A Grand Announcement

The proclamation of great news is often made into a special event. When a young couple decides to tie the knot and get married, careful consideration is given to what kind of announcement cards are used. Often the available cards to pick from are just not good enough and they end up designing their own special announcement card. The same is true in announcing the birth of a child, a lot of thought goes into how that will be done.

My daughter Amy told Ruth and I that she was going to have another child and came up with a rather fun and unique way to tell us what the sex of the child would be. She brought over a black balloon filled with either pink or blue paint and a bow and arrow and attached it to a tree and had me pop the balloon with the arrow…​ yes it did put a lot of pressure on me to show off my bow skills but much to my amazement I popped the balloon and pink paint exploded all over announcing to us that Amy and David were going to have a baby girl. To me that was better than an announcement handed to me on a silver platter!

God with no doubt had the most elaborate announcement of all time concerning the birth of his son. God sent first an angel to proclaim the birth of the Christ child to some shepherds who were tending their flock at night.

"And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them,

'Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!'

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.'

And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."

Such great news needed a great announcement and God gave exactly that. Though Joseph and Mary were very poor, God our father provided the most glorious birth announcement anyone could ever want.

Jim