Interesting Christmas History

Below, is a compilation of extracts of some of the history behind Christmas traditions we still hold today. I have included the sources, so that you can research Christmas further, for yourself. You might be surprised with what you find, some stuff is just plain weird! Enjoy.

"The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many peoples rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight. In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January"

"Also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra’s birthday was the most sacred day of the year. In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated." - (thehistoryofchristmas.com) 

"The most famous and pervasive of these figures in modern celebration worldwide is Santa Claus, a mythical gift bringer, dressed in red, whose origins have diverse sources. The name Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch Sinterklaas, which means simply Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey, during the 4th century. Among other saintly attributes, he was noted for the care of Children, generosity, and the giving of gifts. His feast on the 6th of December came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts. Saint Nicholas traditionally appeared in bishop's attire, accompanied by helpers, inquiring about the behaviour of children during the past year before deciding whether they deserved a gift or not. By the 13th century, Saint Nicholas was well known in the Netherlands, and the practice of gift-giving in his name spread to other parts of central and southern Europe. At the Reformation in 16th–17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, corrupted in English to Kris Kringle, and the date of giving gifts changed from December the 6th to Christmas Eve."
 
"The traditional colors of Christmas are green and red. White, silver and gold are also popular. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus, which was shed in his crucifixion, while green symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which does not lose its leaves in the winter." - (Wikipedia.com)


"Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, usually taking place around the 22nd December. The word Carol actually means dance or a song of praise and joy! Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived! Early Christians took over the pagan solstice celebrations for Christmas and gave people Christian songs to sing instead of pagan ones."

(Listen to the funniest version of O' Holy Night ever, listen right until the end)

"Boxing Day takes place on December 26th and is only celebrated in a few countries. It was started in the UK about 800 years ago in the Middle Ages. It was the day when the alms box, collection boxes for the poor often kept in churches, were opened so that the contents could be distributed to poor people. Some churches still open these boxes on Boxing Day."

"Mistletoe is a plant that grows on willow and apple trees (and in garden centres!). The practice of hanging it in the house goes back to the times of the ancient Druids. It is supposed to possess mystical powers which bring good luck to the household and ward off evil spirits. It was also used as a sign of love and friendship in Norse mythology and that's where the custom of kissing under Mistletoe comes from." - (whychristmas.com)

Further research indicates that pagans, today, are still celebrating Yule. They build altars to the seasons and elements, with much of the same stuff we decorate our houses with at Christmas (see picture below).

However, we should not need to find an excuse to give gifts and be generous, we shouldn't only save family time for one holiday of the year and we shouldn't keep Jesus as a baby for the rest of our lives. All these 'good' traditions that we have developed over Christmas, should not be relegated to a season that is shared with other strange beliefs, this should be  fruit of every believer, all year round. Then we wouldn't worry about whether Christmas had pagan beginnings or not, it would just be another day to celebrate life!

Keep Jesus the reason for the season and every other season!

Tradition is good, but whose are you passing on?

Yule altar: The log, candles, red and green and mistletoe (holly)

2010 In Pictures!

I looked high and low to try and find some high-quality pictures for you. My aim was to try and depict the year that was/is 2010 through the power of the picture. I hope you enjoy them and please feel free to comment.
Enjoy!
 


Volcanic ash, that spewed into the earth's atmosphere, grounded European flights for weeks: Iceland, April 2010



The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico wreaked havoc. 4.9 Million barrels of crude oil spilt into the sea from April 2010

 

The effects of the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti in January are still being felt today. Haiti is the poorest country in the world..

  

South Africa was on the world stage for the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup: June/July 2010



The opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. February 2010

A marathon runner at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. October 2010

FIFA 2010 World Cup action: Kaka for Brazil

Miners trapped for 69 days in Chile. September/ October 2010.

Mark Cavendish, of team HTC Columbia, goes down in a sprint for the line at this years Tour de Suisse. June 2010

Central District of Hong Kong, China. Lights are reflecting off the smog. Picture taken in March 2010.

An enormous sinkhole swallowed up an entire clothing factory in Guatemala. Thankfully the factory was closed at the time! June 2010

Dogs getting ready for obedience classes in Mexico City. They seem pretty obedient already!



Tension between North Korea and South Korea is at an all-time high. Here a South Korean army platoon patrols the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas.



Stunning celebrations for the Asian games held in Guangzhou, China. November 2010

Floods in Pakistan affected 20 million people and killed over two-thousand people. July/ August/Today, 2010

 Sources: Time Magazine, Reuters, National Geographic, Christian Monitor, Boston Press and Getty Images  

#5: Discipleship under Grace: An outline

How does Grace change things?



shinybinary.com

  

Discipleship has often been abused and used to control and manipulate people into thinking that good works can lead to right standing with God. Instead of freedom being experienced, it leads people into bondage of dead works and into a works – based faith.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” Ephesians 2:8-9


Paul the Apostle makes compelling arguments in both the book of Romans and the book of Galatians of justification through faith and emphasizes righteousness as a free gift from God; that nothing we can do can change our state of righteousness in God’s eyes, not even our good works or lack thereof.

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law (works), then Christ died in vein” Galatians 2:21 and “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” Romans 5:1 NKJV (Emphasis added).

It is, therefore, clear that dead works don’t bring us closer to God. We should thus not disciple people into a performance orientated religion, where the more you do, the more you get rewarded. On the contrary, we must disciple people into a revelation of God’s love and grace, which will in turn compel them to live righteously, as they rightfully are, and do good works as a result. Because, after all, faith without works is dead (James 2:17)!

