To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion.
Posts tagged Christmas
Away in a Manger
01 year ago
by Jack
in Christmas '11
It is kind of ironic that Christmas has become a holiday about extravagant gift giving. The commercials featuring new Lexus’s (or Lexi), jewelry, televisions, and other such goodies simply show how far Christmas has wandered from its original meaning and intention. Christmas is not about giving extravagance. It’s about one man who left behind extravagance to be a gift. On the very first Christmas the God entered into this world, leaving behind heaven. I have never seen heaven, but I can imagine that a world without sin and its effects is a lot more appealing to live in than this present creation. However that did not stop Jesus. He came to this earth leaving behind all he had to save us.
Before earth Jesus was a king. Many theologians believe that early incarnations of Jesus include the being that appeared to Joshua and wrestled with Jacob. Both of these appearances were described as awesome. The man that wrestled with Jacob dislocated his hip with a touch. The man that appeared to Joshua was decked out in full battle armor. Jesus has lived forever in the past in this sort of glory. However when he came to the earth he left behind all the pleasure and power of heaven to be with us. He left perfect communion with the Father and the Spirit. For love, Christ left heaven to die for us, so we could know him and be in paradise with him.
So Jesus came as a baby. He was born to a teenage girl, probably no more than 16. She was a virgin and her fiancé had a problem with her pregnancy as one would imagine. However God had put his mind to rest through a dream. Of course not everyone in their hometown had the same dream, so one can imagine that the wedding of pregnant Mary and Joseph was filled with a few snickers and snide comments whispered throughout the party.
Towards the end of Mary’s pregnancy the ruling Romans sent a decree throughout their empire for a census. Joseph had to return to his home town of Bethlehem in time for the census. Driving an incredibly pregnant woman around can be extremely difficult, but Joseph did not own a car. No he had a donkey, so Mary had to ride a donkey to Bethlehem very late in her pregnancy. After three days the couple arrived in Bethlehem. Joseph looked for a room for his very pregnant wife to rest in. Bethlehem was so crowded that there was no place for them to stay. (more…)
We Three Kings
01 year ago
by Jack
in Christmas '11
I imagine that when the last Twilight movie comes out there will be lines and lines of people at thousands of different theaters all paying incredible amounts of money to see Twilight in 3D. I also predict “Edward” will be trending on Twitter, and that more than 25% of American facebook status’ will have something to do with Twilight. There will be trailers, and websites dedicated to the trailers. Bloggers will blog about the premiere. The actors and actresses will be all over late night shows, morning news programs, and different celebrity magazines. In short, it will be epic. There will be so much anticipation and hype that people will not be able to contain their excitement. The franchise will make more money, and Harry Potter will continue to be the cultural icon that it is.
The depth at which people will be excited is a reflection of the excitement that the Maji had when they set off on their journey to Jesus. The bible describes the Maji as men from the east. They were astrologers, who knew that something big had happened because there was an incredibly new and bright star in the sky. They set off in search of what the star meant. It was a long journey for them, meaning that they were probably what we would call Arabians, or maybe even Mongolian or Chinese. In any case it was a long journey for them. They must have been quite excited to see the newly born king.
When they arrived in Judea, the Roman province where Jesus lived his life, they went to see the King Herod in his palace. A prince becomes king and princes are not born in mangers but in palaces. So the wise men went to see the baby prince in the palace. Herod was puzzled, because there was no new babies in Herod’s house. The wise men turned from the wisdom of men and started to follow the star.
The star led them to Bethlehem, a suburb of the capital of Jerusalem. There they found a baby and a mother and father. They knelt and worshipped the king bringing him extravagant gifts. They prayed to him and called his mother and father blessed. (more…)