As our Advent blues give way to the blazing white starlight of Christmas, it is good to remember that Luther considered Mary the premier example of forensic justification. Not a cold legal transfer, but the happy realization: the Lord has looked upon me with favor. And with this favorable regard comes a gift greater than the heavens and the earth put together, the Lord himself as a humble child, given to us, for us and for our salvation.

All of us at Lutheran Forum which you and yours a joyful Christmas, secure in the good news of the favorable regard the Lord has for you, on account of this little child in a manger.