Merry Christmas 2019!

dan · December 24, 2019, 8:18pm

Although my Puritan ancestors in the faith would have foreborne observance of Christmas (after all, the only holy day commanded in scripture is the Lord’s Day), I don’t follow them in that particular. And therefore I say to all of you, Merry Christmas, and God bless us, every one! The words of Luke 2 are particularly timely at this time of year:

⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

May God richly bless us all with another year of love, fellowship, and service to him.

Forrest_Schultz · December 24, 2019, 8:43pm

There were also other Protestants who did not celebrate Christmas because it was originally written as Christ Mass, i.e. it was a special RC mass!

dzarechnak · December 25, 2019, 1:49am

This is a Christmas post from last year:

"The Christmas holidays were a trying time for Lewis. Here is what he wrote in a letter of Jan. 1, 1954:

‘Christmas to me is mainly hard work – write, write, write, till I wickedly say that if there were less good will (in the mail) there would be more peace.’

But I think that most of us are probably not as inundated during Christmastime, so I’m posting the following Christmas scriptural meditation from the Russian book, “Day by Day”:

Scripture: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace and good will among men” (Luke: 2, 14)

Meditation:

"The feast of the Nativity has an important place in the life of the whole world. Throughout the world, wherever the name of Christ is proclaimed, this great day is celebrated, and every year, with every repetition of this feast, it brings a fresh wave of love and light. In every house, in every family, preparations for this day take place. Children await it with joyful expectation and parents think about the joy the children will experience. The thought of the Christmas tree fills everyone’s heart.

"But we should not forget that Christmas is first of all a holy, divine day, which we honor in remembrance of the boundless love which did not spare His Son in order to save mankind. So in order to welcome and celebrate this day in a worthy manner, everyone should be filled with reverence for the pure image of the infant Jesus. Without this, the entire meaning of the feast vanishes. In celebrating Christmas let us pray that the spirit of His love awakens and is resurrected in our hearts. Let there be a manger there, prepared to receive Him, and precious gifts ready for Him. The meaning of Christmas is love, peace and good will. And good will is complete forgiveness, a desire for the good of everyone, complete selflessness, and love encompassing all mankind.

“Let us strive to celebrate the feast of Christmas the way it should be celebrated. Then in our day the divine miracle will be repeated. Christ will again come to Earth, because his Spirit will dwell in each of us, and angelic songs will constantly sound in our souls, filling them with boundless joy.”