Biblical permission for the celebration of Christmas
CONTENTS
1. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and its roots in the Advent tradition of Anglo-Saxon England
2. Is the expression of joy from December 24 onward banned to Biblical Christians?
3. The "Christmas Comet” of 2021 Appears in the Heavens
__________________
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and its roots in the Advent tradition of Anglo-Saxon England
This past Sunday was the fourth Sunday in Advent, a season misrepresented as “Christmas time.” It’s not.
The Christmas season begins on Christmas Eve and traditionally proceeds for a minimum of twelve days (hence, Shakespeare’s reference to “Twelfth Night”). This knowledge is mostly lost now, except to the very elderly among us, who in their youth, did not put up a Christmas tree until December 24.
The time of Advent, from late November until December 23, is a mildly penitential season of expectancy, when Christians of the early and medieval Church meditated upon the longing of the patriarchs and people of ancient Israel in exile, yearning for the coming of our Messiah.
The Clerk of Oxford (https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-anglo-saxon-o-antiphons-o-caelorum.html) writes:
“Of all the poetry you might read in Advent...the very best choice may be the Anglo-Saxon poetry inspired by the 'O Antiphons'. The last week of Advent has for centuries belonged to these ancient songs of appeal to Jesus, which are sung each day at Vespers as Christmas draws closer. These texts are best known via J. M. Neale's hymn 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel.' They have inspired poets since the earliest days of verse.” (End quote)
In English this Advent tradition is twelve hundred years old.
Last Sunday in church we sang the last three stanzas of 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel.’
Here is the entire hymn:
Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear;
Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall be born for thee, O Israel!
Draw nigh, O Jesse's Rod, draw nigh,
To free us from the enemy;
From Hell's infernal pit to save,
And give us victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall be born, for thee, O Israel!
Draw nigh, Thou Orient, Who shalt cheer
And comfort by Thine Advent here,
And banish far the brooding gloom
Of sinful night and endless doom.
Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall be born for thee, O Israel!
Draw nigh, draw nigh, O David's Key,
The Heavenly Gate will ope to Thee;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall be born for thee, O Israel!
Draw nigh, draw nigh, O Lord of Might,
Who to Thy tribes from Sinai's height
In ancient time didst give the Law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall be born for thee, O Israel!
Certain verses resonate in particular, with brief, powerful prayers:
“Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.”
“Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny.”
(You can hear the entire hymn in its original form here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGnEggd0OKY)
At her blog, the Clerk of Oxford provides us with the original Old English verse. Here is her translation into modern English:
O holy Lord of the Heavens, from of old you were with your Father --
equal-being in the glorious home.
Not one angel had yet been made,
nor one of the mighty and majestic host
which guards the kingdom in the skies,
the splendor-dwelling of the Prince and his thegns,
when first you were with the eternal Lord
yourself establishing this vast creation,
the wide and spacious lands. One with you both
is the sheltering Spirit. Savior Christ,
we all pray to you in humility
that you may hear the voice of the hostages,
of your captives, Liberating God,
how we are sore pressed by our own desires.
The cursed spirits, hate-filled hell-foes,
have cruelly confined the exiled race,
bound with bale-ropes. The remedy is
dependent entirely on you alone, eternal Lord.
Help the heart-sore, that your coming here
may comfort the wretched, though we
through our desire for wickedness have made a feud against you.
Have mercy now on your servants and think on our sorrows,
how we stumble on, weak at heart,
wandering hopelessly. Come now, king of men,
do not delay too long! We need kindness,
for you to rescue us and give us the true
grace of salvation, so that we may henceforth
always be able to do the better thing
to thrive among the people: your will.
The Clerk adds:
“In the Advent poem desire is a powerful force. We are in captivity, bound not just by the ropes of devils (bealorapas) but by our own desires: we sind geswencte þurh ure sylfra gewill. By our love of sins (firena lust) mankind has enslaved itself, and placed itself in 'feud' with God.
“If the O Antiphons take their power in part from the force of their desire for God, this poem suggests what happens when that potent desire is misdirected. The only cure is liss, one of those far-ranging Old English words which means many beautiful things: mercy, favor, grace, gentleness, kindness, joy. Alliteratively speaking, liss often collocates in Anglo-Saxon poetry with life and with love; but here it is ne lata to lange, a cry of impatience: 'Do not delay too long.” (End quote)
Is the expression of joy from December 24 onward banned to Biblical Christians?
There are conservative Protestants who dismiss Christmas as a pagan holiday. It has indeed been paganized, and for that matter so has Resurrection Sunday (“Easter”). And marriage has been degraded by adultery. Shall we let the observance of Christ’s Resurrection pass unnoticed because of the abuse of it? Shall we forego marriage because of its violation? Of course not.
No one knows when Jesus was born — does that signify that we should fail to set aside any day or any season to express our gratitude for the miracle of His incarnation? To mark it with Bible reading and prayer, contemplation and liturgy, and yes — rejoicing and festivity?
Every Christian has the right to leap and rejoice at the birth of Jesus, as did the unborn St. John the Baptist, who celebrated from inside his mother’s womb. Is the expression of joy from December 24 onward banned to Biblical Christians? How can it be, when the scriptures testify of it and the Early Church celebrated it. The Anglo-Saxon Church of 900 A.D. did so as well, and for twelve hundred years this was the holy legacy of God's people. But today we know better?
Jesus’s birth represents His Father’s abundance. Jesus is God's generosity. Serve the Holy Trinity with festal joy and gladness of heart! Here is a fine sermon along those lines by a conservative Presbyterian pastor, offering Biblical grounds for permission for the celebration of Christmas. Set aside 46 minutes to lend your ear to his learned homily, encouraging “righteous festivity:”
https://www.trinitycda.org/sermon/why-feast-at-christmas-luke-139-240/
The "Christmas Comet” Appears in the Heavens in 2021
Lastly, we draw your attention to what appears to be a remarkable synchronicity. As Christmas approaches, so too does a comet: “C/2021 A1,” which surprised astronomers yesterday when it suddenly brightened ten-fold.
This newly magnified comet is now visible to the naked eye, in the sunset sky, near the planet Venus.
A photo of the Christmas Comet is here:
https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=180674
This December Mr. Biden and his corporate media have endeavored to immerse us in a world of darkness.
But we Christians glimpse a celestial light.
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.…And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest.
Michael Hoffman
Independent History and Research
Box 849 • Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83816
__________________
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment