Christmas
Companions,
This may not seem like a verse used in a Christmas message but throughout the Bible light and darkness are contrasted as references to good and evil, walking in the light of righteousness or the darkness of sin.
3And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:3-4
From the beginning, God has promised to increase the light in our lives (a concept we are well aware of) through the words of his prophets and in due time through the advent and incarnation of the Messiah.
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Hebrews 1:1-2
Through the passing of time and attention people have a way of forgetting even the most important matters of life and need to be reminded of certain truths on a regular basis. The LORD inaugurated a system of worship and celebration to instill in his people these important truths. One of the first of these was to celebrate the Passover when God led them out of the darkness of 400 years in Egyptian slavery. Notice that throughout the bible all the required celebrations are feasts except for the Day of Atonement which is a fast on the most solemn day of the year. Our celebrations are meant to be a joyous time of remembering God’s goodness to us.
14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Exodus 12:14
History shows us that much of the world does not continue to keep the religious rituals and ceremonies and, though the social customs may continue, their connection to the deep truths they teach are lost or purposely changed. The secular world then does as is oft repeated in the book of Judges, ‘everyone did what was right in their own eyes’. The secular world is now trying to change the common customs to a non-Christian culture or even to an anti-religious culture. Changing the idea of Christmas time to ‘the holiday season’ is only one change. The way of referring to time and the calendar dates has also changed. BC which stands for “before Christ” has been changed to BCE or before the common era and AD or Anno Domini which translates “in the year of the Lord” or in the original phrasing “anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi”, which translates to “in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ”. I just read somewhere a mention of this that shows the current attitude: ‘In recent times, there has been a push to replace the B.C. and A.D. labels with B.C.E and C.E., meaning “before common era” and “common era,” respectively. The change is simply one of semantics—that is, AD 100 is the same as 100 CE; all that changes is the label’. To Christians this is not a simple matter of semantics or labels but a way of reminding us through the generations of the continuity of God’s gifts of time, history and grace.
10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. Judges 2:10-11
There is one thing the world does seem to like about Christmas and that is the lights. Albeit unknowingly they are emphasizing the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of the Christ child – the light of the world. Let us remember that we are not dependent on what the world thinks or does; we have a higher power who has promised to be with us, strengthen us and give us peace in our soul. Let us be festive and joyous and remind everyone why we celebrate. May the love and peace of Jesus be with you all.
Keep Christ in our calendar
Keep Christ in our life
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. John 12:46
Thank you, LORD, for life and light and the ability to rejoice in it. Amen.
Jack A. Holloway
I. Associate Grand Chaplain