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. And today I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to everybody out there who listens to this program. And I just appreciate you so much and appreciate your loyalty, your faithfulness.

Just get so much good feedback from the community to this radio broadcast. And so it's very gratifying to me as a pastor. And I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. And for those of you who issue saying Merry Christmas, I would like to wish you a Happy Holidays because Happy Holiday, the word holiday, you may think is neutral. The word holiday, those who are opposed to Christmas use instead of Christ's Mass, Christmas, but actually that word holiday is a contraction for holy days.

So we've got you either way. We've either got you with a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holy Days because the days around this time of year are indeed holy because they encompass other 12 days of Christmas, for example. But today I'd like to share with you some random thoughts on Christmas, some 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?

Do you find yourself more open to hearing about Jesus and his life? I hope so. There's something about this man's life and death that attracts people like no other. And the Apostle Paul put it very succinctly when he said, 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. And that's from Galatians chapter four.

Now 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 he was born under the old covenant of works that we could never perfectly complete. And he was born under this old covenant of works in order that he might redeem those who were under the law, that is, 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 in every circumstance in which he found himself.

And he thereby obeyed for us because he was our federal head, that is, 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. And there are many simple as well as complex components of Christmas, many of which we may lack information. For example, where do we derive the name for this day?

Christmas. The word Christmas is actually a contraction of two words, Christ's Mass. 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 assigned October 4, upon which a meal and prayer and mass are said for said saint. Likewise, the feast day for Mary, Mother of God, is celebrated on January 1 of every year, in which a mass is said in the Roman Catholic Church in her name.

One might then ask, when is a mass said for the Savior, Jesus Christ? Oh, the answer is quite simple. Upon Christmas 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 we get this word Christmas? Nothing comes to us in a vacuum, does it?

Christ's Mass, December 25, is a feast day upon which presents are exchanged, feasts are eaten, and religious services are observed. And so elevated has this feast day become that it is observed not only by the Roman Catholic Church, but by all Christians everywhere. And you also see why we get our word holiday as a contraction as well. Christmas is a contraction. Holiday is a contraction as well, as I mentioned before, for holy days.

So you can tell your secular friends who hate Christmas that they are really saying and saluting Christmas by calling it holiday, because it is a contraction for holy days. So we got them either way, brothers and sisters. Well, also, what do you think that December 25 was chosen for Christ's Mass? Why do you think that that's the case? There are two competing theories, too.

My random thoughts on Christmas here, these are one of those random thoughts. Why was December 25 chosen as the particular date for Christ's Mass? And there's only one which really holds up to historical scrutiny, but let's examine both of them. Number one, December 25 was chosen in order to correspond to the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, which is the pagan feast for the god Saturn. Now 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 amongst pagans, firewood could be burned, animals slaughtered and consumed for protein, and daily labor ceased for at least 12 hours or so in a holiday, a holy day. In fact, we have a letter from Pope Gregory the Great to a missionary to Britain that pagan temples and festivals were to be converted into Christian churches and festivals in order to facilitate the transition of pagans to Christians. So December 25, the day of Christ's Mass, was one of those days.

But the second competing theory, and the one which I prefer, is that December 25 was chosen because it was figured to be precisely nine months after the church calculated Jesus' birth from his conception. Yes, this is the better option. Figuring from Christ's conception, we arrive at December 25. 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 on March 25 or 14 Nisan in the Jewish calendar.

And this places his birth nine months later on December 25. And the great theologian St. Augustine notes, and I quote him, 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 he was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th, unquote, from St. Augustine.

Well, if that's not interesting for you, and it sure is for me, here's another random fact of which you might not be aware concerning Christmas. Maybe you are. Did you know that rank pagan unbelievers were far more conscious of Jesus' birth than his own people? Now, the Bible tells us this. Pagan unbelievers were far more conscious of Jesus' birth than his own people.

That's the thrust of the account of the visit of the Magi or the wise men from the East. In 586 BC, the Chaldeans, the pagan magicians of Babylon, who were in service to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the pagan magicians, the Chaldeans, overran and conquered Judah, just as her prophets had predicted when they said, and the Lord said, from 2 Kings 23, 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 Israel was carried away. Everything of value Babylonians took, everything they found in Jerusalem, including the sacred scriptures, that is, the Bible of the Jews. And the thing about these Chaldean pagan scholars is that they actually read the material that they captured and stole. This happens with every great empire, dear listener.

