Many of my readers (... oh the presumptions!!!!) already know that the Christmas holiday grew out of the Christian celebration of Jesus' birthday. Whether this event actually occurred on December 25th is rather beside the point - the issue is that a date was chosen to commemorate the event.
I thought I'd take a little opportunity to enlighten my presumed readers on the history of Christmas being celebrated on the 25th of December. What you might not know is that Christmas Day celebrations (formally "The Celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord") grew out of the celebration of "the Epiphany of Our Lord". The celebration of which is on January 6th, and celebrates the arrival of the Wise Men from the East arriving to worship Jesus as the Christ. What many celebrate as Advent (the penitential season of four Sundays before Christmas) was added even after Christmas.
The celebration of Easter pre-dated Christmas by approximately four centuries! That's right, the early church saw Jesus' death and resurrection as more important/worthy of celebration than His incarnate birth.
So then, what we now celebrate as Christmas, the early church merely presumed. For if it weren't for Jesus birth there would be no celebration of His crucifixion (and more importantly His resurrection) at Easter.
All this is not to diminish the celebration of Jesus coming into the world - a truly magnificent event. However, I hope that by attaching a bit of history, we can see that the celebration of Jesus birth ought not to be an isolated event. Look forward to Easter - which is the purpose behind Christmas.
I wonder if the best Christmas gift could be to wish someone a Happy Easter?
I thought I'd take a little opportunity to enlighten my presumed readers on the history of Christmas being celebrated on the 25th of December. What you might not know is that Christmas Day celebrations (formally "The Celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord") grew out of the celebration of "the Epiphany of Our Lord". The celebration of which is on January 6th, and celebrates the arrival of the Wise Men from the East arriving to worship Jesus as the Christ. What many celebrate as Advent (the penitential season of four Sundays before Christmas) was added even after Christmas.
The celebration of Easter pre-dated Christmas by approximately four centuries! That's right, the early church saw Jesus' death and resurrection as more important/worthy of celebration than His incarnate birth.
So then, what we now celebrate as Christmas, the early church merely presumed. For if it weren't for Jesus birth there would be no celebration of His crucifixion (and more importantly His resurrection) at Easter.
All this is not to diminish the celebration of Jesus coming into the world - a truly magnificent event. However, I hope that by attaching a bit of history, we can see that the celebration of Jesus birth ought not to be an isolated event. Look forward to Easter - which is the purpose behind Christmas.
I wonder if the best Christmas gift could be to wish someone a Happy Easter?
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