Pretty outside, some blue sky with sunlight creeping in but
fog and low clouds covering Cherry Heights; Mt. Hood is beautiful today,
especially with the new fallen snow reflecting a bright whiteness.
Temperatures are in the 30’s but that is fine with us, means
snow won’t be melting quicker than the ground can accept it.
Carla was called off today – and last Wednesday – along with
a couple other employees because business was down. Just a microcosm of why the economy is not
doing as well as the ‘leaders’ are telling us it is.
Some of her fellow workers are having to pull down two and
three jobs to help makes ends meet; I applaud them for standing on their own.
We were going to try and get the family together before
Christmas – but the weather is just too dicey at this time. Christmas, this year, for those close by,
will be a work day – and I trained the others too well – ya don’t travel on
Christmas.
Or, most holidays for that matter. The stress of trying to get things done can
be overwhelming and unfair to those that have to prepare for it – AND – we have investigated far too many accidents,
many with injuries, some fatalities on holidays. Not a good way to remember the death or the
time of year.
Carla and I have invited Ian over Christmas day, since his
Mom is working, and we will have a Christmas Day dinner instead of our
traditional Christmas Eve dinner – Carla works late on Christmas eve this year.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
The birth of Christ - the first greatest event in our lives.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
Mark 15:37
And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave
up the ghost.
Mathew 28:5-6 And the angel answered
and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was
crucified.6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
The sacrifice of Christ and His resurrection - the second
greatest event in our lives; which culminates in our salvation.
Without the first, we could not have the second. Without the second the first wouldn’t matter
– but both do.
This is the time of year we celebrate Christ’s birth.
Many Christians point to the Word of God and say, there is
no “Christmas” in the Bible.
They are correct.
Many Christians are opposed to calling this celebration
Christmas because it was designated to coincide with the pagan recognition of
the winter solstice when the pagans celebrated the return of longer days.
They are correct in their history.
Many Christians are opposed to saying this is the time of
Christ’s birth when we don’t know the actual date AND Theologians believe it
actually occurred in the spring of the year.
I will accept that it is not the exact birthday of Christ.
While I respect their opinions, I am not one of those
Christians, and here is why:
The word ‘trinity’ does not appear in the Bible either, that
doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one and trinity is the word we
use to express that truth.
There are two times in the year when more people are made
aware of God and His Son, going to church – even if those are the only times,
and when we, as Christians, can witness to others with the least amount of
resistance – Easter AND Christmas.
Even before I accepted Christ I knew it wasn’t the exact day
of His birth – it was the celebration
of that birth.
I was in law enforcement for 27 years; during those years we
often had to celebrate events in our lives on a date that was not the exact
date. That doesn’t mean the celebration
was improper or wrong – we adapted.
The celebration of Christ’s birth – opens doors that remain
closed at almost every other time.
For several years I witnessed to our Produce Manager at our
store. We discussed Christ and His love,
I invited him to church – he resisted accepting Christ and wouldn’t join me at
church, but he listened to me.
His wife had been a secretary in the ‘corporate’
headquarters of a large denomination.
She didn’t think much of our church.
We were Penticostals.
His wife didn’t like Penticostals.
We worshiped in a 1930’s unassuming building that sat about
100 people comfortably – but we often squeezed as many as 125-130 in
there. Across the street was a large,
brick church with traditional architecture – large and beautiful – it was her
denomination’s church.
However, they didn’t attend there, or anywhere else.
I can remember one time witnessing to him, when he said,
‘you are okay, but, those Holy Rollers!
They must have an air tank in their lungs, they go on and on and you
can’t get a word in edge wise...’ he continued, without a break, for a couple of minutes and wouldn’t let me say
anything – when I was able, I said, “John, I am considered by some to be a Holy
Roller.”
He was a bit embarrassed.
I was promoted and moved to another store.
THE NEXT SATURDAY, one of his neighbors, who went to OUR
church, invited his children to Sunday School and he allowed them to go.
He attended every program that had his children in it;
INCLUDING, the Christmas program. He
would not have gone to church without his children participating – and we
ALWAYS gave the salvation message and an altar call after each of these and
other similar programs.
I don’t know if he and his wife ever accepted Christ, they
family moved away. But I do know that he
got the message of salvation several times because our Church celebrated Christmas and his children were in the
program.
I respect those that point out that this was founded on a
pagan ritual and it is important for us to realize that.
Unfortunately, Christmas has become so commercialized that
Christ is often forgotten – or deliberately left out of the celebration and it
is just termed “family time.”
And frankly that is as much our fault as it is the
businesses; we allowed it to begin decades ago and have not corrected that
mistake well enough.
BUT, it also gives us opportunity to express God’s great
love and help others understand that the birth of a Child in a manger was culminated
in the death of that same Child on the cross, as an Adult, and His resurrection
allows us free access to God and Salvation.
There are many things Christians can disagree on and still
be respectful and appreciate the fact we are of one body.
I, believe this is one of them.
Later, Art :-)
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