Countdown to Christmas: Re-Imagining the Celebration, 3 of 7
Less than one week to Christmas. Got all your shopping done yet?
As the final madness approaches, please join me for 7 days and 7 stories/blurbs/video/audio/etc. about how we may re-imagine, re-appropriate, and re-learn how to celebrate the story of the Lord of the World arriving in a feeding trough in the middle of the night, the bastard this-worldly son of an unwed mother, destined to become the most climactic figure in all history by accepting the call to embody the fullness of His other-worldly Father.
Nothing like a good old "Top 10" list when the ol' creative juices start running dry, or when the ol' hard drive crashes. Whoever sent me that virus, God loves you and forgives you, and so will I...just not today.
Part 3 of 7: Top 10 Chrsitmas Quotes
10. Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space. --David Barry
9. People can't concentrate properly on blowing other people to pieces if their minds are poisoned by thoughts suitable to the twenty-fifth of December.--Ogden Nash
8. In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'--David Barry
7. God became man, not so that he might be with us, but so that we might be with him. In other words, the incarnation is the starting point of our divinization.…It comes about so that, having become in a sense ‘divine,' we may be capable of effectively working with Christ to rebuild the world for the glory of the father. We are thus not passive bystanders at the incarnation. The incarnation radically transforms the history of the world and the personal history of each of us. Because of it, each of us must measure up to God's plan and play his proper role in it.--Adrian Nocent
6. There is no evidence of any kind regarding the date of Jesus’ birth. His nativity began to be celebrated on Dec. 25 in Rome during the early part of the fourth century (AD 336) as a Christian counterpart to the pagan festival, popular among the worshipers of Mithras, called Sol Invictis, the Unconquerable Sun. At the very moment when the days are the shortest and darkness seems to have conquered light, the sun passes its nadir. Days grow longer, and although the cold will only increase for quite a long time, the ultimate conquest of winter is sure.--Joe E. Pennel, Jr.
5. What good is it that Christ was born 2,000 years ago if he is not born now in your heart? Lord, we do far too much celebrating your actual coming in our hearts. I believe in God, but do I believe in God-in-me? I believe in God in heaven, but do I believe in God-on-earth? I believe in God out there, but do I believe in God-with-us? Lord, be born in my heart. Come alive in me this Christmas! Amen.--Meister Eckhart
4. Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.--Harlan Miller
3. Christmas is a gift of love wrapped in human flesh and tied securely with the strong promises of God. It is more than words can tell, for it is a matter for the heart to receive, believe and understand.--Unknown
2. Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.--Hamilton Wright Mabie
1. A noted poet was once asked in an interview if he could explain one of his poems ‘in ordinary terms.’ He replied with some feeling, ‘If I could say what I meant in ordinary terms I would not have had to write the poem.’
From the time of Christ’s birth the people of God have ‘had to write a poem’ to Christmas, composing a single multi-stranded paean of praise spanning the centuries, because ultimately the meaning of Christmas resists being fully spelled out ‘in ordinary terms.’ --Dr. Brian Linard
Grace and Peace (and a virus-free hard drive),
Raffi
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