Faith Venture

We have been discussing the origin of celebrating Christmas this week. Evidently the early Christians were not concerned with Jesus birth. Mark, the earliest Gospel, has no mention. Matthew is mostly concerned with placing Jesus in the Jewish tradition and notes only a few details. Luke was writing a Greek or Roman style history and he writes the most.
As Christianity was being established official Roman religion, a traditional Roman celebration was morphed into a Christian one. Early American Christians did not celebrate the holiday calling it frivolous. But the idea of gift giving was appealing to rnerchants, so they promoted the holiday. Early drawings of St. Nicholas were done for a magazine. The present form of Santa Claus is derived from an advertising campaign of Coca-Cola.
Those of us who are trying to turn the holiday into a time of Spiritual reflection are going against a 150 year (or more) tradition. Still, it remains for each of us to find our way to God.

One of the Spiritual Disciplines is Celebration. So, celebrate Jesus’ birth with your family and faith community. And with those around you. Kick back, have a good time, good food, good conversation. May your day be blessed.

The Advent of the Son of God, Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords. It happened more than 20 years before the birth of Jesus (27 BC). It was an event perpetrated by Caesar Augustus (The Illustrious One).

That’s not the only parallel of Jesus’ life with Rome. Some scholars think that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem from the east paralleled that of Rome’s representative to Jerusalem, Pontius Pilate, from the west.

Jesus’ teaching essentially turned the world view of Rome on its head. Where everything about Rome was power and glory, Jesus taught the Spirit of God. Living with God meant not seeking power over others, but instead it meant living with God, eschewing power and replacing that with serving others.

We ignore the power and influence of Rome over the events in the New Testament at the peril of not understanding how radical were the teachings. And how dangerous.

The Advent and birth of Jesus was celebrated by a few at the time, but by a billion people now. The birth of Augustus’ reign was celebrated by the entire Roman world in 27 BC (and for years later), but is almost forgotten now.

Does power come because I said I’m powerful, or does it come from God? I think we have been shown the answer.

Paul had sort of a formula for his missionary campaigns. He’d show up in a town. Go to the weekly meeting at the local synagogue. Get to speak. Then he would argue from the Hebrew scriptures how the history of God’s interaction with the Jews pointed to the coming of a Messiah–but a different kind of Messiah than most had expected. Then he’d tell the story of Jesus and about how he did all the things that the scriptures said a Messiah would do. Then he’d proclaim the resurrection and life in Christ.

As I read all these stories in Acts, I’m struck by how people came to believe. I think that Paul’s message got him a hearing. Many people really seemed to come into belief not from the message as much as from Paul (and Barnabas and others) himself. His personality and presence reflected the reality of the new life with Jesus. Then he would perform some sort of sign that would show the power of God. Then more would believe.

We all have seen the studies that social scientists have conducted about communication–about how your actions and gestures need to match your message. We all instinctively know to beware the person with the smile on his or her lips but whose eyes aren’t smiling.

It’s actually sort of scary, isn’t it? That when you talk to someone about Jesus that they will be looking at your presence, your life, your personality? Does your presence invoke some or all of the fruits of the Spirit such that you are “smiling with your eyes while you’re smiling with your lips”?