Advent Has Passed!

I got this image from the internet, but will gladly give credit.

December 25 - The Nativity of Our Lord



The Advent has passed. The EVENT has arrived. And we gather again to honor a young couple in a faraway town called "Bethlehem" and to congratulate them on their beautiful Infant.


That Infant has stolen our hearts and the hearts of millions for 16 centuries. And what a steal it has been! Ask the man in the street to name the greatest Christian Feast and in nine cases out often he will reply: "Oh, that's easy: Christmas."


No it isn't! It's EASTER! But that's the amazing power of the infant.


The early Christians knew all about the birth of Jesus and the shepherds and the angels ... BUT THEY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT DECEMBER 25! They were concentrated on the Man who died on a cross but ROSE AGAIN and was seen by hundreds. And the apostles went out to preach this magnificent story ... and died to witness their faith ... and the Good News spread from land to land...


... until the year 354. In that year the Church, responding to a special Roman feast - the feast of the Rising Sun on December 21 - instituted the Feast of the Rising Son on December 25 - nine months after the Annunciation on March 25.


It didn 't appear that this new Feast would change much ... But look what happened! May 2012 give us the gift of living like the Risen Lord and loving like the Infant.


~ December 2011 Concord