Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2007

Grace Church of Burlington December 23, 2007 “There has been only one Christmas, the rest are anniversaries.”  W. J. Cameron             Have you ever thought about this? Much about Christmas remains veiled and puzzling. It harbors a mystery of faith and even has a rather checkered history. For more than three hundred years after Jesus' time, Christians celebrated His resurrection but not his birth. The later Christmas festival was even banned in 17th century England and in early America. The observance first begin in fourth century Rome, timed to coincide with a midwinter pagan festival honoring the imperial army's sun god, Mithra. The December date was taken over to celebrate Jesus' birthday.             But on what day Jesus was actually born is unknown. Even the precise year is uncertain. However, it was not in the year 1 A.D., as the calendar's Anno Domini (Year of the Lord) suggests. This dating system derived from an error about the year of Christ's birth by a sixth-century monk in Rome, Dionysius Exigus, in working out the starting point of the Christian era.             Scholars since have calculated that Jesus' birth came in about 6 or 7 B.C., meaning paradoxically "Before Christ." The revised time was determined partly by the fact that Herod the Great ruled Judea when Jesus was born and history records that Herod died in 4 B.C.             In what month the birth occurred, or on what day, has been a matter of speculation for centuries. Possible dates include: January 6, February 2, March 25, April 19, May 20, October 4, November 17.             A British physicist and astronomer, David Hughes, has calculated that the date was September 17, 7 B.C., based on various scientific evidence, including that of a conjunction of two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, in the constellation Pisces on that date. He concludes in a book that this extraordinary celestial display was the "star" seen by the distant wise men.             The 17th century German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, similarly had calculated a three-planet conjunction, including Venus as well as Jupiter and Saturn,  in the same constellation in 7 B.C.  In any case, a variety of months and days have been used over the centuries in different parts of the world to celebrate the occasion. Some Eastern Orthodox churches still celebrate Christmas on January 6th.             You probably don’t know that Christmas was actually banned and it wasn’t by the ACLU. It was banned in 17th century England when Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan followers gained temporary rule, forbidding what was called the "heathen celebration of Christmas."  The holiday similarly was banned in colonial New England. And Christmas wasn't made a legal holiday in Massachusetts until 1856. For all of the clouded chronology and legal background of Christmas, however, the biggest mystery is in its message –  that God has entered the human race in love for it, on with it, and one of it.             Scripture says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). That’s the mystifying core of Christmas, an awesome concept that has challenged hearts and minds ever since. Jesus was truly human, sharing the nature of all people, yet also truly God. He was literally, Immanuel – God with us. Is He with you? Friend, is He your Savior?