Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today, I want to share with you my annual random reflections on Christmas. This is one of those times of year when people are open, as at no other time, to an explanation as to who and what Jesus was and what he did. Is this true with you?

I hope so. Do you find yourself more open to hearing about Jesus and his life? I know I am. I love my Lord. I love my Savior.

And I love hearing about his life and his mission and his labors on my behalf. There's something about this man's life and death that attracts people like no other. The Apostle Paul put it succinctly. He says, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Unquote.

And at Christmas, God sent forth his Son, Jesus. This vulnerable, needy babe was born of a simple Jewish maiden, Mary, born of woman. This Son of Grace was also born under the law. That is, he was born under the old covenant of works, that covenant that we could never perfectly obey and complete. And he was born under it in order that he might redeem those who were under the law.

That is, he might bring back to God we who found ourselves contained and condemned under that law. Christ, in his life and death on this earth, perfectly obeyed the law. Consider this. The Gospels give eloquent testimony to this. He perfectly obeyed the law in every circumstance in which he found himself in life, unlike any of us.

And Christ, this man Jesus, thereby obeyed for us because he was our federal head. That is, he was the one who acted in our place. This is what Paul meant when he said to redeem those who were under the law. This is one of those deep theological issues with which we deal when we think about Christmas. In addition to the simpler things like shepherds and wise men and angels, there are many simple as well as complex components of Christmas, many of which are concerning.

We lack information. For example, where do we derive the title Christmas? The word Christmas is actually a contraction of two words, Christ's Mass. Christ's Mass. And thus we get Christmas.

The church has long celebrated the lives of the saints in 365 feasts, one for every day of the year. For example, St. Francis of Assisi is assigned October 4, October 4, excuse me, upon which a meal, prayer, and mass are said for the saint. And likewise, the feast day for Mary, Mother of God, is celebrated on January 1st of every year, in which a mass is said in the Roman Catholic Church in her name. So one might then ask, when is a mass said for the Savior, Jesus Christ? Well, the answer is quite simple.

Upon Christmas Day, Christ's Mass Day, December 25. This is his feast day when a mass is said for him, that is Christ's Mass, contracted to Christmas. Do you see how nothing comes to us in a vacuum, dear listener? Christ's Mass, of whatever denomination you are, whatever religious persuasion you are, this is what it means. Christ's Mass, December 25, is a feast day upon which presents are exchanged, feasts are eaten, and religious services are observed.

So elevated has this feast day become that it is observed not only by the Roman Catholic Church, but by all Christians everywhere. Why do you think that 12 to 25, right? Why do you think December 25th was chosen for Christ's Mass? Well, there are two competing theories, only one of which holds up under scrutiny. First of all, December 25 was chosen in order to correspond to the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, the pagan feast for the god Saturn.

That's one option many historians have chosen. In the Roman panoply of gods, the majestic regal personage of Saturn occupied this place in the calendar of gods to be recognized and celebrated. It was one of winter's great breaks when firewood could be burned, animals slaughtered and consumed for protein. Daily labor ceased for at least 12 hours or so on a holiday. In fact, we have a letter from Pope Gregory the Great to a missionary to Britain that pagan temples and festivals to be converted into Christian churches and Christian festivals then in order to facilitate the transition of pagans to Christians.

December 25, the day of Christ's Mass, was one of those days. A second competing theory, which I prefer and which makes a lot of sense and has historical evidence, is that December 25th was chosen because it was figured to be precisely nine months after the church calculated Jesus' birth from his conception, a calculation from the conception to the birth. Church fathers like Tertullian reasoned that the Bible indicates that Jesus was conceived on the same day on which he was later to die, that is the day he was crucified, March 25 or 14 Nisan in the Jewish calendar. This places his birth on December 25.

The great theologian St. Augustine notes as well, for he, that is Jesus, is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March upon which day also he suffered. So, the womb of the virgin in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since, but he was born according to tradition upon December 25th." Unquote. So, here's another random fact for you, of which you might not be aware concerning Christmas. Did you know that rank pagan unbelievers were far more conscious of Jesus' birth than his own people?

