Merry Christmas

I don’t celebrate Christmas, per se.

No, I’m not an atheist. Thankfully.  Life has no meaning if you take God out of it.

No, that’s not the reason.

It’s because I don’t care for its pagan roots.  I believe there’s enough evidence from research that’s been done into history to undergird the belief that Jesus was born during the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles. Which might mean the angel Gabriel would have visited Mary and she would have conceived the Son of God around the time people now celebrate His birth. Which is interesting.

The early Gentile church, in an effort to separate itself from the Jewish side, and draw in more paying members, decided to hook a pagan festival into its ecclesiastical practices. Hence Christmas is celebrated on the festival of a pagan god. Which brief tale explains to you why I don’t celebrate Christmas.

Having said that, let me remind you that I did say, at the start, that I don’t celebrate Christmas – per se. Which should tell you there’s a “but” in there. So here’s the “but”.

The facts (of history) are:  Jesus, the Son of God, Who came into the world to save it from itself, was born in Bethlehem. His mother’s name was Mary and His foster father was Joseph. And  hosts of angels announced His birth to a bunch of shepherds, who were tending the flocks possibly being raised for Temple sacrifices. That joyful heavenly singing, probably by a few million angels, must have been some celebration! He was laid in a manger, though we’re not told it was in a stable. A while later, wise men from the east did come looking for Him, following a star. They came to worship Him and bring gifts. We are not told how many wise men there were.

All this is reason for rejoicing and celebrating, wouldn’t you say?

Now, there are some in my family who feel as I do, and who don’t have anything to do with Christmas. But there are others who do the whole thing, trees, decorations, gifts, festive meal. These are all close family members. So what do I do?

I’ll tell you what my husband and I do.

Our family is scattered globally, but over the years, some of them have lived, and do live, close by. So, we go to their homes on the 25^th, eat a simple festive meal, and enjoy their celebration with them.

In our own home, we don’t have a tree, or decorations. We do have a little nativity set, which we put out at the Feast of Tabernacles, then just leave out until Christmas.

All of which might sound to some of you like compromising our convictions. We don’t see it that way, because we feel that the reason for the celebration, Jesus Himself, knows our hearts. Our family don’t expect that we will join them. They leave the option to us. So we’re not doing it to “keep the peace”.  We simply want to live in grace with those we love.

So, to all of you who love that Baby, Who is Lord of all, and celebrate His coming at this time, Merry Christmas!

And if you don’t know or love Him yet, my hope is that, as you celebrate, you will discover Him for Who He really is.

THE LAMB IN THE MANGER

What does Christmas mean to you? That’s the big question at this time of the year, isn’t it? Because we’re all different, the season is obviously going to impact each of us differently. I won’t bother to list the ways we might respond to the question; we can all make our own lists.

Many years ago, when our children were young, it was all about presents and nativity plays – from the simple dramas enacted by the little ones at home, to later mini-productions in the church when they were older. The baby in the manger varied from a rolled-up towel, to baby dolls, to – one year – a real, live baby. And, of course, the role of Mary was the coveted one.

But the baby was always the centre-piece.

We dragged in a tree of some sort every year, to be adorned with home-made decorations. . Some trees were better-looking than others. One year, we couldn’t get a tree, so we used a bush from the garden. It worked! But over the years, the family began to discover the Biblical truth about God’s purposes for Israel, and the Judaic roots of the Christian faith. We learnt about the Feasts of the LORD and began to contrast them with the accepted Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter, and the pagan roots of these festivals. Some in the family felt that we wanted to make a break with those pagan-based festivals and all the traditions that go with them. We began rather to celebrate the Biblical Feasts. We celebrated the birth of the Saviour at the Feast of Tabernacles in September/October, as there seemed to be strong evidence that He was born on that Feast. Others in the family, while appreciating and understanding this, opted to continue to keep the Christian celebrations. And some did both. We respected, and do respect, each other’s persuasion about this and share in one another’s celebration when we can.

The important thing is that the Baby remains central.

Recently I sat in the audience enjoying an evening of Christmas music performed by an excellent choir. As I listened to the words of “Away in a Manger”, my thoughts went to the Shepherds’ Field in Israel, with the Tower of the Flocks, the Migdal Eder, where the lambs for the Temple sacrifices were born, sheltered and cared for. These lambs had to be perfect, without scratches and flaws. So, as they were born, the lambs were wrapped in strips of cloth – swaddling bands – to protect them from being hurt or dirtied, and then laid in a manger.  This was the field that was visited and illuminated by the angelic throng.           

As I listened to the choir sing, “The little LORD Jesus, no crying He makes”, I “saw”, in my imagination, the shelter , and the Baby wrapped in swaddling strips, His little flushed, crumpled face just showing.  As I “watched”, He opened His tiny mouth and gave the familiar, heart-moving cry of the newborn.  I thought I could hear it echoing softly in the still night air, with the undertones of the shifting, shuffling sheep huddled together. And tears filled my eyes as I thought of the depth of the love of God, that He would take on Himself the utter helplessness of that little Baby Boy – Who came into this world of ours for one reason only.

So that He could die. For me. For you.

And all I could do in my heart was to join the awestruck shepherds, and bow before Him.

Will you do the same?