With November upon us, it won’t be long before Advent commences. The season of Advent, not commonly observed in modern, evangelical churches, begins the 4th Sunday before Christmas and runs until Christmas. This season of the church calendar encourages Christians to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Advent is a call to treat Christmas as more than a reason to exchange gifts and visit loved ones. This Advent season, I encourage you to prepare for Christmas via a Great Commandment Advent. Continue reading
Christmas
Christmas as Christian or Cultural Event
Part of the explanation is simple: Christmas in the United States has become a cultural event about food, family and gifts.
One of many articles written about the 10% of churches that cancelled Sunday Worship on Christmas. But, I think this quote really gets to the heart of the matte: culture. Which raises the question: when should we (Christians) capitulate to culture and when should we stand firm?
Merry War on Christmas! – Mark Steyn – National Review Online
The crisis afflicting the West is not primarily one of unsustainable debt and spending. These are mere symptoms of a deeper identity crisis.
via Merry War on Christmas! – Mark Steyn – National Review Online.
Steyn is spot on that we face a much larger problem in America than who gets elected, what laws they pass and what judges rule on those laws. The foundations of our culture are being undermined by those very folks who, in previous eras, would have been guarding the gates.
I wonder if the Church doesn’t have some blame in all of this. Steyn points out the ‘faintheartedness’ of the American Church in confronting those forces that would destroy celebrations like Christmas. True, we are often faint of heart. Yet, the Church has poured countless sums into political action committees, candidates and other such endeavors. We’ve sought to overturn Supreme Court decisions, repeal laws, enact new laws and get ‘our’ guys to a place where they control the levers.
But that isn’t the Church’s mission. Western Civilization is, in large part, the result of more than 1,000 years of making disciples. The cultures of the West developed because we proclaimed the Gospel to hostile people.
Thus, our current cultural devolution is not a call to greater political action. It is a call for the Church to reinvest in our core mission: making disciples of Jesus Christ.
Treasuring Christ
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart—Luke 2:19, ESV
Christmas Eve and Christmas turn our thoughts and hearts toward the birth of Jesus. Even the most avowed Atheist must recognize that the reason we even celebrate at this time of year is because of a baby born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Tonight, I deliver a Christmas Eve homily. Not really a sermon, just a meditation upon Christ and Christmas. Reading through Luke 2, what struck me most was verse 19.
Light
Throughout the Advent season, we light candles. Candles are used to celebrate Christ because, as Jack read from John 1, He is the True light the gives light to all men. Tomorrow morning we celebrate the arrival of True Light.
John’s Gospel gives us a slightly different take on Christmas. Luke 2, which our kids reenacted last Sunday, gives us the traditional Christmas scene: manger, stable, shepherds and all. John’s gospel dispenses with the historic details in favor of explaining Christ’s birth by it place in human history. Certainly the other gospels do likewise, but John (as inspired by the Spirit) gives us this rich picture of a light stepping into darkness. This Christmas Eve, let’s try to understand Christmas as John presents it. And to do so, let’s go back to Eden. Continue reading
Did Christmas begin as a non-Christian holiday?
Before Christ’s birth was celebrated on December 25 the Romans and the Iranians celebrated their gods. For the Romans it was the Day of the Invincible Sun. The Iranians celebrated the birthday of the idol Mithras (also a Sun god). Both celebrations were timed to follow the shortest day of the year. This history, however, does not mean Christmas began as a pagan festival.
In fact, it began as a rival festival—a Godly alternative to the pagan revelry surrounding December 25. Different congregations had observed Christ’s birth at different times. Noting the parallels between the false gods Rome worshipped and the True Son of God, Church leaders choose December 25. In doing so they weren’t seeking to baptize a pagan holiday but to start an alternative holiday. And we can see they were right. 1668 years after the first ‘official’ Christmas the idols of Rome are forgotten, but the Son of God is still worshipped!
Was Jesus really born in 1 AD?
While the calendar we use is based upon the birth of Christ, Christ was actually born a few years B.C. A Christian monk named Dionysius Exiguus began the practice of dividing the calendar into B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord) in the sixth century. His purpose was twofold. He desired to allow for accurate dating of Easter and to move away from the Diocletian system, which honored an Emperor known for his cruelty to Christians. As he devised this system, Dionysius wrote that the current year was 525 years after Christ’s incarnation, or A.D. 525. Nowhere does Dionysius explain this claim, he just states it as fact. While Dionysius devised this system, it was 200 years later when Bede popularized the convention in his work Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Modern scholarship questions Dionysius’ dating based upon our knowledge of events mentioned in the Gospels. Both Luke and Matthew indicate that Jesus’ birth took place before King Herod’s death in 4 B.C. From this information, we can safely date Jesus’ birth in or before 4 B.C.
More precision is impossible. We simply do not have enough evidence, inside or outside of Scripture to place an exact year upon Christ’s birth. Yet, we can confidently say that Christ was not actually born in year 1 A.D.
Who was present at the first Nativity?
The Gospels tell us that Mary and Joseph were present, and shepherds arrived soon after the birth. These shepherds came to see the child whose birth the Angels proclaimed (Luke 2:8-15), and the Scriptures foretold (Matthew 1:22, 23). When they arrived, the Shepherds Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. From there they departed to tell others the good news!
Traditionally we also place the Magi in the stable soon after Christ’s birth. However, they did not visit Christ in the manger. As Matthew’s gospel attests, they visited Him in a house (not a stable), when he was a child (not a new born) (Matthew 2:1-12). Likely they arrived in Bethlehem a few months after Christ’s birth. Like the shepherds, these men recognized Jesus to be more than a baby; He is the promised Savior. This Christmas we cannot return to the manger in Bethlehem, but we can accept Jesus for who is: the Lord and Savior of mankind, the greatest gift ever given.
What does your Christmas say about your Christ?
Most of our communication is nonverbal. What we say is hardly as important as how and where and the way in which we say it. ‘I love you,’ can be meaningful or it can seem hollow, all depending on the accompanying nonverbals. So, I began thinking, what do the nonverbals of Christmas say about my Christ? In other words, does how I celebrate Christ accurately reflect who I believe Christ to be?
Let me illustrate. Christ promises to give peace and rest to those who will follow Him. Thus, my life should reflect a growing sense of peace and rest. Yet, during Christmas time most of us become busier than a 1-armed paperhanger. Between decorating, baking, parties, Church, cooking, meals, etc, we barely have time to breathe, let alone reflect the peace and rest of Christ to a busy world.
So, the question becomes, does a lifestyle of hurry and busyness celebrate the giver of peace and rest? Or, is it another example of the radical disconnect between the Jesus revealed in Scriptures and those of us who claim to follow Him today?
Yes … There IS a Santa « Ronald Fox’s Blog
Written by a brother of mine . . .
I have family in town this week. The good kind. The kind that if you had the room you’d want them and their brood to stay with you. The kind you don’t get to spend enough time with. That sort. Anyway, we went to one of the holiday offerings in Orlando at one of the Theme Parks that has a special ticketed event that serves all the cookies, hot chocolate, apple juice and pre-packaged apple slices one can possibly consume, as well as parades, decor, and offerings unique to the season. Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. This is a winter wonderland for kids of all ages. Unlimited cookies? What gets better than that. And the brilliant logic as a parent is to let your child consume as many as possible and then flame out in a brilliant buzz of sugar-induced energy which ultimately results in a good night’s sleep for all. Sometimes.
Read the whole thing. It’s worth it.
Brandon Markette 