Christmas is one of those times when we , like Johnny Carson, hearken back to the days when we were children or when our children were growing up. We hearken back to a place called home and to an enjoyable Christmas that we had there. It seems that there is almost a homing instinct in us at Christmas much like the homing instinct in animals. The Christmas story itself brings out this feeling of going home as we realize when we read in Luke, In those days there went out a decree that every one should return to the city of his birth. Joseph went to his hometown to be enrolled and while he was there the first Christmas took place.
Home is very important for people in our country.
We can see how important when we realize that there is a newsstand in Times Square in New York City that sells only hometown newspapers. More than 350 newspapers from other towns in America are available there, and strangers who are homesick will buy the papers to read about what is happening at home. An observer says that often times the people act a little secretive, as if they do not want the city people to misunderstand and think that they are hicks or that they are lonely. Even though I mentioned an example from the Bible that seems to talk about home, the actual word home isn t used much in the Bible, but it is in the passage that D.C. read today from the Hebrew Bible. In that passage we hear about a time when things were bad for the Hebrew people.