Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Nativity of The Lord Jesus Christ

 It is Christmas!  What a great day.  It can’t really be caught up in one word.  Even though Christmas – the Christ-Mass – is a wondrous expression, the day’s proper title is The Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That label is a virtual confession of faith in itself.  The Announcement that there is “good news of a great joy which shall be to all people,” and the response of the Heavenly Host, the wonder of the shepherds, the amazement of the onlookers and the pondering of Mary only begin to tel the story.

It is the First Day of Christmas.  The season will extend through January 5.  Then comes The Epiphany of the Lord.  But, just as we didn’t hurry to Christmas, we shall not be impatient about The Manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

The faith significance of the day cannot be overstated.  Even in the part of our society that is not  particularly religious, there is still a sense of the unique about these days.
There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. `Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!
-- Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew, Fred
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A merry Christmas to All!


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