Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

Merry Christmas:  During the past few years people have debated the demise of the term “Merry Christmas” and have begun to fight back and proclaim that removing Christ from Christmas is a line they are not willing to cross. “Season’s Greetings” just doesn’t cut it in denoting the ‘holiness’ of that particular holiday.

The year of our LORD:  “Anno Domini” (AD) and “Before Christ” (BC) make Jesus Christ central in our most common calendar system. Every time you said or wrote ‘2009’ last year you were remembering that our LORD is central in all things, even in our perception of how we mark time. Many people desire that we change the usage to “Before Common Era” (B.C.E.) and “Common Era” (C.E.) in order to not offend individuals that don’t accept Christ as the Messiah.

Days of the week  and month names:  Friends (Quakers) make a practice of not using the names of the days of the week because those names are based on or derived from pagan gods. Friends prefer the simpler, more Biblical form of attending Meeting on First Day, going to work on Second Day, and resting on Day Seven (or Seventh Day). The usage of Sunday (Sun’s day), Monday (Moon day), Tuesday (Tiw’s day), Wednesday (Woden’s day), Thursday (Thor’s day), Friday (Frig’s day), and Saturday (Saturn’s day), brings glory to false gods and shouldn’t be spoken by followers of Christ. Friends would also use numbers to denote the month names because many of the names of the months are based on ancient Roman Paganism (Janus – a two-headed Roman God, Februa – a Roman Pagan festival, Mars – a Roman God of war and fertility, Aprilis – the Roman Goddess of love, Maia – the Roman Goddess of the springtime, Juno – the Roman Great Mother Goddess, Julius Caesar – a Roman dictator, and Augustus Caesar – a Roman emperor).

Word Usage:  For more regarding how we use words, see the post “Hank and Awesome.”

Last evening, at Youth Group, Sage gave a teaching about false teachers (prophets) stealing our thoughts from THE WAY.  He taught from Jeremiah 23, Matthew 16, and 2 Peter 2, and warned that we cannot allow God’s Holy Word to be watered down or His message of holiness to be compromised by people telling us that “it’s just a little thing” or “it’s not that important” when we start dipping our toes into the things of the world.

So, where do we draw the line? The One True Teacher chose Scripture’s fulfillment over His comfort and His life. In Matthew 26 Jesus points out to His disciples that He could call on His Father and have more than twelve legions of angels (that’s over 72,000 angels) at His disposal, “But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” Christ chose the cross because His Words are important and they do have meaning. His life, death, and resurrection indicate that He knows what lines cannot be crossed, whether out of convenience, custom, or comfort. Let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds and become mature enough to know which lines cannot be crossed in our lives.

 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”  Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV)

Christmas often brings up anxious thoughts and feelings. Paul’s teaching may assist you during this “Peace on Earth” season; he reminds all of us how God wishes to be with us and to guard our hearts and minds. Practice rejoicing and demonstrating a thankful attitude, combined with true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praise-worthy thoughts. May the God of peace be with you!

John 1:14 (ESV) “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Hebrews 1:3a (ESV) “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

God made flesh! What an act of humility; what an awe-inspiring work of grace, glory and truth. Let us all worship Him during this coming season that many call Christmas. May His focused and deliberate act of kindness give us pause as we contemplate all of the implications of God the bridge-builder, peace-maker, sustainer, and Redeemer.