Snowy Stream
Merry Christmas everyone, or as they say in Hawaii Mele Kalikimaka. If you live in Southern New England sorry it is not much of a white Christmas, so hopefully today’s photograph, taken a couple days after the large snow storm last week, will help give you at least some sense of a white Christmas.
I have also included a song (there is also included an embed version along with the lyrics at the bottom, but I am not sure if that will work). Hopefully this will help us remember what Christmas is really about, because Christmas is about so much more than just having a day off and getting together with friends and family.
Although, that is a certainly a big part; however if that was the whole of it, then for you who unfortunately must be away from friends and family or must work through the holiday would then have nothing to celebrate. Fortunately, that is not what Christmas is all about; it is all about Jesus Christ, and anything else is secondary. It is about Solus Christus meaning because of Christ alone for Soli Deo gloria meaning glory to God alone.
If it was not for Christ birth, death, and resurrection; we would all have nothing to celebrate during this Christmas season, except perhaps that we have at best a short 100 years or so on this planet. Fortunately, that is not the case, because of the ultimate Christmas gift Jesus Christ, who is indeed the reason for the season. Now we can all look forward to paradise after our short lives. All you must do is chose to follow Him.
Because our focus is Christ alone He often allows us to also have the other benefits of family, friends, and presents, but let us not forget that Jesus said in Luke 14:26 that whoever does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, siblings, and his own life, cannot be His disciple.
Now by this He is not telling us to hate anyone, per say, but rather He telling us that we must love Him so much that we are willing to sacrifice even what we hold most dearly, if He so calls us. While it may be true that He may not test many of us to give up our family and friends, He certainly reserves that right, just as He was justified in testing Abraham by asking him to give up Isaac.
Accordingly, we must trust that if He requires us to give up someone or something He always has greater plans in mind for us. This is so important to remember because all to often we have a natural tendency to first be mad with God if He requires us to make a great sacrifice.
He only wants the best for us, but that means that we must at least be willing to sacrifice it all for Him. While there are other Christmas and seasonal songs it is amazing that there are no other popular seasonal songs about any other gods. This season I have been thinking about Christmas songs a lot, and read a book entitled “Best-Loved Christmas Carols”
It is incredible how many of these songs have endured so long, and with more modern ones it is incredible how they also continue to present the Christmas story in such a great and yet still subtle way. Even more amazing are some of the stories behind their creation, as you will specifically see with “O little Town of Bethlehemâ€. First, “Joy to the World†composed by Isaac Watts and first published in 1719 in a collection entitled Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, is based right off of Psalms 98:4-9. It was just put in the Language of the New Testament by Isaac Watts; and is even today still one of the most popular Christmas carols around.
One of the other great carols “O Little Town of Bethlehemâ€, written by Phillips Brooks in 1868 was actually inspired during a Christmas Eve service on a visit by Brooks to the Holy Land. He really got a sense of what it must have been like to on that first Christmas as he was there overlooking a small village and shepherds in Bethlehem. Just before the next Christmas the church organist, Lewis Henry Render, who had been asked to set the poem to music came through with the music that was put to the words; purportedly it came to him in a vision the night before. Christmas, it was then song on Christmas at the Church of the Holy Trinity.
Lastly, The “Twelve Days of Christmasâ€, perhaps one of the lest obvious ones was actually written to commemorate the Epiphany, meaning shining forth originally a celebration of His incarnation, but in the West since 534 AD now a celebration of the visit of Magi. Accordingly the “Twelve Days of Christmas†was written to commemorate the visit of the Magi, and was actually meant to be sung during the 12 days after Christmas till the Epiphany, January 6th. It is first through to have been created as a memory game for children, but others hold that there may actually be considerable symbolism of Christianity in the song. However, no one knows for sure, and while the case for the symbolism of song is not a particular strong case, it is still a plausible case; as there is still a vert distinct possibility for it.
The symbolism breaks down like this. My true love is God, and the rest of the breakdown is as follows:
A Partridge in a pear tree is:
Jesus Christ as a mother partridge feigning an injury to protect her young. This one threw me a little at first because I did not realize birds actually fake injuries to protect their young, and it seems strange to think of Christ’s injury on the cross is as feigned. Although in one sense I suppose it makes sense that He was not really injured as He does in John 10:18 say He lays down His life of His free will and has the authority to take it up again. I do not think this means that He did not suffer pain in doing so, but rather that He was never ever incapacitated, even for a moment, in performing His sacrifice.
2 Turtle Doves: the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens: faith, hope, and charity
4 Colly Birds: the four gospels
5 Gold Rings: the first five books of the Old Testament ie. The Pentateuch
6 Geese a-laying: the six days of creation
7 Swans a-swimming: the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
8 Maids a-milking: the eight Beatitudes
9 Ladies dancing: nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords a-leaping: the Ten Commandments
11 Pipers piping: the eleven faithful disciples
12 Drummers drumming: the twelve beliefs in the Apostles’ Creed
The shepherds are lit
A star in the sky
On the outskirts of town
A new baby cries
No room at the end
No crib to be found
Oh but look at him now
He is the reason for the season
He is the light that shines on our lives
The baby Jesus born in God’s grace
So we all might rejoice on this day
He is the reason for the season
It is a time for presents and toys
Tales of Saint Nick
Tidings of joy
As we celebrate the miracle birth
Oh right here on this earth
He is the reason for the season
He is the light that shines on our lives
The baby Jesus born in God’s grace
So we all might rejoice on this day
He is the reason for the season
He’s the reason for the giving
The joy thats never ending
That comes on Christmas morning in the eyes of a child
It’s what it means to me and you
That’s the true meaning of this time
Oh this time
He is the
He is the reason for the season
He is the light that shines on our lives
The baby Jesus born in God’s grace
So we all might rejoice on this day
He is the reason for the season
He is the light that shines on our lives
The baby Jesus born in God’s grace
So we all might rejoice on this day
He is the reason for the season
If you like the song, please support the artist, and buy it. You can get it DRM free (digital rights management) from Amazon for only 99 cents or 5 Pepsi points until the end of the year:
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Tags: carol, Christ, Christmas, joy to the world, Reason-for-the-season, snow, snowy, stream
Nice photo. :cough: GeoTag :cough: =P