If we want to follow any family traditions from decades past for Christmas, and I’m talking about food at the moment, we pretty much have to make everything from scratch. Then again, if we want to follow any Mexican traditions, we mostly need to make everything from scratch too – but that’s another story.
Anyway, I had some fun making Christmas pudding this year, so I took a few pictures so you could see the process. (Note to purists: This is a gluten free and non-alcoholic pudding. So no flames. And to the curious: Yes, there was some fig in the pudding, but not too much. Call it “figgy pudding” if you must, but I’ll stick to “Christmas pudding”.) Step 1: butter, flour, bread crumbs, spices Step 2: dried fruits, apple, carrot, lemon Step 3: milk, egg, molasses Step 4: Wrap it up! It will sit out overnight, and then steam in the slow cooker all day. Grandma Carscadden’s butterscotch sauce Christmas Pudding Go on – take a bite.
The Due Date (Series: When Was Jesus Born?) – Does the Old Testament give us any clues about when Jesus would be born? In fact, does the time of Jesus’ birth actually give us more evidence that He was the promised Messiah?
The Day of Jesus’ Birth (Series: When Was Jesus Born?) – “Everybody knows” that the shepherds and sheep wouldn’t have been out in the fields in December. Or – do they? Is there evidence that a certain class of shepherds may actually have been in the hills outside of Bethlehem all year round? And is a December 25th date based on a pagan holiday?
You can certainly do your own study on the topic. Of course, I would encourage you to start with the Bible.
A lot of information online is copied misinformation written as fact. However, if you do a little hard work to find original sources, you can dig up some interesting facts.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been writing about the date of Jesus’ birth. And so someone might ask – who cares? What difference does it make? Is all this really important?
There are actually a number of reasons why I think it’s worth our time to stop and think about the issue.
First, knowing some of the facts helps us to answer those who doubt the story altogether. Did the authors of the Gospels simply string together sort-of historical information to invent a story? Are there obvious contradictions that completely disprove the story?
We haven’t discussed all the common questions about the “Christmas stories” of the Bible, but we have seen that they seem to be grounded in history. Though we may not yet have all the pieces of the puzzle, there is nothing in the Gospel accounts that has no possible resolution. In the case of Quirinius, there are actually some good reasons to think that Luke was being very careful with his history.
Second, I hope that this study has shown us that it’s certainly not proven – and I would argue, unlikely – that Christmas is simply a copy of a pagan holiday. There is evidence that December 25th and especially January 5th/6th were dates related to the birth of Christ very early on – maybe even from the first days of the Church. The fact that they may not have been “celebrated” in the earliest days adds even more credence to the belief that Christians were not attempting to copy a pagan holiday.
It’s very easy to imagine similarities between celebrations and assume that there is an organic connection. There was a pagan holiday where people gave gifts – *gasp* – that’s what we do at Christmas! Do we really think that pagans have a monopoly on gift giving? God was the first gift giver. Pagans used to eat vegetables too, and sing their children to sleep. Should we now avoid leafy greens and lullabies?
Pagans sometimes decorated trees – *gasp* – so do we! Never mind that the tradition of the Christmas tree is strongly related to the early days of the Reformation. Never mind that most Christians see it as a symbol of life and light in Jesus Christ.
As far as the date of Christmas goes, in spite of the popular articles and TV shows you’ll see, the early connection between Christmas and pagan holidays is highly suspect, and at most completely unproven.
Do I want you to celebrate pagan gods in your house this winter? No, please don’t. Do I have a problem if you celebrate the true Christmas story that Matthew and Luke celebrate in their Gospels? Go for it. It will give you another excuse to nail the wonderful story and theology of the Incarnation to the lights and colours that we see and the rich food that we smell and taste and the music that we hear this time of year – and you can be reminded of the wonderful Gift that God gave us.
And just maybe if someone tells you, “Well, we know for sure that Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th…” you can smile and say, “Are you sure about that?”
Finally, I think it’s worth it to think through the date of Jesus’ birth because it reminds us that this was a real event in history. Jesus came at the time of certain rulers, certain kingdoms, and certain customs. An angel appeared to a priest at the temple at a certain time. Joseph’s family fled from a certain king. Wise men from the East came at a certain time.
All this happened at the perfect time. It happened when God planned it to happen. And it could not have been otherwise. God told the prophets when it was going to happen. And it happened.
It’s one week until the 24th. I don’t care when you remember, but you should remember that one day – whenever that day was – Jesus was born, and angels and shepherds rejoiced. And if we are His, we are free.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:4-7
For some reason my newest tweets aren’t showing up on the sidebar at the moment. Hopefully that will be fixed one of these days. Meanwhile, here are the latest updates…
…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ~1Timothy 1:15~ (5 December 2016)
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son… so that we might receive adoption as sons. ~Galatians 4:4-5~ (12 December 2016)
Went with Hannah, Cathy and Rod to judge the English Christmas song competition at the Jr. High in Las Palmas 🎅🽠. . . [image] (13 December 2016)
A word of encouragement (well, I think it’s encouraging!) from The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne:
…we must be willing to lose people from our own congregation if that is better for the growth of the gospel. We must be happy to send members off to other places so that the gospel may grow there as well. And be warned: this will happen if you take gospel growth and training seriously. If you pour your time into people, and mentor and train them, the consequence will often be that some of your best people–in whom you have invested countless hours–will leave you. They will go to the mission field. They will join a church-planting team in another part of your city. They will take a job in a different part of the country because the gospel need is so great there. They will undertake further training, perhaps at theological college or seminary. A commitment to the growth of the gospel will mean that we train people towards maturity not for the benefit of our own churches or fellowships but for the benefit of Christ’s kingdom.
If you’d like to read all the posts from beginning to end, here’s the list, with a summary of each:
First, knowing some of the facts helps us to answer those who doubt the story altogether. Did the authors of the Gospels simply string together sort-of historical information to invent a story? Are there obvious contradictions that completely disprove the story?