Category Archives: Christmas

Concerning Christmas – God’s entering human history through the birth of Jesus the Christ

This Christmas: Presents or Presence?

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Nativity

A Christmas Meditation

Some theologians point out a paradoxical truth regarding the first Christmas: while we tend to think many were aware of what was happening that first Christmas and were there to see it, from gospel descriptions it seems not many people knew what was happening. So few celebrated or worshipped during that first Christmas. Think about it. Besides Mary and Joseph and the heavenly hosts who told the shepherds, who was aware that the King of kings was being born as a baby in Bethlehem that first Christmas? You have the shepherds, Anna and  Simeon (who don’t see him until his presentation at the temple Luke 2.21,27), and the wisemen. And you can argue that since by the time the Magi arrive the Messiah was no longer an infant (βρεφος brephos Luke 2.12 cf. Luke 1.41) but a young child (παιδιον paidion Matt 2.8), they probably weren’t there the first Christmas either. They came later. Continue Reading

Rejoicing in the Revelation of the King

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Arthur pulls the sword from the stone - Stained Glass

Arthur pulls the sword from the stone as the people recognize the new King

A Christmas Meditation

There’s a recurring theme – both in scripture and in literature where the king, for various reasons, winds up incognito among the people. But even then the king cannot long be hidden. But being incognito for a time is of course a great setup for a dramatic revelation of the king to the people – (though sometimes the revelation is so subtle it goes over the head of the people as in John 6.29-30). But often the revelation is made when the king does something that only a king can, thus revealing his true identity. This is doubly true for the King of Creation – who did many things only the Creator and thus only the rightful king  could do.

But since the king came incognito and is hard for some to see, many religions claim a false king. And atheists claim there is no king. But Christianity makes a unique claim. It claims the Creator, the King entered his creation, though for a time he was incognito.  Not all religions claim that the God who created every created thing himself entered into that creation and interacted with it. Such a creator, the true King of all creation cannot be mistaken for those seeking him.

So for this Christmas meditation we’re going to meditate on how difficult or easy it would be to identify the king, the creator, were he to enter into his creation. For those really interested, the true king is not hard to identify.  Continue Reading

The Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn: A Christmas Meditation

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Jupiter (the brighter object) and Saturn, December 8, 2020 – getting closer to their closest approach on December 21, 2020 – The Darkside Observatory

Christmas is a time of intersections. Think back to the first Christmas. God intersected with man in the person of Christ. Angels intersected with shepherds. Wisemen intersected with the human appointed King of Judah, as well as the divinely appointed King of kings. And if I’m right about the star of Bethlehem (see my meditation on it last year here) God announced the work he was about to do with a number of intersections concerning the star of Bethlehem. One of those intersections was the triple conjunction of Jupiter with Saturn, which I argued was understood by the wise men as a King (as in God’s king) was coming to Judah. That happened about the time that Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, was born.

Interestingly enough, there are some striking parallels between the intersections then, and intersections today, which though not perfect, make for some interesting thoughts to consider and meditate on – which of course is the purpose of a meditation. Let’s start with the king who was ruling at the time of the first advent: Herod, known as the Great, King of Judea. Continue Reading

Star of Bethlehem – Divine Preparation for the Incarnation

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A Christmas Meditation

The naiveté  of those who doubt that Jesus is the messiah because they suppose that he arranged to fulfill the requirements and prophecies of the messiah himself always amuses me – particularly at this time of  year when the preparations of God for the arrival of the messiah are so apparent.

It reminds me of the naiveté of the comic character Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes – an active and curious child who with his stuffed tiger (who is alive to Calvin) always gets into amusing situations.  In one instance Calvin asks his father: Continue Reading

Testimony of the Shepherds – an Enduring Sign

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The Shepherds and the Angel

A Christmas Day Meditation

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”


When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.


When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
(Luke 2.12-18)

I often get the impression that many unbelievers think that if they themselves personally had a sign from God they would believe. Which leads them to wonder why God doesn’t give more signs.

This whole line of questioning of God’s use of signs makes me wonder – if you think God needs to provide you with a sign, if he did, would you believe him? As I’ve demonstrated previously, unless you’re already inclined to believe, the likely answer is no.  Signs are a type of evidence. And unless you’re willing to believe what the evidence is pointing to, no amount of evidence will persuade you. Even so it appears to me God has left evidence more powerful than a sign. But before we can understand it, let’s look first at how God uses signs: Continue Reading

A tale of two stories – a Christmas day meditation

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The Nativity (Detail) by Franz von Rohden (19th century)

A Christmas Day Meditation

The word “story” is a rather ambiguous word.  It’s ambiguous in that the word itself does not tell you whether the story is true or not. Thus we’ve come up with phrases to help us with that.  When the story is true, we use phrases like ” the true story of…” or   ” (story name), a true story”,  or “the real story of” – to differentiate true stories from stories full of common misconceptions.

