Merry Christmas Etc.

 As usual for me for the last decade or so I'm not doing Christmas this year.  I may listen to my favorite "Messiah" a few times on You Tube to generate some Christmas mood and put its biblical message into my head, and open the usual cheery emails people always send at this time of your, but that's about it.  

Since the New Testament says the birth of Christ was attended by the announcement of angels to shepherds watching their flocks by night, we can be pretty sure that His birth did not occur in the cold winter of Christmastime, flocks of sheep not being grazed on the hills at that time of year, but since we don't have a known birthdate it's as good a time as any to celebrate it, and it has a lot of nice things to recommend it for that purpose.  Its proximity to the Winter Solstice heralds the lengthening of days towar the fruitful time of Spring which is also symbolized in the ball-shaped decorations on the Christmas tree, which represent the fruits that appear on trees later in the year.  The tree is an evergreen which helps to counter the bare feeling of most trees.  The lights are cheering and hopeful.  And there is something about a glttering lit tree in a dark room that speaks an almost otherworldly sort of cheer in the winter gloom.   All that comes from pagan winter traditions and not from Christianity but it's all been comfortably Christianized with Manger scenes and the like.  The theme of a Savior come into a dark world bringing salvation to all mankind can be found in the symbols if you want to find it.

But of course the holiday is mixed with a lot of unChristianiizable pagan and even anti-Christian elements as well.  Heres John MacArthur on that subject:

The Theology of Christmas (Philippians 2:5-11) - YouTube

Later:  Here's another MacArthur talk for the season, a shorter one delivered at his Master's Seminary, the birth of Jesus from Mary's point of view:  

The Christmas Story by John MacArthur - YouTube

Here's a Christmas themed presentation for anyone who might be interested.  The Star of Bethlehem is a lawyer's presentation of his study of an astronomy program in the light of the Bible to see if he could find the bright star in the sky that scripture says appeared at Christ's birth.  

The Star of Bethlehem - YouTube

Here's a performance of The Messiah I particularly like, with a Czech condutor, Vaclav Luks, of a Czech orchestra.

Handel Messiah -- Vàclav Luks - YouTube

Merry Christmas!