Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas

As we remember Nicholas today, Bishop of Myra (in modern day Turkey), we rejoice in our ethnic traditions, in gift giving, and in childhood wonderment during this season.

Gracious God, send your spirit upon us that we may follow in the steps of  St.Nicholas, loving you and generously caring for others; we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Christmas Myths

As we near the end of the Christmas season and approach Epiphany, I thought I would share this video. It's a good reminder of the ultimate sigificance of Christmas.

A Blessed Christmastide

We continue to sing with joy, as our Christmas celebration is not even haf way through! Today is the 5th Day of Christmas, with those famous 5 golden rings from the song. Since I cannot afford five gold rings at this time, I think I'll enjoy 5 golden onion rings for lunch! Anyway, here's a classic from 30 years ago:

Holy Innocents

How can one continue to say Merry Christmas on a day that remembers the Holy Innocents? We remember today the baby boys that were slaughtered by King Herod in his attempt to eliminate the Christ child. It is the fourth day of Christmas, but it feels more like a day for penitence.

There are so many wonderful stories in the Christmas saga that we love to hear. We love the story about the sheep, the shepherds, and the angels above them, singing “Glory to God in the highest.” We love the story of the shepherds going to the stable and visiting the baby Jesus who is lying in a manger. We love the story of the wise men with their gold and frankincense and myrrh. These are wonderful Christmas stories that bring joy to our hearts

But so quickly the story turns ugly and evil. Christmas Eve is such an idyllic, holy night, but it is followed so quickly by chaotic, profane evil. Herod the beast, Herod the murderer, became insanely jealous for his own reign, and he decided to murder all the baby boys two years and under. The mothers began to wail in pain. In one moment, we hear the beauty of the songs of the angels from heaven, and before the week is out, we hear the wailing sounds of mothers whose children had been slaughtered by soldiers. And so Mary and Joseph need to flee from the murdering soldiers to Egypt, into hiding for two years. By then, the cruel and insane Herod finally died. But King Archelaus rose to power in the southern region of Jerusalem, and so Mary and Joseph traveled up north and settled in Nazareth. The whole story of the first Christmas starts off so beautifully but it quickly takes an ugly detour.

The Holy Innocents intrudes upon these joyous days to remind us that God came to confront the reality of evil and sin. Jesus was not born into an idyllic, peaceful world, but into a very real world of sin and death. The good news for us, however, is that the “light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” For that reason, we can continue to say, “Merry Christmas.”

We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by order of King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims, and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (Lutheran Book of Worship)

 

Christmas Re-gift

From a very funny blog, That is Priceless, comes this picture with the caption below. Enjoy!

Baby Jesus Accusing Wise Men of Re-Gifting the Frankincense

Goof King Wenceslas Looked Out On the Feast of Stephen

St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr
26 December

All that we know about Stephen the martyr is found in chapters 6 and 7 of the Book of Acts.

The early Christian congregations, like the Jewish synagogues, had a program of assistance for needy widows, and some of the Greek-speaking Jews in the Jerusalem congregation complained that their widows were being neglected. The apostles replied: "We cannot both preach and administer financial matters. Choose seven men from among yourselves, respected, Spirit-filled, and of sound judgement, and let them be in charge of the accounts, and we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word." The people accordingly chose seven men, including Stephen, and the apostles laid their hands on them. They are traditionally considered to be the first deacons, although the Scriptures do not use the word to describe them. (The Scriptures do refer to officials called deacons in the local congregations, without being very specific about their duties; and a century or more later, we find the organized charities of each local congregation in the hands of its deacons.)

Stephen was an eloquent and fiery speaker, and a provocative one. His blunt declarations that the Temple service was no longer the means by which penitent sinners should seek reconciliation with God enraged the Temple leaders, who caused him to be stoned to death. As he died, he said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." One of those who saw the stoning and approved of it was Saul (or Paul) of Tarsus, who took an active part in the general persecution of Christians that followed the death of Stephen, but who was later led to become a Christian himself.

We remember Stephen on December 26, the day after Christmas. Hence the song

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen

describes an action of the king on the day after Christmas Day. The tune used with this song is older than the words and was previously used with a hymn often sung on the feasts of Stephen and other martyrs. It begins:
Christian friends, your voices raise.
Wake the day with gladness.
God himself to joy and praise
turns our human sadness:
Joy that martyrs won their crown,
opened heaven's bright portal,
when they laid the mortal down
for the life immortal.

Prayer

We give thee thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to thy Son Jesus Christ, who standeth at thy right hand: where he liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.