Christmas

Repost: Good King Wenceslas – Traditional Choir

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Repost: C. S. Lewis – X-mas and Christmas

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YouTube Transcript

0:01
1 13.
0:04
Xmas and Christmas
0:06
a last chapter from Herodotus
0:09
this was first published in Time and
0:11
Tide volume 35 the 4th of December 1954
0:15
and reprinted in undeceptions 1971 and
0:20
first and second things 1985 and is now
0:24
in compelling reason 1998.
0:29
and Beyond this there lies in the ocean
0:31
turned towards the west and North the
0:34
island of niatob which hecatius indeed
0:36
declares to be the same size and shape
0:38
as Sicily but it is larger though in
0:41
calling it triangular a man would not
0:43
miss the mark
0:45
it is densely inhabited by men who wear
0:47
clothes not very different from the
0:49
other barbarians who occupy the
0:51
Northwestern parts of Europe although
0:53
they do not agree with them in language
0:56
these Islanders surpassing all the men
0:58
of whom we know in patience and
1:00
endurance use the following customs
1:03
in the middle of winter when fogs and
1:06
rains most abound they have a great
1:08
Festival which they call Xmas and for 50
1:11
days they prepare for it in the fashion
1:13
I shall describe
1:15
first of all every citizen is obliged to
1:18
send to each of his friends and
1:19
relations a square piece of hard paper
1:22
stamped with a picture which in their
1:24
speech is called an Xmas card
1:27
but the pictures represent Birds sitting
1:29
on branches or trees with a dark green
1:32
prickly leaf or else men in such
1:34
garments as the Nia terbians believe
1:36
that their ancestors were 200 years ago
1:39
writing in coaches such as their
1:41
ancestors use or houses with snow on
1:43
their roofs
1:45
and the Nia terbians are unwilling to
1:46
say what these pictures have to do with
1:48
the festival guarding as I suppose some
1:51
sacred mystery
1:53
and because all men must send these
1:55
cards the marketplace is filled with the
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crowd of those buying them so that there
1:59
is great Labor and weariness
2:02
but having bought as many as they
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supposed to be sufficient they returned
2:06
to their houses and find there the light
2:08
cards which others have sent to them and
2:10
when they find cards from any to whom
2:12
they also have sent cards they throw
2:14
them away and give thanks to the gods
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that this labor at least is over for
2:19
another year
2:20
but when they find cards for many to
2:22
whom they have not sent then they beat
2:24
their breasts and wail and utter curses
2:26
against the sender and having
2:29
sufficiently lamented their Misfortune
2:31
they put on their boots again and go out
2:33
into the fog and drain and buy a card
2:35
for him also
2:37
and that this account suffice about Xmas
2:39
cards
2:41
they also send gifts to one another
2:43
suffering the same things about the
2:45
gifts as about the cards or even worse
2:48
for every citizen has to guess the value
2:50
of the gift which every friend will send
2:52
to him so that he may send one of equal
2:54
value whether he can avoid it or not and
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they buy as gifts for one another such
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things as no man ever bought for himself
3:02
for the sellers understanding the custom
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put forth all kinds of trumpery and
3:08
whatever being useless and ridiculous
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they have been unable to sell throughout
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the year they now sell as an Xmas gift
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under the Nia terbians professed
3:17
themselves to lack sufficient necessary
3:19
things such as metal leather wood and
3:22
paper yet an incredible quantity of
3:24
these things is wasted every year being
3:26
made into the gifts
3:28
but during these 50 days the oldest
3:31
poorest and most miserable of the
3:33
citizens put on false beards and red
3:36
robes and walk about the marketplace
3:38
being disguised in my opinion as Kronos
3:42
and the sellers of gifts no less than
3:44
the purchases become pale and weary
3:47
because of the crowds and the fog so
3:49
that any man who came into a niatobian
3:51
city at this season would think some
3:54
great public Calamity had fallen on
3:55
niatub
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this 50 days of preparation is called in
4:00
their Barbarian speech The exmouth Rush
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but when the day of the festival comes
4:06
then most of the citizens being
4:08
exhausted with the rush lie in bed till
4:11
noon
4:12
but in the evening they eat five times
4:14
as much supper as on other days and
4:17
crowning themselves with crowns of paper
4:19
they become intoxicated
4:21
and on the day after Xmas they are very
4:24
grave being internally disordered by the
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supper and the drinking and Reckoning
4:28
how much they have spent on gifts and on
4:30
the wine
4:31
for wine is so dear among the Nia
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terbians that a man must swallow the
4:36
worth of a talent before he is well
4:37
intoxicated
4:39
such then are there Customs about the
4:42
Xmas
4:43
but the few among the Nia terbians have
4:45
also a festival separate and to
4:47
themselves called Christmas which is on
4:50
the same day as Xmas
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and those who keep Christmas doing the
4:54
opposite to the majority of the Nia
4:56
terbians rise early on that day with
4:58
shining faces and go Before Sunrise to
5:01
certain temples where they partake of a
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sacred feast
5:05
and in most of the temples they set out
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images of a fair woman with a newborn
5:09
child on her knees and certain animals
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and Shepherds adoring the child
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the reason of these images is given in a
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certain sacred story which I know but do
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not repeat
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but I myself conversed with a priest in
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one of these temples and asked him why
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they kept Christmas on the same day as
5:28
Xmas for it appeared to me inconvenient
5:31
but the priest replied it is not lawful
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No Stranger for us to change the date of
5:37
Christmas but would that Zeus would put
5:39
it into the minds of the Nia terbians to
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keep Xmas at some other time or not to
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keep it at all
5:45
for Xmas and the rush distract the minds
5:48
even of the few from sacred things
5:50
and we indeed are glad that men should
5:52
make Merry at Christmas but in Xmas
5:55
there is no merriment left
5:57
and when I asked him why they endured
5:59
the rush he replied
6:00
it is a stranger a racket using as I
6:04
suppose the words of some Oracle and
6:06
speaking unintelligibly to me for a
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racket is an instrument which The
6:11
Barbarians use in a game called tennis
6:14
but what hecatea says that Xmas and
6:17
Christmas are the same is not credible
6:20
for first the pictures which are stamped
6:22
on the Xmas cards have nothing to do
6:24
with the sacred story which the priests
6:27
tell about Christmas
6:28
and secondly the most part of the Nia
6:31
terbians not believing the religion of
6:33
the few nevertheless send the gifts and
6:35
cards and participate in the rush and
6:38
drink wearing paper caps
6:40
but it is not likely that men even being
6:43
barbarians should suffer so many and
6:45
great things in honor of a god they do
6:47
not believe in
6:49
and now enough about niatob


