Enjoy Festivities, But Remember Glory Is in the Manger

Excerpts from sermons to be delivered around Orange County on Sunday:

CHRISTMAS GLORY: “I love the [Christmas] festivities, the parties and the lights. I love those concerts that send shivers up and down my spine. . . . But I don’t want to forget and I don’t want you to forget that we will find the glory of Christmas not in the magnificent but in the manger.”

--Rev. Ron Baesler, speaking at 9:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. services Christmas Eve at Messiah Lutheran Church, 4861 Liverpool St., Yorba Linda.

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REAL LIFE: “When we come to church, we should not try to fasten our minds on so-called spiritual things and try to remove ourselves from real life. That’s what people did to Jesus, and what we still do to him. But the family tree of our Lord is a long line of human beings, a reminder of who Jesus was and is, a focus on his humanity that God intends to balance all the adoration and mysticism and supernaturality of Christmas time.”

--Rev. Victor Bogdanoff, speaking at 10 a.m. services on Sunday at First Congregational Church of Santa Ana, 5109 W. 5th St., Santa Ana.

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PAGAN TRADITION: “Have you decorated a Christmas tree? Did you top it with an angel? Do you plan to go caroling? Did you know that these and other Christmas customs have their roots in sometimes wild and bloody pagan tradition?”

--Linwood Thompson, speaking on the history of Christmas at 1:30 p.m. services on Sunday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5151 Orange Ave. in Cypress.

The Message highlights excerpts from sermons to be delivered in Orange County houses of worship in the coming week. Submissions should be delivered by noon each Thursday to Orange County religion editor Jack Robinson, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Fax: (714) 966-7711. E-mail: jack.robinson@latimes.com Submissions must include name and title of the clergy member delivering the sermon, date and time of service, name and address of the church or synagogue, and a telephone number.