St. Mark is a man of few words. He wrote the shortest of the Gospels. He must have used a very short scroll. He doesn’t mention the birth of Jesus like St. Luke or the visit of the Magi like St. Matthew or the incarnation of the Son of God taking on human flesh like St. John. Mark begins his Gospel with Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River. Mark is short and to the point. Jesus in the water. The Savior in the Sacrament.

There is a great deal of excitement this morning. Today is a bit different as we are celebrating the Eve of Christ’s birth in the morning. The children are excited to speak their memorized Bible verses and hymns. Parents are excited to see their children in the front of church sharing the Savior’s story.

Tonight at 8:00 pm on TBS begins 24 hours of “A Christmas Story.” Millions of viewers will sit down in front of their TVs to watch one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time.

“A Christmas Story” is set in the 1940’s, and it centers on a nine-year old boy named Ralphie. Ralphie’s dream is to receive a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Or, in Ralphie’s words, “A Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle.” When he tells that to Santa, the man in the big red suit replies, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.” Then, Santa pushes Ralphie down the chute with his boot.

How many of you have not seen the new Star Wars movie? There are some big questions to be answered in this movie. Who is Snoke? Who are Ren’s parents? Why has Luke been hiding in a cave? Will Kylo Ren be redeemed from the dark side? Don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil the movie for you. Shelley and I have our tickets to go see the movie tomorrow. So, don’t spoil it for me!

Some thought John was the prophet Elijah, whom Malachi had prophesied would come to “turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:5-6). They noticed John was preaching in the same place where Elijah had disappeared when the fiery chariot carried the prophet to heaven (2 Kings 2:11).

I bike a lot to church, to WLS, to Shoreland, and other places. In that biking, I’m on major roads. I want others to be watching out for me. So when the weather is nice, I wear a bright yellow shirt. Because I take my computer almost everywhere with me, I have a reflective vest from Waste Management permanently pinned to my computer bag. Because I bike very early in the morning to school or late at night from the high school, I have bright lights on my handlebars and my helmet and flashing red lights on the back of my bike and helmet.

We are still in the five hundredth anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. With the Reformation, the Lord of the Church allowed His truth to be retold through the writings of Martin Luther. But, God also used artists to visually portray this gospel to the minds of His people.

For many churches, the hymn we just sang: “Now Thank We All Our God” is as much a part of Thanksgiving as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, NFL games, turkey, pumpkin pie and napping. This hymn conjures up the image of a congregation singing in unison, following the lead of a stately pipe organ. It is a bold and beautiful hymn as we prepare for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow.

A few years ago, the book “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: Simple ways to keep the little things from taking over your life” became a best seller. Evidently, many people wanted to prevent the little things from taking over their life.

But today we heard the very opposite of that!