December 17, 2025 – Mid-Week Advent Text: 1 John1:1-4
Dear Friends in Christ,
Throughout the world, folks are decorating for Christmas with trees, evergreens, and lights. Non-Christians and secular people do that. But there is in this holiday season a decoration that is purely Christian. It shows to us the message of Christmas. This third week of Advent, we will continue our sermon series, “Every Heart Prepare – Seeing Christ in the Holiday Decorations . . .
“CRECHE”
The creche is explicitly Christian because it depicts those who were present when the birth of Jesus Christ happened. Most creches have some combination of Joseph, Mary, shepherds, Wise Men, angels and animals . . . plus of course baby Jesus away in a manger. Our church has a creche here in front of the pulpit. This is a witness to our worshippers of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. You may have a creche in your home or outside on your lawn.
Do you know anything about the word creche? It derives from the Latin and means “nursery.” Even today, it is the French word for a nursery or childcare center. In America, we most associate the creche with the biblical nativity scene in which the figures are arranged to depict the event of Jesus’ birth.
The creche has been around for centuries. The birth of Jesus had been depicted in frescos and painting for years, but the first reenacted nativity scene is attributed to Francis of Assisi in 1223 in Italia. It was staged in a cave with living people and animals. This nativity became so popular that within a century most of the churches in Italia were doing the same thing.
Eventually, the practicality of man started making these nativity scenes with plaster or wood. Then man started to shrink these down to small models that could be set up in a home or a church narthex. In the 1800’s that is what happened. Lutherans and other Christian denominations had them out for display. No longer just wood or plastic, some of these are made of plastic, paper, and porcelain.
The creche is a visible representation of the men and women depicted in the accounts of Matthew 2 and Luke 2. It gives us a nice picture and credible evidence of Christ’s birth. We can see it with our eyes and touch it with our hands. Who doesn’t picture that first Christmas if you set up a creche?
The creche does bring to mind Christ’s first advent and bears witness to His historical coming. God came into the world in a tangible way. The advent of our Lord wasn’t a spiritual fantasy. It happened in real time to real people in this real creation. The apostle John affirms the reality of the incarnate Christ, stating, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life…that which we have and seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1,3)
The creche reveals that Jesus was born in an earthy setting. A stable with animals and hay. Laid in a feeding trough – a manger. God entered this world as a small and helpless infant – dependent on his parents. Mary did you know you were touching the face of God? the Christmas carol says. Joseph and Mary did, even if they didn’t grasp the eternal importance of this birth. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14). This humble setting displays the One, “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:6-7)
There are some creche displays that portray the nativity in a cave. This may be closer to the truth. On top of this model, a cross is implanted. This reminds us of the purpose and mission for which Christ was born: to save us from our sins by dying on the cross. Jesus did not stay “away in a manger”. He grew into a man who “was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” (Is. 53:3,5). Jesus came in humble circumstances to share our humanity and became the Savior of sinners. The creche reminds us of His humble beginnings on earth.
The creche – visible and tangible. It attests to why we even have Christmas at all. The decoration, this nativity scene, prepares us to celebrate the advent of the baby who was born to save his people from their sins.
Amen.