Oh, yes. Pagans, pagan unbelievers were far more conscious of Jesus' birth than his own people were. This is the thrust of the account of the visit of the Magi, the wise men from the east. In 586 BC, the Chaldeans, the pagan magicians of Babylon in service to King Nebuchadnezzar, overran and conquered Judah, just as her prophets had predicted. And the Lord said, in 2 Kings 23, "...and the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off the city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, my name shall be there.

And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him." Unquote. Kings and Chronicles record that they carried away everything of value, Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans did. They carried away everything of value they found in Jerusalem, including the sacred scriptures they found, that is the Bible of the Jews. And the thing about these Chaldean pagan scholars is they read the material they captured and stole.

Yes, they made homework of it. This happens with every great empire. Those bookish souls who love to pour over pages and documents and scrolls, they exist everywhere. And I could be included among them, too. I love doing those things.

But these scholars assiduously studied and understood what they read, too. And so they studied the prophecies concerning a Savior. For example, in Numbers 24, we read, I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.

Aha! When the Magi in Babylon then saw a phenomenon in the sky, a phenomenon in the sky, that is, they saw a star that normally did not shine in the western sky. They reasoned that this prophecy of the Jews was about to be fulfilled. A star was about to come out of Jacob. A king, that is, a scepter, was about to rise out of Israel.

What to do? Well, these scholars, packed up, took a 747 to Jerusalem, didn't they? Well, actually, it took a little longer as they took a caravan, a camel caravan there. Be the first to greet and pay homage to this king who would rule the whole world, they were. This is the background when you read in Matthew chapter 2.

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea and the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. They were more informed than the sleepy-headed scribes and Pharisees of Israel, right? Who ostensibly studied the text and knew it inside out. This is one of the points Matthew intends to make.

Even Gentiles were more receptive to the Messiah than his own people. Another favorite random reflection of mine on Christmas is the 12 days of Christmas. As a family, we used to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas with our children. What a rich heritage we have in this blessed tradition. What comes to mind for you when you hear the 12 days of Christmas?

Probably the song that begins on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, right? This is all we in the West usually get concerning the 12 days of Christmas. We experience Advent, where we anticipate Christ's birth 28 days prior to Christ's Mass, but then it abruptly ends. We celebrate a secular New Year's Day a week later, and then it's back to the daily grind, right? Well, not so in the Eastern Orthodox churches.

No, no, no. Unlike we in the West, the East makes a sacred celebration of Christ from his birth on December 25 to the Epiphany 12 days later on January 6, ostensibly the day when the Magi appeared to worship this newborn king. That's when Christmas ends in the East, at least January 6. A lot more fun, sounds like to me. But in between, there are 12 feast days when a whole spectrum of spiritual moments are celebrated, not just earthly feasts, but spiritual moments.

How much is revealed about Christ in these 12 feast days? Well, for example, December 26 is the Feast of St. Stephen, which is a traditional day for giving from the abundance of Christmas to the poor. If you know the hymn, good King Wenceslas, you know the entire point of the hymn is that the king on the feast of Stephen spies a poor man come in sight gathering winter fuel, and then this king orders his page, bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither, thou and I will see him dine when we hear bear him hither.

So it was a feast day for St. Stephen, the first deacon of the church in Acts, and deacons traditionally make provision for the poor. They do it out of the treasury of the church, and so this day is set aside to lavish a king's abundance upon those less fortunate. Good tradition. Do this, dear Christian. Go to the soup kitchen, bring steaks, go to the city of refuge, replenish their store of turkeys and beef.

See that those less fortunate than you enjoy a king's banquet, even as good King Wenceslas provided for that poor man and his family. Well, another tradition then in the 12 days of Christmas is December 27. It's a feast day for St. John, the only one of the 12 disciples who did not die a martyr's death, but he died a natural death. And a mass is set for him, the disciple who wrote of the incarnation of Jesus. The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Then December 28 is the feast day of the Holy Innocents, when a mass is said for the children murdered by Herod, that monster king who tried to sweep up the newborn baby Jesus in his dragnet of Holocaust. They were not martyrs like Stephen, who died a heroically, a martyr's death in a vision of the glorified Christ. No, they were not heroes like the apostles who died consciously witnessing to the risen Christ. Rather, the church asserts that these died, the children, for Christ nevertheless, because they died unjustly before they had a chance to know or to will of their own.

