This morning I want to launch us into the message with a reading from one of the great minds in theology--Dr. Seuss. I have here a dog-eared copy of On Beyond Zebra, a favorite Dr. Seuss book. I want to read a portion of it, and be sure to listen closely, because this is the key to everything I want to say.

Said Conrad Cornelius O'Donnell O'Dell, my very young friend who was learning to spell, "The A is for Ape, the B is for Bear, the C is for Camel, the H is for Hair, the M is for Mouse, the R is for Rat ... I know all twenty-six letters like that. Through to Z is for Zebra, I know them all well," said Conrad Cornelius O'Donnell O'Dell. "Now I know everything anyone knows from beginning to end, from the start to the close, because Z is as far as the alphabet goes."

Then he almost fell flat on his face on the floor when I picked up the chalk and drew one letter more. A letter he had never dreamed of before. And I said, "You can stop if you want with the Z, and most people stop with the Z, but not me. In the places I go, there are things that I see that I never could spell if I stopped with a Z.

"I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends, my alphabet starts where your alphabet ends. My alphabet starts with this letter called yezz, it's the letter I use to spell yezzametezz. You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found, once you go beyond Z and start poking around. So on beyond zebra explore like Columbus, discover new letters like wum, which is for wumbus, my high-spouting whale who lives high on a hill and who never comes down till it's time to refill. So on beyond Z, it's high time you were shown that you really don't know all there is to be known. And if you want to hear the rest of it, see me afterward, and I'll arrange a private reading for you."

This morning would you join me on a journey--on beyond zebra--because that's where you find Christmas. On the first Christmas, God added a new letter to our alphabet in the Virgin Birth. Why? Because we need that letter in order to spell Emmanuel, which means God with us. So if you're looking for Christmas, I invite you to join me on a journey on beyond zebra.