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A reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke: And the Angel came in unto her and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.”
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the Angel said unto her, “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
And so we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the great Spiritual Master who came down from Spirit to help us find our way back to God.
However, there is a continuing argument as to when all this happened. The Orthodox Churches tell us it was on the 25th December. The Bible says, in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 2, “And there were, in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Not in December in Palestine they weren’t – it snows! and the sheep would all have been under cover – ensuring that that particular manger we have been told about would have been stuffed full of sheep!
The Three Wise Men, the Magi, after following a star, find Jesus and present gifts to Him. There was a star. For about three months – February, March, and April – in the year 4 BC, the planets Mars and Saturn were in conjunction and occupying almost the same place in the sky. This, some astronomers believe, was the Star that the Magi were following, which would appear to put the year of Jesus’ birth about four years earlier than we suppose – so all those people that panicked about the year 2000 – they were all 4 years late!
Why do we celebrate Christmas in December? The early Church was hard pressed to fight the influences of Rome and its official religion, and the church leaders around the 4th century moved many Christian ceremonies to coincide with the Roman festivities. One such was the Feast of Saturnalia which began on December 17th, when people would have parties, wear funny hats, give each other gifts, and – significantly – they treated their slaves as equals! But it only lasted a fortnight, after that they all went back to flogging the slaves as usual! Another theory suggests that the celebration dates from pre-Christian Germanic and Celtic rites.
The use of the Christmas Tree is derived from the so-called “Paradise Tree” symbolising Eden in the old German mystery plays, and our form of the tree dates back to the 17th century. Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, introduced the Christmas Tree into England in 1841, and from there our American cousins adopted the practice.
Saint Nicholas (the Patron Saint of Russia) is believed to have been born in the 4th Century in Patara, formerly a city in ancient Turkey. He became Archbishop of Myrna, and it is said that the Roman Emperor Diocletian imprisoned him during the persecutions. He is the Patron Saint of children, scholars, virgins, sailors and merchants, and in the Middle Ages he was regarded by thieves as their Patron Saint as well! Santa Claus is an American derivation of his Dutch name – Sinter Klaas.
In 1223, the son of an Italian cloth merchant was looking for a way to tell the Christmas Story to the poor people of the area, because at this time, only the rich, the nobility and churchmen could read. After some thought, and a lot of help and cooperation from the locals, the first Christmas Nativity Scene came into being, and so from 1223 the Nativity Scene has been a part of every church, home, and even Shopping Centres. The man who started all this was Giovanni Francesco Bernadone, better known to us as St. Francis of Assisi.
A reading from “The Flying Eagle” a small London gazette recording the business of Parliament, printed on 24th December 1652. Edited, of course, by Puritans – Cromwell’s lot – and Puritans have been described as people “that are dreadfully afraid that somebody somewhere is having fun”.
The House spent much time this day about the business of the Navy for settling the affairs at sea, and before they rose were presented with a terrible remonstrance against Christmas Day, grounded upon divine Scriptures, 2 Cor. v. 16; 1 Cor. xv. 14, 17; and in honour of the Lord’s Day, grounded upon these Scriptures, John xx. 1; Rev. i. 10; Psalm cxviii. 24; Lev. xxiii. 7, 11; Mark xv. 8; Psalm lxxxiv. 10, in which Christmas is called Anti-Christ’s Masse, and those Massemongers and Papists who observe it, etc. In consequence of which Parliament spent some time in consultation about the abolition of Christmas Day, passed orders to that effect and resolved to sit on the following day, which was commonly called Christmas Day.
One of those Scriptures quoted refers to St. Paul saying that as Jesus had been crucified and had risen, we could not know Him. Based on this, the Puritans decided that if we did not know the new Jesus, we should not celebrate His birthday! Thankfully, however, Christmas was one tradition that Cromwell and his mob couldn’t suppress
Then after Christmas – Boxing Day! Why Boxing Day? According to what I could find out, traditionally, this was the day that the “gentry” gave presents (usually money) to servants, tradespeople, and “others of humble life”. These presents became known as “Christmas Boxes”.
So where does all that legend, myth, and misinformation leave us? Despite Jesus’ teachings we still fight wars, and with weapons of increasing destructive power. We have sent our robot spacecraft not only to run around on other planets, but even beyond the limits of our solar system. The Voyager space probes are now so far from Earth, that our sun is hardly distinguishable from all the other stars in the Galaxy; and, barring accidents, they will still be somewhere between the Galaxies when the Human Race has long since vanished.
Nevertheless, over all there will still be the guiding light of Jesus of Nazareth. For the past 2000 years or so, His life has been an indication of what we all can be. When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus replied, “Love ye one another.” All we need is to treat others with love.
What is this Love that Jesus speaks about? It is the love that prompted St. Francis to aid the leper; that enabled Mother Teresa to surmount horrifying circumstances to ease the plight of the poor in India; that let Diana, the Princess of Wales, comfort AIDS-affected children, thus doing more for AIDS sufferers than any number of government education programs; the love that led Mahatma Gandhi to fast to the point of death in the hope that warring factions in India would come to peace. It was Love that made Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. fight for social justice for the American Negro, despite the knowledge that he was an assassin’s target.
When people see injustice of any kind and say, “Stop! This must not continue!” there is, at the heart of it, that absolute love that would not have any fellow creature, human or animal, harmed or hurt; that absolute love that enabled Jesus to prove to us that death was an illusion.
And this is why we should celebrate Christmas – the birth of Jesus. His life showed us what the Human Race could be if we all treated our fellow beings with love; and His death and reappearance showed us that we no longer need fear death – and if we do not fear death, than we can truly live.