We also have ways identifying stories that are not true. When we tell “fairy stories” we’re telling a story we’re acknowledging to be a fanciful, made up fictional string of events.  Or we may end an explanation with “… that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”  Most people understand this as a tacit admission that parts or all of the story might not true, but the teller of the story is unwilling to tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” as you would in a court of law. Continue Reading

A Modest Proposal for a Christmas Experiment

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Sump'n Claus with helpers

Sump’n Claus with helpers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


A Christmas day meditation from a Santa iconoclast

Since I don’t expect non-Christians to understand my concern here, let me state up front this meditation is written specifically for Christians, for all who confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

It’s Christmas time again.  So once again churches, pastors and diligent Christian leaders try to get us to focus on the reason for the season and refresh our memories on what’s part of the original Christmas account and what isn’t. So you’ve probably been reminded and/or challenged on how many wise men there were (we don’t know, the Bible doesn’t say; three are depicted because of the three gifts of incense, gold and myrrh (Matt 2.1; 11)); whether Jesus’ Birth really happened on December 25th (unlikely, shepherds don’t keep their sheep in the fields at night during the cold months (Luke 2.8)), and that a manger isn’t a cute little wooden crib – it’s an animal feeding trough (Luke 2.16); etc. etc.

It’s in this vain of helping people focus on the real events and meaning of Christmas that I’m sure this article titled “Santa Claus and Christian Kids – What’s a Parent to Do?” was written. A perennial concern for Christians at Christmas time is what to do about Santa? That article is a good read, and I recommend it, but I will take a different tack on what parents should do about it. Continue Reading

The signs of an arriving king

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“The Adoration of the Shepherds”, 1622 by Gerard van Honthorst

 What kinds of events accompany the coming of a king?

A meditation for Christmas

What does one expect at the arrival of a King? Here in the America, while we have celebrities that are treated as royalty, we have no legitimate king who rules from a recognized throne. But we have a wealth of images from both history and fiction. The below painting of the arrival and reception of King George V and Queen Mary at the West Door of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, Jubilee Day, 6 May 1935 confirms common notions of the pageantry, pomp and circumstance that accompanies the coming of a king publicly to his people.

The reception of King George V and Queen Mary at the West Door of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, Jubilee Day, 6 May 1935

In such situations the long desired king is invariably accompanied by: Continue Reading

Revelation by Eclipse – a Christmas day meditation

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An eclipse of the sun reveals the hidden corona in the same manner the incarnation reveals the invisible of God.

 

A total eclipse of the sun: modern day scientists have called it “an amazing, awe inspiring, tremendously moving event”1 and ” a spectacle that few people who see one will ever forget.” Total eclipses of the sun have been tracked for over two millennia, as witnessed by the fact that the Babylonians  figured out the Saros cycle – the cycle for when solar eclipses will repeat – 22 centuries ago. Recently it was discovered that the Saros cycle was built into the ancient Greek Antikythera mechanical computing mechanism dating to the second or third century BC – meaning the Greeks too were tracking the total eclipses.

Why this fascination with the total eclipse of the sun? While there are various theories why the ancients tracked them, modern day scientists use eclipses to discover things they couldn’t otherwise see due to the brightness of the sun.  For example:

– A total eclipse of the sun was used to verify the notion of the curvature of space as predicted by Einstein’s theory of General
Relativity.2

– The Corona around the sun  – The solar disk is a million times brighter than the Corona3, so unless the sun is covered – as it is in an eclipse – you’ll never the corona.

The eclipse of the sun makes it possible to see the otherwise invisible corona (depicted above). This is similar to what God did for us that first Christmas. Scripture tells us God is invisible, and even if he weren’t, we still couldn’t see him because he lives in “unapproachable” light:

 15 which God will bring about in his own time–God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
1 Tim 6.15-16


17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be
honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Tim 1.17

How do you see one who is invisible; who lives in unapproachable light?

The lyrics of the Christmas hymn
Hark! the Herald Angels Sing gives us the answer:

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate deity
Pleased as man with men to dwell
Jesus our Immanuel4

God, the invisible one was made visible by being “veiled in flesh” as the hymn puts it, nicely capturing the idea that in the incarnation, Jesus’ human flesh acted as the moon does during an eclipse, allowing us to see that which is normally invisible. The incarnation gives new meaning to the early confession “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 Jn 4.2) when we realize people who saw Jesus  in the flesh were blessed to see the invisible God who lives in unapproachable  light.

In “being made in human likeness.” (Php 2.7) God gives us the opportunity to know him and see what he is like. That we can see God through Jesus is why scripture tells us that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1.15), and that for those who saw Jesus, they got a glimpse of what the God the father is like, for as Jesus himself said, those who saw him, saw the father. (John 14.9)

So when you consider the baby in the manager this year, consider how great a gift God gave to the world.  Not just the gift of his son – but the gift of a revelation of himself made possible by willfully eclipsing his own glory in order to allow us to see – as we do the sun’s corona when it’s in eclipse –  the wonder and the beauty that is our creator, all wrapped up in the baby in the manger.

 

Duane Caldwell | posted 12/25/2014 | printer friendly version

Notes

 

1. Alex Filippenko The Universe episode Total Eclipse documentary, 2010

 

2. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity says space is curved. If, so light should follow the curvature of space – particularly around massive bodies like the sun. This prediction was tested and verified during a total eclipse of the sun in May 1919 by British astronomer Arthur Eddington.

 

3 Holly Gilbert, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, reference from Total Eclipse

 

4 From the second stanza – Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
Note: Immanuel is Hebrew for “God with us”