{"id":4879,"date":"2020-12-04T10:54:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T15:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/?p=4879"},"modified":"2020-12-04T10:54:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T15:54:22","slug":"bishops-blog-christmas-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/bishops-blog-christmas-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop\u2019s Blog Christmas 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">2020 \u2013 What a year!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>COVID-19.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Pandemic.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Riots.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Economic downturn.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Division.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>A Presidential election.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This year has been one for the books, and most of us are ready for 2020 to be in the books of history.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>However, we must not allow this Christmas season to be eclipsed by all we have been through in our country. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Recently, the Holy Spirit reminded of the message of Christmas.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and succinctly defines Christmas\u2019 meaning and message.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Listen closely to this angel\u2019s words: \u201cAnd she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins . . . Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us,\u201d (Mt 1:21, 23).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Two names, one message! <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">He is Immanuel \u2013 \u201cGod with us.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus left the comfort of heaven and came down to this earth to live in the womb of a virgin.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus would be born in a stable in a manger.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The Caesar was ruling, and Heaven\u2019s child came into the world near animals.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>However, God came to live on earth for a distinct purpose \u2013 to be our Savior.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The Jews were looking for the Messiah, the lion who would deliver them from Roman oppression.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus is the Lamb, though.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He came to die for our sin.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He shed His blood that would take away the sin of the world. We have a Savior.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In 2020, we have a Savior; His name is Jesus.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The Christmas message is the message a hurting world needs to hear. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">He is with us.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In days and times of isolation and quarantine, He is with us.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In these politically tense times, He is with us.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Tammie and I along with the state office staff wish you a \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Again, don\u2019t let the problems of our day eclipse the message and hope Christmas brings.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>God bless you this season!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2020 \u2013 What a year!\u00a0 COVID-19.\u00a0 Pandemic.\u00a0 Riots.\u00a0 Economic downturn.\u00a0 Division.\u00a0 A Presidential election.\u00a0 This year has been one for the books, and most of us are ready for 2020&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4879"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michigancog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}