Joseph and Mary seem always on the move. Mary travels to Judea, stays with Elizabeth, then returns to Galilee. The Romans tell Joseph that he and very expectant Mary must make a difficult journey. They try to settle down in Bethlehem, but a power-mad king drives them away to Egypt. Yet Egypt isn’t home, so they head back to Judea, and change their destination mid-route – ending up in Galilee. When the story picks up again, Jesus is twelve,…

When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. — Matthew 2:3The world is full of people who are disturbed by the news that a King has been born. Herod is so crazed with power that when he finds out the news that the Messiah has been born, his first response is to try to find him and kill him. The people of Jerusalem also somehow seem to know that this Messiah came to save them from their sins, and they wanted no such salvation.Why do we resist letting Christ be King? I suggest it’s because…

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." — Matthew 2:1-2Why is it that some can recognize the presence of Christ, while others miss it entirely?All my life I have been fascinated by the "Wise Men," the Magi. Who were they? How far did they travel? And how did they know? How did they know that this was no ordinary…