Considered reflections upon Christmas over coming days and weeks - specifically over the fabled **'12 days of Christmas'...
To Be Continued (over said period), as time and occasion become/s available...
On 'the fifth day of Christmas' (i.e. Sunday, December 29th)
To start at the end first (as ****Yours Truly admittedly has a habit/penchant/proclivity of doing)...
The one reason for my steadfast loyalty to (the) Christmas (*****tradition), and my concurrent unwillingness to ditch its 'observance' (however one might interpret that in individual circumstances) is simply this:
******whatever serves my LORD's ultimate purpose(s) of reconciling sinners (such as me, myself and I) to Himself...is fair game to be 'okayed' as something not to be sniffed at (and outright opposed)...
that overarching, cosmic purpose trumps each and every possible gainsaying argument...
...for time and eternity...
Nuff Said -end of story.
*The words (I do believe) of the Quaker (or Religious Society of Friends) 'founder' George Fox...
**After beginning this 'mini-series' of sorts (though all self-contained within the one blogpost), I duly realized/discovered that ***there are indeed two (distinct) sets of said 'twelve days of Christmas', to wit: the period extending from Christmas Day itself through to the fifth of January; and that starting with Boxing Day and ending unto 'Epiphany', i.e. January the sixth (incidentally my mother's mother's birthday, though she has now long since vacated the earthly scene).
However, to epitomize the innate contrarian that I am, I'm herein rewriting said tradition in my own image, beginning it upon Christmas Eve (a nephew's birthday) and finishing it on January the fourth.
Essentially because I began selfsame blogpost upon this date, thereby unknowingly deviating from set twelve days of Christmas, which admittedly I wasn't clear in my own mind about anyway...
Nevertheless selfsame deviation seems mildly justifiable, insofar as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day have each long since held a special meaning for those who (however wrongly and unscripturally) considered/deemed the season somehow or other to be bathed in/clothed with sacred solemnity...and thus any one of these three days seems an appropriate starting-point for the 12 days.
***According, once again, to my ever trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).
****Please bear with (and excuse, if necessary) my use of that (potentially) pompous term 'YT': it simply serves as a convenient shorthand (to avoid having to use the pronoun me off-and-on on an ongoing basis (throughout my various blogposts); it's certainly not because I consider my opinion the be-all-and-end-all or final word on any contentious matter (though my related blogsite's title 'Nuff Said' I concede might lead one to surmise differently!)
*****For whatever one might happen to think/believe about the subject, that ultimately is all that Christmas is - there being absolutely no Scriptural warrant whatsoever for establishing it as a regular much less mandatory 'church usage'...in any circumstance whatsoever (I'll readily add)...
******Though of course it could well be - quite legitimately - argued that God uses many and various 'things'/situations in and of themselves far from good, and even through-and-through, downright evil...to accomplish His sovereign plans and purposes throughout the Universe...
...so one could therefore equally argue that that in itself doesn't really, legitimately justify my own attempted justification of Christmas...
Oh boy, it does indeed look as though I have my work well and truly cut out for me this time...
(Yes), to be continued...
Part Two (on the 'sixth day of Christmas', i.e. Monday December 30th):
Ever bearing in mind that
it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment...
such generally celebrated occasions/holidays - however pagan-derived, -associated and otherwise adulterated/inculturated the various church festivals as Christmas and Easter might well happen to be (and notwithstanding their numerous and highly significant 'Christian' elements/overtones which are equally quite clearly impossible for any to really deny, even if they do choose - for their particular arguments - to overlook)...
...nevertheless do furnish abundant provision for folk to 'witness' something they otherwise never would (have occasion to)...
i.e. to hear 'the good news'/gospel (if in miniature) presented to their understanding on wholly positive terms and grounds, uncontaminated as it were by the constant carping - and moreover, by-and-large cynical - criticism of all things pertaining to Christians and the Christian religion so endemic to especially Western society these days...
To Be Continued: Part Three: The good, sound theology undergirding...Christmas itself? Nay, but most assuredly the *plenitude of true Christmas carols which which so many of us are so familiar...
*Though doubtless that odd, quaint little word 'cornucopia' is somewhat more descriptive...
So how's the following as expressions of good, sound biblical theology...
...and/or simply great, sublimely poetic language...?
...Glories stream from heaven afar, Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia...
Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, lord, at Thy birth, -Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.
...Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, Was born upon this day: To save us all from Satan's pow'r, When we were gone astray...
From God our Heavenly Father, A blessed angel came, And unto certain shepherds Brought tidings of the same: How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by name...
...The shepherds at these tidings rejoiced much in mind...and went to Bethlehem straight way, The Blessed Babe to find...
Just a sample, not especially well-organized, to be sure, at this point...but will complete this tomorrow...upon Epiphany, the real, true dinkum '12th day of Christmas'...
Finally (no, unfortunately, not on January the 6th, the 120th birth-anniversary of my Mum's Mother, had she still been alive), but on this eve of Friday the 10th...
Having, awhile ago now, made my own unadulterated mish-mash (of the carols/lines thereof I've quoted) in my final blogpost words immediately above...
...I'll now simply add the words of one of my Mother's own favourite carols, 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', which - to my mind, anyway, seems to so sublimely capture so much of the real essence of the fabled 'Christmas spirit'...
O little town of Bethlehem! How still we see thee lie; Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light;The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary; And gather'd all above, While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wond'ring love. O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth! And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is giv'n! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heav'n. No ear may hear His coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him still The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sins, and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell, O come to us, abide with us; Our Lord Emmanuel!
