I feel like for the first
27 years of my life a celebrated a Christ-mess!
Several years ago the Lord asked us to lay all of that down. It was a little difficult but I honestly didn’t
see what all the holiday mess really had to do with His incarnation
anyway! Study of history showed that the
Church more than likely took a pagan holiday and just put a big “Jesus” sticker
on it to justify all the parties and revelry that was going on among pagans (and
some Christians) during the Winter Solstice.
So letting go of this didn’t really seem like a very big deal to us.
Overeating, overspending, watching football and the Macy’s parade didn’t really
seem too heretical to give up each December. We saw banners that read “Keep Christ in
Christmas”. . . . So television shows like “Desperate Housewives” do a special
Christmas episode and I am suppose to be happy that they have called it ‘Christmas’
and not ‘Holiday’! That’s what this big
Christ-mess is. How did God’s holy named
get dragged into the mud of celebrity albums, inappropriate holiday movies, and
drunken parties? I asked myself why in
the world and early church Christian would have mixed God in with the pagan revelry
going on at the time. After MUCH study (and
time) the mess is beginning to clear up a little. As it turns out, the early believers didn’t
try to stick God’s name in the middle of the pagan festivities. They instead held a special MASS to honor
Christ in the attempt to turn the pagans away from idolatry and to the Lord
Jesus. If you are a Protestant
you may have no idea what a MASS is. Well, that is part of what I researched
this year. Mass comes from 'Missio' meaning: ‘to be sent forth’ of which is also derived
the word 'Mission'. (Scripturally
derived; see Mathew 28:19 -' go therefore and make disciples of all nations' Or
again: Mark 16:15: 'go into all the world and proclaim the good news'.)
If you have ever attended a Catholic Mass then you know the entire service is a
proclaiming of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. At the end of each Mass are the words: "Ite, Missa est”. . . or “Go,
you are sent forth”. As in. . . now you
are to go and proclaim the good news!
So in a
pagan world the early believers held a special Christ-Mass to proclaim the good
news to those who were worshiping the sun god.
Come out and away from your partying, gluttony, selfish ambition, and
idolatry and come and meet the One who brings light to the Nations!
Isaiah
9: 2 The people who walked in
darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of
death, Upon them a light has shined.
If you are not Jewish, this verse is about you! (Remember before the birth of Christ, Israel
is the only people group that knew the one true God.)
Now I
must ask, what has happened? Through the
years we may have kept Christ’s name involved but many of the practices of the
heathen have been adopted in. The
Christ-Mass was meant to draw people out of darkness and to the Light. It was meant to bring the nations to worship
the one true God of Israel. How has this
great Mass (telling) turned back into a mess over the centuries? That is not a question I can answer for anyone
but myself. I had personally allowed Christ’s-Mass to become
just a fun time to eat, drink, and be merry.
A time for me to get stuff. A
time for me to get time off of work. A
time for me to; me to; me to. . . . (ME–ME- ME -ME! It’s all about ME!) Instead of letting the Light shine into my
darkness, I had chosen to take on the ways of the nations and put Jesus as my ‘side
dish’ each holiday season.
For six
years my family has celebrated the nativity of our Lord in the fall during the
Feast of Tabernacles. History gives a
good argument for this being the accurate time and after all the scripture
tells that:
The Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we
beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and
truth. (John 1:14)
This
has been a great time of cleansing out all the dross in our life. (Okay, I
guess it’s not all out yet, but we are working with the Lord on that!) It caused us to get rid of the mess we had
allowed in. And though we will continue
the celebration of His birth at Tabernacle, we have now had the Christ-mess
cleared up and are able to see the original intention of the Christ-Mass.
This
year we participated in Advent for the first time. Our family lit the advent candles while
reciting the liturgy, prayers and scripture each week. We experienced a Chrismon service. Our children opened the Advent calendar and
read the daily devotions that go with it.
We really felt that time of “preparation”.
As for Christmas: We attended the actual Christ-Mass at St.
Anne’s this morning. Then we took our
children to the local nursing home to sing worship songs and give out
gingerbread cookies to the residents. We talked with a sweet gentleman who was
a little down as he no longer has any family. Perhaps, in a small way, we were
able to bring Christ to him today. No
gifts for us; for the gift of Immanuel has come to the gentiles! If you feel like you are stuck in the middle
of all the mess that culture has created, don’t be afraid to take a time out,
and bring the Light back into focus! How
the Lord has you and your family bring this about will be different than my
families journey. Just be open to His
voice and allow Him to clean any mess that may have come in over the years.
May God’s peace rest on you,
people of good will!
Fun at the Nursing Home!
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