Those bookish souls who love to pour over pages and documents and scrolls exist everywhere, and I confess, I'm one of them. But these scholars assiduously studied and understood what they read, too. Thus, they studied the prophecies concerning a Savior, one of which is from Numbers 24. 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, unquote. Oh, when the Magi in Babylon saw a phenomenon in the sky that is 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 shall come out of Jacob. A star was to come. A king or a scepter was about to rise out of Israel.

What should we do? Well, pack up and beat feet to Israel, and that's what they did. They were the first to greet and pay homage to this king who would rule the world. That's the background. When you read in Matthew chapter 2, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in 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, unquote. They were more informed than the sleepy-headed scribes and Pharisees of Israel, who ostensibly studied the text and knew it inside and out. This is one of the points that Matthew intends to make. Even Gentiles were more receptive to the Messiah than his own people. Well, brothers and sisters, another favorite random reflection of mine, a random reflection on Christmas, is also considering the 12 days of Christmas.

What a rich heritage we have in this blessed tradition, the 12 days of Christmas. What comes to mind for you when you hear the 12 days of Christmas being sung. And the song begins on the first day of Christmas, much your 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 Christmas 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. Well, not so in the Eastern Orthodox churches. No, 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. Epiphany, which is the Greek word for appearance, it's ostensibly the day when the Magi appeared in order to worship this newborn king.

That's when Christmas ends in the East, at least, on January 6. In between, there are 12 feast days when a whole spectrum of spiritual moments are celebrated. How much is revealed about Christ in these 12 feast days, this excellent tradition? Well, for example, on December 26 is the Feast of St. Stephen, which is a traditional day for giving from the abundance of Christmas and giving to the poor, the Feast of St. Stephen. Now, if you know the hymn, Good King Wenceslas, you know the entire point of the hymn is that the king, on the Feast of St. Stephen, spies a poor man come in sight gathering winter fuel, right?

And Good King Wenceslas orders his page, bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs, hither thou and I will see him dine when we bear him hither, unquote. It was a feast day for St. Stephen, the first deacon of the church in Acts. And deacons traditionally make provision for the poor out of the treasury of the church. And so this day is set aside to lavish a king's abundance on those less fortunate. So do this, dear Christian, go to the soup kitchen, bring steaks, go to the city of refuge and replenish the store of turkey 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, December 27th as another example is a feast day for St. John, the only one of the 12 disciples who did not die a martyr's death, but a natural death. A mass is said for him on December 27th, the disciple who wrote of the incarnation of Jesus, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. December 28th is a feast day of the holy innocence when a mass is said for the children murdered by Herod, the monster who tried to sweep up the newborn baby Jesus in his dragnet of Holocaust.

No, these kids were not martyrs like St. Stephen, who died heroically in a vision of the glorified Christ. No, they were not heroes like the apostles who died consciously witnessing to the risen Christ. No, rather the church asserts, and I think they do so rightly, that these innocents died for Christ nevertheless because they died unjustly before they had a chance to know or to will. In celebrating the holy innocence, we remember the victims of other crimes as well, children of abortion, children of war, or children who die of parental abuse.

So each feast day 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 of milking or golden rings or partridges in a pear tree. Even Epiphany celebrates not only the day on which the wise men arrive to worship the newborn king, but also the day on which the gospel has begun to be proclaimed. Christ's manifestation to the nation, symbolized in these pagan Gentile kings who now have the Savior revealed to them.

Well, another modern random reflection on Christmas that I find surprises many people is that the genealogy in Matthew is also an integral part of the Christmas story too, dear listener. What? You may say, come on, pastor, no boring list of names can be a part of the wondrous story of Christ's nativity. No, Matthew thinks differently. Name me one Christmas carol about the genealogy, for example.

I've seen plenty of dramatizations about the holy family, found no room at the end, they returned to the manger, shepherds who tended their flock by night, visited by singing angels, and even Herod killing the infants of Bethlehem. But I've never seen Cecil B. DeMille or Steven Spielberg dramatize Jesus' genealogy. Now that's an oxymoron. A genealogy cannot by definition be dramatic, can it? But any self-respecting Jew of the first century would shake his head in disbelief at this kind of attitude.

