We wish you blessed holidays during the coming period. The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. The warmth of the living room is sought and the period of nice food and gifts seems to have started. The coming period of festivities have a deeper dimension than just nice food, warmth and gifts. Traditionally during Christmas the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated. For many christian churches it is one of the most important feasts, besides Easter and Pentacost, of the year.
It is very difficult to pinpoint exactly when Jesus was born. The Bible only tells of the event itself and a global year, but not a birthdate. Birtdays were rarely celebrated in those days, let alone in the Jewish culture of that time. It is much more probable that the birthday was somewhere during the summer. Still, traditionally the birth of Jesus is celebrated on the 25th of December. Not because it is the most accurate date, but more because at the beginning of Christendom a feast was already celebrated on that date.
One of the elements why christendom could grow so rapidly in Europe was that existing feasts were christened. Feasts that already existed in the religions of the heathen tribes received a new Christian meaning. In the northern parts of Europe midwinter feasts were celebrated on the 21st of December. The shortest day of the year and the return of the (sun)light was celebrated. In the south of Europe the sungod Sol Invictus (the undefeatable sun) was celebrated on the 25th of December. Jesus has been called the light of the world (John 8:12) in the Bible. Rightly or wrongly the real birth of the light was connected to the peagan birth of the light in the 4th century AD.
In many Adventist churches you will not find a christmas celebration on the exact date of the 25th of December or a christmas-eve celebration on the 24th. Most Adventist churches choose the nearest Saturday (Sabbath) where they have a special service in the morning.
Even though the date of Christmas has a dubious origin, what is commemorated in the churches is of a complete different order. The birth of Jesus and his later life, death and ressurection make up the core of the Christian faith. The life of Jesus shows how God thought of humanity, how he wanted to interact with them and which values he found important. The innocent death of Jesus brought reconciliation between man and God. And his ressurection brought hope and security that death didn’t have the final say. This forms the good message of Jesus and his disciples, also called the everlasting gospel.
How bad it may get, how dark the days may become, how hopeless the world may appear, Jesus calls everyone not to give up. Jesus calls you to keep committed to your fellow human beings. And if we make mistakes or we don’t hit the mark, then we don’t have to be afraid, everything is forgiven. Even death has been conquered.
That is a beautiful message of hope and light in these dark and cold days. A message which you can hear throughout the whole year in churches, but especially during the coming holidays.