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Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed on W Lone Mtn Rd

Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tumbleweed has no home. Broken at the root, it is blown about.

It is like a Christian blown about by every wind of doctrine.

Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

 

Why is tumbleweed blown about?  Why are people blown about?

There is no root. There is no stability. There is no participation in the body of Christ.  There is no home church.  Online church is not enough.   One reason online church is not enough is because every member in the body has a responsibility to give, as well as to receive.  You can’t serve a church that you watch through a computer screen or phone screen.  The church is made up of flesh-and-blood members and each one has a work to do and gifts to share, which work and gifts are given by the Lord.

I Corinthians 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.

 

12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

 

12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

 

It is necessary to find a full gospel church where you believe the Lord wants you and go there.

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

 

If a branch is broken off it can become like tumbleweed, just blown about and finally burned in the fire.

The Christian life might be likened to a workout.

You don’t go to the gym once every six months, at Easter and Christmas, and expect to leave with a six pack.

Tumbleweed snowmen

Chanel Wheeler, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is the steady, daily application of regular routines and exercise that brings results.

The same is true in the Christian life.

The Christian life is not like a vacation you take for a couple weeks each year as you visit a special seminar but then ignore the local church for the rest of the year.

A one time seminar will bring benefit, but it won’t be the same as being part of a regular church, having regular church attendance, regular Bible study, regular private devotions, regular prayer, regular Bible reading, consistent giving of your tithes and offerings for the spreading of the gospel and consistent serving in the local church.

On-and-off Christianity is similar in practice to going to Vegas for a weekend trip, hitting the slot machines, and hoping for a win. No financial planner has ever advocated that as a way to wealth.

Yet somehow there is a thought that the things of God can be treated in a similar manner:  here a little meeting, there a little meeting, and maybe a couple times at Easter and Christmas. “A little dab will do you” is the attitude.

And then people wonder why they have trouble.

Any goal takes ongoing application, dedication, and consecration to the goal.  That is true in the natural whether it is a health goal, a professional goal, or a relationship goal.

That same consistent dedication is required in a relationship with God.  It takes no less dedication for a relationship with God than any other kind of goal or relationship.  The good thing is, God never lies, God is true, and God keeps his promises.

Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

 

This has to be the starting point.  If a person does not believe that God is, and that God will reward a person that seeks Him, then that person won’t even start the race.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 

The Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the epistles in the New Testament, wrote this.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Addendum:

Here is an online church if you can’t find anything locally.

 

 


A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.

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Repost: The Christmas Guest


Peace with God

Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.


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Repost: Angels We Have Heard On High


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Repost: Miracle Hymn (with lyrics) by Susan Boyle

This hymn comes from the movie, The Christmas Candle.


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Repost: The Wexford Carol (arr. Cohen)

Lyrics:

Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born
Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God’s angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
‘Prepare and go, ‘ the angels said
‘To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you’ll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born
With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went, this babe to find
And as God’s angel had foretold
They did our saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side the virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of life
Who came on earth to end all strife
Good people all, this Christmas time
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas day
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Derek Holman / Irish Traditional Melody

Alternative lyrics


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Repost: Christmas Hallelujah – Caleb and Kelsey


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