Paul goes on to say, in his letter to the Corinthians, that it is only by the grace of God that he is who he is, and this grace on him was not without effect (1 Corinthians 15:10). Grace changes things, because it has an effect on, who you are. It causes you to see God in a different light and thus changes the way you act towards other people and the manner in which you minister the gospel to them.

Acknowledging that righteousness is a free gift, by grace, takes away the chance for any boasting or self-righteousness that may have crept in before, when you were still trying to win God’s favor in your own power. It empowers

you to live the life God meant for you to live, without you putting in all the effort, but by putting your faith in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus and what the implications of that are (Gal 2:21).

The implications are manifold: A major one is that God will never impute our sins against us again. This was prophesied in the Psalms and Paul re-iterated it in Romans 4. This doesn’t free us up to sin, but rather it gives us the power not to sin, because apart from the law sin is dead (Romans 7:8) and we are not under law, but under grace (Romans 6:14)

Paul’s exhaustive arguments for grace over works, leads us to the conclusion that whatever we are “discipling” someone into, it must come in line with the principles of the free gift of grace, embodied in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Grace brings a spiritual element, when our natural tendency is to do things in our own strength. It brings a truthful element when we try and push our own agendas!

In short: Grace changes everything. It changes the way you see God and the world. It changes your attitude, your agenda, your persuasion, your spiritual walk, the way you worship, they way you pray and the way you see yourself! Thus it is conceivable to see, that without it, you might find yourself discipling someone into the same dead-end Christianity you are in … because that’s what’s expected of you!

A bit of Inspiration

Here's a cool video link of Shawn Mcdonald's testimony and how he came to be one of the biggest Christian recording artists around. The narrator has a bit of an irritating voice, but it's worth a watch and his music is well worth a listen. Enjoy!

#4: Discipleship Under Grace: An outline

The Discipleship Relationship


"One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread" - Anon.

The discipleship relationship is one which is necessary to define in order that we can understand the role that you and I play in such a relationship. Since the goal is eventualy for everyone to get involved, there are some important guidelines that should be taken note of, so as not to break the trust of the relationship. Remember: Trust is the biggest gift you can ever give someone. It can take a life-time to build and a moment to break.

Imposing legalistic formulas and steps on how to do things only heaps condemnation on people’s heads. They try and attain the goals set out by someone they respect, hoping  that right-standing with God will follow.


This is the trap that a discipleship relationship can fall into. So instead of giving steps or A B C’s, I am going to explain the motives. The motives will determine both the action and the outcome.

Following the example set by Jesus; He imparted truth unto His disciples from a heart of love and compassion. He never told His disciples what to do, but instead focused on helping them see who they actually were. The goal of discipleship should, therefore, be to help those less mature than you, to see who they are in Christ Jesus. Help them to find their identity in Him, by laying a foundation of truth in their lives of grace, salvation, righteousness, love and faith.

It is not about forcing your will or your point of view on them, but rather about showing, from the bible, why we believe what we believe, what makes us different and what we are going to do about this difference. There are many discipleship books out there, which go through the biblical reasons for doing what we are doing and saying what we are saying. To use one of these books as a tool would be wise, re-inventing the wheel may not be necessary. Take the good stuff from these tools and ignore the subjective commentaries, keep pointing to the word as the ultimate authority.

Phases

The discipleship relationship can take on many different forms and go through many different phases. The most basic form and phase would be to disciple a person one-on-one into salvation and into a foundation of the word. This form can, however, be done with more than one person being “discipled", depending on the capabilities of the person doing the discipling and the eagerness of those being “discipled".

The group discipleship format can evolve out of a one-on-one set-up. This is more in the model of Jesus, where you minister to a group of like minded individuals, who don’t demand as much attention as they might have in times past. The aim of discipleship is not accountability, encouragement or mentorship. It is to mature people into their full stature in Christ, through helping them to a greater revelation of Him. Accountability, encouragement and mentorship are great spin-offs of a discipleship relationship and some relationships may lay emphasis on this, but they are only additions to a perfect Jesus!

Being the pastor or leading a church or a youth- group exemplifies the discipleship relationship on a larger scale. Here the methods may change a bit, but the message and the goal stays the same. Helping people reach their full potential in Christ, by helping them grow closer to Jesus. In such a case it is important for a leader to teach and preach in such a way that the congregation grows and matures over time. Systematic teaching of the word, through certain books of the bible or through certain topics, and inviting in guest speakers, who can compliment the giftings of the local elders, so that the church has exposure to the five-fold ministry and thus grow in their relationship with God, through the various manifestations of the spiritual gifts (Ephesians 4:11-12), can all be ways of discipling on a larger scale.

Small group discipleship can still take place within the larger context of church. Because church is not just about Sunday services, it’s about relationships between saints, building each other up in like faith! Thus, in a disciple making church, everyone is a disciple and everyone can be making disciples.

NB: The person “discipling” you doesn’t

 take the place of the Holy Spirit opening up scripture and revelation to you. They don’t take the place of Jesus or God. It is important to keep the relationship in perspective, so that no-one is the mediator between you and God, except Jesus. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2:5 NKJV

The discipleship relationship is thus a deliberate attempt to imitate Jesus’ example. It isn’t easy, as faithfulness and trust is required, hence the reason the body of Christ is void of it. None the less, it is the solution to our commission!