Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!





Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

Let earth receive her King!

Why December 25th? The Romans had a winter festival in honor of the unconquerable sun. The early Christians either had to get rid of the festival or redeem it. Here's what I think is really cool. The festival was on Dec. 25th - three days after the Winter Solstice which is the shortest day of the year. They at one time had thought the sun was dying but by three days after the Winter Solstice it was obvious that the sun was alive! I suppose it is way too obvious for me to point out the symbolism there. It's kind of like when the Apostle Paul went to Athens and he told the men there how he had seen an inscription "to the unknown god" and he said he was there to tell them about Him Ac 17:23 . I think that's pretty cool.

[the following paragrpah was added later] OK, Cheryl just read this post and she said I didn't put enough words in and she didn't get it. So I'll try again. The Romans were already celebrating the resurrection of the sun - how three days after they thought it was dead they celebrated the fact that the sun was not dead. So, just as Paul explained to the Athenians that the unknown god they worshipped was Jesus, the Romans were celebrating the resurrection of the Son before they knew about THE resurrection. I hope that is a clearer explanation.


Here's an article with more interesting Christmas facts http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0%2C1703%2CA%25253D164506%252526M%25253D200743%2C00.html?


I pray you have a very merry and blessed Christmas! I'll be looking for you all Sunday in worship.


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