Sermon Illustrations

Dorothy Rodefeld is known in Madison, Wisconsin, as the "light lady" because of the elaborate Christmas displays she builds each year at her 19th century farmhouse. Last year, however, Dorothy’s nativity scene was robbed.

Among the missing items were a shepherd and a wise man. But it was the loss of baby Jesus and his manger that were particularly painful to the widow Rodefeld. Her grandson had built the manger out of wood salvaged from a granary dating back to the family’s original homestead.

"They pulled the light right out of Jesus," Rodefeld lamented, explaining how thieves had extricated the Savior from his settings. "That’s the one thing they took that really meant something to me."

What if Jesus were robbed from your Christmas? Would Christmas be any different for you, if Jesus were not present? Would you even notice His absence? Would you be like the people of Jesus’ day?