The Nativity Collection – Robert J. Morgan

© 2010 Nashville, Thomas Nelson

I have kept it no secret (from anyone) that I love Christmas. I especially love reading Christmas-related books. With this in mind, my Blushing Bride discovered a new collection of Christmas stories to wrap and place under the tree for me. The author is Robert J. Morgan, pastor of the Donelson Fellowship Church in Nashville. Morgan is also the writer/compiler behind such devotional connections as Then Sings My Soul and On This Day in Christian History. In this collection, he brings his love for Jesus, his communication skills, and the emotion accompanying the Nativity story to present a book filled with the Hope that pervades the Christmas season.

From the fly-leaf we learn that Morgan is in the habit of writing a new fictional story built around the Nativity to share with his congregation each Christmas Eve. Reading this selection of six of these tales will make you want to trek to Nashville next Christmas Eve just to enjoy the next installment. Each of these stories is well-crafted and brings to mind Christmases past and present. You will relate to the characters as they renew their joy in Christmas, in Christ, and in Life.

The book opens with “Ollie” which reminds us that Christmas has more to do with relationship and less to do with presents than most Americans are ready to admit; includes a Christmas honeymoon story (entitled “Nativity Seen Smiling,” but that I would have called “Felipe Navidad”); “Poet Boy” – a hat-tip to Christmas Pageants; and closes with the most poignant address of Christmas I have seen in a great while. In all, there are six stories that draw our attention to the Manger of Bethlehem.

Don’t wait until next Christmas to purchase this little book. Get it today, prepare to be blessed, and prepare yourself to renew your own joy in the season, in the Savior, and in the salvation He brings. I give Mr. Morgan five out of five reading glasses for this book, and can’t wait for new volumes of these gifts he has given year after year to his church. Now, we can all share in the gift of story.

—Benjamin Potter, December 29, 2010