“And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a Governor (Jesus), that shall rule my people Israel” Matthew 2:6

Many towns like to boast that they are the birthplace of some person of notoriety. Small towns especially find pride when a citizen becomes famous for making a positive contribution to the world. After all, that person is a product of the neighborhood and its family, friends, churches and schools. Each citizen is a part of the whole.

We sometimes have placed a great deal of importance in something being big. Even in the Christian community we talk in terms of “small church, large church, and the mega church.” Will we ever learn that these terms do not impress God, and in the long run will matter little to us.” God is much more interested in the “Faithful Church.”

It is what comes out of a community that makes it great. Bethlehem may have felt like the least among the princes of Judah, but our Savior and King was born there. Other kings and kingdoms have passed away into forgotten dust; world powers have crumbled to the ground, yet more than two thousand years later the world still sings, “O little town of Bethlehem.” It was there that God’s first breath as a human was breathed, He first saw the world through human eyes, and His first sound was a baby’s low cry. Love, the gift of God, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger.

The Gospel teaches us not to strive for what is big, but what is good, decent and holy. Let love come out of our towns, local churches and our lives. Then when everything else has passed away the greatest of all will remain because Love, God’s kind of Love, never fails.

“Yet in thy dark streets shineth
the everlasting light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
are met in thee tonight.”