The Christmas Season - December 28, 2025

Christmas:  So... you all know that song -- the one with partridges and pear trees and maids a-milking and whatnot, right?  In case you don't -- see above (from the website Christmasphere.com).  

Contrary to what you may have heard, the song's not a coded synopsis of Christianity per se, but the notion of twelve days of Christmas does has deep roots in Christian tradition. December 25, celebrated as the birth of Jesus (i.e., Christmas), has not traditionally been viewed in Christianity as a one-day event.  Christmas Day is the beginning of a 12-day "Season of Christmas" that is commemorated in many church traditions.  The end of "Christmas" is traditionally observed on January 6, known as the Epiphany (from a Greek word meaning to reveal or to make manifest), 12 days after December 25. Epiphany represents the revealing of Jesus, the Savior of mankind, to the Magi, and by extension, to the Gentile world.  We'll talk a little more about Epiphany next week.  Meanwhile, it is still Christmas, and we wish you all a merry Christmas!  

As Pastor Scott Lambert pointed out in his message on Christmas Eve*, Jesus' birth was a watershed event in our salvation history – the coming of light into a sin-darkened world.  Jesus is the Christ (in Hebrew, the Messiah), the Chosen One of God, but He wasn't just a "special" person – He was (is!) God Himself, 'veiled in flesh', as the lyrics of Hark, The Herald Angels Sing have it.  Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14), "God with Us".  Isaiah further characterizes the Messiah thus:  
The people who walk in darkness
    will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
    a light will shine. – Isaiah 9:2, (NLT)

Jesus' saving work required three years of earthly ministry. That ministry ended with a week in which fallen humankind showed the worst of which it was capable – the crucifixion and death of a truly innocent man on Good Friday.   You may recall that Jesus' crucifixion included three hours of darkness (Mark 15:33, Matthew 27:45).  Then of course, Good Friday was followed by the surpassing joy of Jesus' resurrection at Easter.  But, at least in terms of earthly history, it started with Jesus' birth... so, yeah, Christmas is kind of a big deal and well worth 12 days of attention!  

Merry Christmas, indeed!
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*  If you missed our Christmas Eve service, or if you'd like to experience it again, just click here.