And they'd ask you why you could, on the one hand, say you relied on the Bible for truth, while on the other hand, dismissing genealogies. Genealogies were utterly necessary to the life of a young baby, and this for several reasons. I'll give you two. 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. This had to be demonstrated by genealogy. The covenants which God cut with Abraham and David both promised that the Savior of mankind would descend from their lives. 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 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. To David, that promise was made. And so, when the Messiah appeared, he would have to establish his lineage right out of the gate to even gain a hearing amongst Jews. No Jew worth a salt would expect anything less, especially those responsible for authenticating these things.

Dear listener, it's 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. 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. Oh, few people realize that the nativity actually begins with a genealogy. Turn to Matthew chapter 1.

You'll find that the birth narrative of Jesus begins not with the angels or shepherds or Joseph or Mary, but with a dry, boring, and trivial, to us anyway, genealogy. But it would not have been boring and trivial for its first audience, that is, Jews who expected Messiah's credentials to be authenticated before anything else was said about him. The genealogy in Matthew does precisely this. It's entirely fitting to begin the birth narratives with it. And then thirdly, Christ's genealogy gathers up all of fallen humanity in it, too.

Oh, that's one of the beauties of Christ's genealogy is that it gathers up all of fallen humanity in it, us as well, Gentiles, all of us. There are actually some very poignant moments of drama in the genealogy. If you know your Old Testament, how many of you know, for example, that Jesus is a descendant of incest and prostitution, and that by way of Judah and Tamar. Go over that story in Genesis. Jesus stands in the line of Perez, son of Tamar, who connived and cajoled her father-in-law, Judah, to bear her a 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. Shocking. If you read the genealogy of our Savior carefully, you notice that there's a lot of saving to do. So the next time you pick up Matthew and begin to read, don't skip over the genealogy with which he begins his narrative. It's an integral part of the story of salvation by grace.

And then finally, we would be remiss to neglect the history of Santa Claus, who is really a pale image. The modern Santa Claus is a pale, pale image of the real Saint Nicholas. What a contrast between the legend and reality, if you know anything about it. The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the 3rd century in the village of Patara. At the time, the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey.

His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, his parents died in an epidemic when Nicholas was still a young boy. But 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, the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God, and he was made bishop of Myra while he was still a young man. And 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 as well.

Well, under the Roman emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, and he was exiled and imprisoned to him. And after his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea, that famous council deciding indeed the deity of Christ in A.D. 325. And he died December 6, 343, in Myra, and he was buried in his cathedral church. One story of St. Nicholas tells of a poor man with three daughters. Now, in those days, a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value, a dowry.

And the larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. And so this poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, though, on three different occasions, 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.

And this leads, of course, 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 also, St. Nicholas is a gift giver. So, dear listener, banish the notion of cartoon character Santa Claus that's come to take the place of the real St. Nicholas.

He'd weep if he saw today what's 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. He cared for them in an age when infant mortality hovered around 20%. And then, disease and poverty also 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. The good bishop ministered to children in a disciplined fashion all year round. He didn't work year round at the North Pole with an army of elves in order to disgorge an avalanche of toys in one night. That is, Christmas Eve in an orgy of consumerism.

St. Nicholas followed the example of Jesus Christ, and he did all in Christ's name. St. Nicholas was not the secular, godless cardboard cutout that our society makes him out to be. So, remember this, inculcate this, teach this example to your children. Follow the lead of the good Bishop Nicholas, not Santa Claus. And then, finally, my last random reflection on Christmas.

Why is the season anticipating Christmas called Advent? Advent. Advent. Advent means coming or arrival, and it looks forward to the first arrival of Jesus Christ into the world that he made. But savvy Christians also know that Christmas anticipates his second Advent when he returns to redeem his own, to renew a fallen creation, and to judge the wicked.

Now, the Lutheran Church has long recognized this facet of Christmas, and I want to give you one of the prayers. On the third Sunday in Advent, the Lutheran Church says and prays, Almighty God, you once called John the Baptist to give witness to the coming of your Son and 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.

I love that prayer. Know this, that at every Christmas, Christ's first Advent is only half the story. Use this Christmas season to anticipate his second Advent, dear listener. Put your faith in him now for all of the work of salvation that he accomplished at his first Advent and the completion of that work at his second Advent. As Paul says, For the Lord will descend from the 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. Come, Lord Jesus. Oh, yes. Come, Lord Jesus, we pray.

This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. See what we're about, and you'll receive a warm welcome once again. Come and join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard in Idaho Falls. And you can call me for further information at area code 208-523-0196. For information, once again, that's area code 208-523-0196, and Merry Christmas.