So in celebrating the Holy Innocents, we remember the victims of other kinds of innocence, like children of abortion, or children of war, or children who die of parental abuse, all these kinds of things. Well, each feast day in the 12 days of Christmas has its own aspect of Christmas that highlights a singular feature for Christians to remember, not just gifts given by my true love, like maids and milking, golden rings, or partridges in a pear tree. No. Even Epiphany celebrates not only the day on which the wise men appeared and arrived to worship the newly born king, but also the day on which the gospel is begun to be proclaimed.

Christ's manifestation to the nations, symbolized in these pagan Gentile kings who now have their Savior revealed to them. And so, thus, the 12 days of Christmas, they are much more than a Christmas carol about exotic gifts given me by my true love. No, it is more about the good gifts of God to his people through his Son, Jesus Christ. Well, another random reflection I like to think about on Christmas that I find surprises many people is that the genealogy in Matthew is an integral part of the Christmas story. Ah, yes, that boring old list of names is truly a part of the Christmas story.

What, you may say? Come on, pastor, an old boring list of names could be a part of the wondrous story of Christ's nativity, can it? Well, name me one Christmas carol about it, huh? I've seen plenty of dramatizations about the holy family who found no room at the inn, retired to a manger, or shepherds who tended their flocks by night, visited by singing angels, and even Herod killing the infants of Bethlehem. But I have never seen a Cecil B. DeMille or Steven Spielberg dramatization of Jesus' genealogy.

That would be an oxymoron, right? Dramatic genealogy? Well, but any self-respecting Jew of the first century would shake his head in disbelief at this kind of attitude. And he would ask why you could, on the one hand, say you relied on the Bible for truth, while on the other hand, dismissing genealogies. They were utterly necessary to the life of a young babe in Israel, and that for several reasons.

Number one, a child's genealogy established his chosen status. Are you a Jew or a Gentile? Even today, a Jew is not a Jew unless he can establish his lineage via his parents. And secondly, the promised Messiah would descend from Abraham and David. The covenants which God cut with Abraham and David both promised that a savior of mankind would descend from their line.

To Abraham, he said, in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And to David, he promised, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring, your seed after you who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Therefore, when the Messiah appeared, he would have to establish his lineage right out of the gate. It was be his bona fides, no Jew worth his salt would expect anything less, especially those responsible for authenticating these things.

So, dear listener, it is difficult for us Gentiles on this side of Christmas to comprehend the primacy of Christ's genealogy to first century Jews, but it was there. And consequently, can you understand the importance of Jesus' birth narrative beginning with these words, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, unquote. Few people realize that the nativity actually begins with a genealogy. Turn to Matthew chapter one. You will find that the birth narrative of Jesus begins not with angels or shepherds, Joseph or Mary, but with a dry, boring, and trivial, to us at least, genealogy.

But it would not have been thus for its first audience, that is, Jews, who expected the Messiah's credentials to be authenticated before anything else was said about him. The genealogy in Matthew does precisely this. It is entirely fitting to begin the birth narratives with Jesus' genealogy. And thirdly, then Christ's genealogy also gathers up all of fallen humanity, too. Yes, what a beautiful narrative it is of the gathering up of all of fallen humanity.

That's Christ's genealogy. There are actually some very poignant moments of drama in the genealogy. If you know your Old Testament, how many of you know that Jesus is a descendant of incest and prostitution by way of Judah and Tamar? Go over this story in Genesis. Jesus stands in the line of Perez, son of Tamar, who connived and controlled her father-in-law, Judah, to bear her son by posing as a prostitute.

Jesus is also descended from Rahab, the harlot of Jericho. And what is more, Solomon, the son of David's adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. So, if you read the genealogy of our Savior carefully, you notice that there's a lot of saving to do in these spicy stories, right? So, the next time you pick up Matthew and begin to read, do not skip over the genealogy with which he begins his narrative. It is integral to his story of salvation by grace.

And finally, we would be remiss to neglect the history of Santa Claus, wouldn't we? The history of Santa Claus, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time, the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey, Patara, the birthplace of Saint Nicholas. At the time, his wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to sell what you own and give the money to the poor, Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering.