To Be Continued (over said period), as time and occasion become/s available...
On 'the fifth day of Christmas' (i.e. Sunday, December 29th)
To start at the end first (as ****Yours Truly admittedly has a habit/penchant/proclivity of doing)...
The one reason for my steadfast loyalty to (the) Christmas (*****tradition), and my concurrent unwillingness to ditch its 'observance' (however one might interpret that in individual circumstances) is simply this:
******whatever serves my LORD's ultimate purpose(s) of reconciling sinners (such as me, myself and I) to Himself...is fair game to be 'okayed' as something not to be sniffed at (and outright opposed)...
that overarching, cosmic purpose trumps each and every possible gainsaying argument...
...for time and eternity...
Nuff Said -end of story.
*The words (I do believe) of the Quaker (or Religious Society of Friends) 'founder' George Fox...
**After beginning this 'mini-series' of sorts (though all self-contained within the one blogpost), I duly realized/discovered that ***there are indeed two (distinct) sets of said 'twelve days of Christmas', to wit: the period extending from Christmas Day itself through to the fifth of January; and that starting with Boxing Day and ending unto 'Epiphany', i.e. January the sixth (incidentally my mother's mother's birthday, though she has now long since vacated the earthly scene).
However, to epitomize the innate contrarian that I am, I'm herein rewriting said tradition in my own image, beginning it upon Christmas Eve (a nephew's birthday) and finishing it on January the fourth.
Essentially because I began selfsame blogpost upon this date, thereby unknowingly deviating from set twelve days of Christmas, which admittedly I wasn't clear in my own mind about anyway...
Nevertheless selfsame deviation seems mildly justifiable, insofar as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day have each long since held a special meaning for those who (however wrongly and unscripturally) considered/deemed the season somehow or other to be bathed in/clothed with sacred solemnity...and thus any one of these three days seems an appropriate starting-point for the 12 days.
***According, once again, to my ever trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).
****Please bear with (and excuse, if necessary) my use of that (potentially) pompous term 'YT': it simply serves as a convenient shorthand (to avoid having to use the pronoun me off-and-on on an ongoing basis (throughout my various blogposts); it's certainly not because I consider my opinion the be-all-and-end-all or final word on any contentious matter (though my related blogsite's title 'Nuff Said' I concede might lead one to surmise differently!)
*****For whatever one might happen to think/believe about the subject, that ultimately is all that Christmas is - there being absolutely no Scriptural warrant whatsoever for establishing it as a regular much less mandatory 'church usage'...in any circumstance whatsoever (I'll readily add)...
******Though of course it could well be - quite legitimately - argued that God uses many and various 'things'/situations in and of themselves far from good, and even through-and-through, downright evil...to accomplish His sovereign plans and purposes throughout the Universe...
...so one could therefore equally argue that that in itself doesn't really, legitimately justify my own attempted justification of Christmas...
Oh boy, it does indeed look as though I have my work well and truly cut out for me this time...
(Yes), to be continued...
Part Two (on the 'sixth day of Christmas', i.e. Monday December 30th):
Ever bearing in mind that
it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment...
such generally celebrated occasions/holidays - however pagan-derived, -associated and otherwise adulterated/inculturated the various church festivals as Christmas and Easter might well happen to be (and notwithstanding their numerous and highly significant 'Christian' elements/overtones which are equally quite clearly impossible for any to really deny, even if they do choose - for their particular arguments - to overlook)...
...nevertheless do furnish abundant provision for folk to 'witness' something they otherwise never would (have occasion to)...
i.e. to hear 'the good news'/gospel (if in miniature) presented to their understanding on wholly positive terms and grounds, uncontaminated as it were by the constant carping - and moreover, by-and-large cynical - criticism of all things pertaining to Christians and the Christian religion so endemic to especially Western society these days...
To Be Continued: Part Three: The good, sound theology undergirding...Christmas itself? Nay, but most assuredly the *plenitude of true Christmas carols which which so many of us are so familiar...
*Though doubtless that odd, quaint little word 'cornucopia' is somewhat more descriptive...
So how's the following as expressions of good, sound biblical theology...
...and/or simply great, sublimely poetic language...?
...Glories stream from heaven afar, Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia...
Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, lord, at Thy birth, -Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.
...Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, Was born upon this day: To save us all from Satan's pow'r, When we were gone astray...
From God our Heavenly Father, A blessed angel came, And unto certain shepherds Brought tidings of the same: How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by name...
...The shepherds at these tidings rejoiced much in mind...and went to Bethlehem straight way, The Blessed Babe to find...
Just a sample, not especially well-organized, to be sure, at this point...but will complete this tomorrow...upon Epiphany, the real, true dinkum '12th day of Christmas'...
Finally (no, unfortunately, not on January the 6th, the 120th birth-anniversary of my Mum's Mother, had she still been alive), but on this eve of Friday the 10th...
Having, awhile ago now, made my own unadulterated mish-mash (of the carols/lines thereof I've quoted) in my final blogpost words immediately above...
...I'll now simply add the words of one of my Mother's own favourite carols, 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', which - to my mind, anyway, seems to so sublimely capture so much of the real essence of the fabled 'Christmas spirit'...
O little town of Bethlehem! How still we see thee lie; Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light;The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary; And gather'd all above, While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wond'ring love. O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth! And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is giv'n! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heav'n. No ear may hear His coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him still The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sins, and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell, O come to us, abide with us; Our Lord Emmanuel!
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