Kids, do you remember who Jesus’s mommy is? That’s right, Mary is Jesus’s mommy and this week, Jesus will be born. What day will Jesus be born on? Christmas. Mary has carried Jesus in her tummy for nine months and now He will be born! Nine months is a long time, especially for a mommy! Mary is almost there.

So, let’s go back to the time that Mary found out she was going to have a baby and who that baby was going to be. When Mary found out, it was the angel Gabriel who was sent by God to tell her. Mary was surprised! Would you be surprised if an angel came to visit you? I would be too. 

Gabriel told Mary that she was favored by God, which means that she was extra special to God, and that she would have a baby who would be our Savior! Here is what the angel said to her. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High… and of his kingdom, there will be no end.” This was BIG news!

The angel Gabriel also told her that her cousin Elizabeth was going to have a baby too – more big news! So, right after Mary found out she was going to have a baby, guess what she did? She traveled to see her cousin Elizabeth so they could celebrate their babies and help each other. That is the story we heard today. When Mary got to Elizabeth’s house, something amazing happened. Did you hear it?  Remember that the angel told Mary that her baby would be Jesus and would save the world, so her baby was going to be really special. 

Here is the amazing thing that happened. When Mary walked into Elizabeth’s house, the baby in Elizabeth’s tummy knew that Jesus was near to him, and do you know what he did? He was so happy that Jesus was near that he leaped for joy in Elizabeth’s tummy! He jumped up and down! That baby would be named John when he was born. John could not wait to meet Jesus because he knew that Jesus was special. 

Pretty cool, huh? John jumping in his mom’s tummy because he knew that Jesus was near!

Kids and parents, in three days we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas and the baby who will grow up and perform miracles, cure the sick, visit the poor, give people hope. Jesus will teach us so much about God his Father and how to get to heaven. Angels will celebrate His birth and appear to shepherds as we will hear in the Gospel of Luke, “And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’” The angels love Jesus too!

This baby Jesus will grow up and ultimately offer His life for ours at Easter, our sins nailed to His cross. Jesus will re-open that pathway to God, gaining for us a way to seek and receive forgiveness of our sins whenever we want. Jesus is with us always to help us through this life. If we know all this… are we leaping for joy? Are we so excited about His coming, that we want to jump up and down? “Well when you say it like that Deacon Jim, of course!” 

Because of all of this, we have a Savior! Because of this we are part of something bigger. We have the hope that the world is missing out on because Christmas is viewed as just a holiday and not the greatest birth that ever happened. We have hope because we know the real present at Christmas is a Savior pointing us to the path to heaven.

Three days, almost there. We will read and hear about those angels. We will read and hear about His birth. We will begin to learn from Him and from Mary. So, let’s leap for joy, each in our own way. 

Pray. Praise. Maybe sing or smile. Maybe forgive or ask for forgiveness. Tell Him you love Him. Or if you are really feeling it, go ahead and leap for joy. 

We are almost there!