He dedicated his life to serving God and was made bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas, excuse me, Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need. His love for children and his concern for sailors and ships too, parenthetically. Well, under the Roman emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith. He was exiled and he was imprisoned.

And after his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. And he died December 6, A.D. 343 in Myra. And he was buried in his cathedral church. One anecdote of his life tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days, a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of a value, that is a dowry.

And the larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. But without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters without dowries were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously on three different occasions, however, a bag of gold appeared in their home, providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold tossed through an open window are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry.

This, of course, led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from St. Nicholas. And sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That's why three gold balls sometimes represented as oranges are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is the gift giver. So, dear listener, banish the notion of the cartoon character of Santa Claus that has come to take the place of the real St. Nicholas.

He would weep if he saw today what has been made of him. St. Nicholas is not a clown character dressed in a red suit with a fluffy white beard and black boots. No. Bishop Nicholas indeed loved children deeply, cared for them in an age when infant mortality hovered around 20 percent. Disease, poverty characterized childhood all over Europe and Asia.

So St. Nicholas did anonymously leave food and clothing and gifts for children and their families. He didn't slide down chimneys and leave a room full of toys for kids. No. The good bishop ministered to children in a disciplined fashion all year round. He did not work a year round at the North Pole with an army of elves in order to disgorge an avalanche of toys in one night Christmas Eve in an orgy of consumerism.

St. Nicholas followed the example of Jesus Christ and he did all in Jesus' name. He was not the secular godless cardboard cutout that our society makes him out to be. So remember this. Inculcate this, dear listener. Teach this example to your children.

Follow the lead of the good Bishop Nicholas, not St. Claus. Well, finally, my last random reflection on Christmas. I hope it's edifying to you. My final reflection is why is this season anticipating Christmas called Advent? Advent means coming or arrival.

Advent looks forward to the first arrival of Jesus Christ into the world that he made. But savvy Christians also know that Christmas anticipates its second Advent when he returns to redeem his own, renew a fallen creation, and judge the wicked. The Lutheran Church has long recognized this facet of Christmas. And on the third Sunday in Advent, they pray this. Almighty God, you once called John the Baptist to give witness to the coming of your Son and to prepare his way.

Grant us, your people, the wisdom to see your purpose today and the openness to hear your will that we may witness to Christ's coming. And so prepare his way through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. From the Lutheran Book of Worship. So know this, at every Christmas, dear listener, Christ's first Advent is only half the story.

Use as well this Christmas season to anticipate his second Advent. And in that regard, knowing that he will come again, put your faith in him now for all of the work of salvation that he accomplished at his first Advent. And he will then complete that salvation as he promised at his second Advent. The Apostle Paul puts it this way, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Unquote from the Apostle Paul. These are some of my random thoughts indeed on Christmas. And I hope that you've been edified by them and enjoy them.

We certainly do appreciate those of you who listen to our program. And we have brainstormed and thought about this a little bit. We've met many of you and talked with you sometimes on the phone. But what New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church would like to do in the coming new year is sponsor a dinner every month, a spaghetti fellowship dinner. When we invite you who listen to our radio program, you may be members of other churches, you may not be members of any church, but we invite you to come and visit us to meet me, Pastor David Bass, and some of our members at New Geneva, five o'clock on the last Wednesday of every month.

It's going to begin then in January, January 25. It will be 5 p.m. Wednesday at our church in our fellowship hall. And we will serve you a spaghetti dinner. We can sit and talk and chat about some of the radio spots perhaps or any issue under the sun. So we would just invite you to join us.

In the meantime, until January 25, that's the Wednesday night. We pray that you would join us for worship too. New Geneva Meets for Holy Worship Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information and to reserve a spot at those dinners at 523-0196. And we also invite you to our website.

Our church website is newgenevaopc.org. And then we have a second website in which we have cataloged our messages from the last year and a half, the radio messages. You can sample those too. And that website is omnispotestas.org. Let me spell that for you.

O-M-N-I-S-P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S.org. Omnisprotestas.org. O-M-N-I-S-P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S.org.