Archive for December, 2011

“I will place no value on anything I have or possess except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ.”

David Livingstone (1813-1873) Scottish Medical Missionary in World Missions and World Peace by Caroline Atwater Mason (West Medford, MA: The Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, 1916) 255.

“A man can hold his own here only if he can combine simplicity with wisdom…To be simple is to fix one’s eye solely on the simple truth of God at a time when all concepts are being confused, distorted and turned upside down…The wise man is the one who sees reality as it is, and who sees into the depths of things. That is why only that man is wise who sees reality in God…There is no true simplicity without wisdom and there is no wisdom without simplicity.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Ethics, ed. Eberhard Bethge (New York: Macmillan, 1955) 70-71.

“Contemporary culture is plagued by the passion to possess… Christian simplicity frees us from this modern mania…It allows us to see material things for what they are–goods to enhance life, not to oppress life. People once again become more important than possessions. Simplicity enables us to live lives of integrity in the face of the terrible realities of our global village.”

Richard Foster in Freedom of Simplicity (New York: HarperCollins, 1981) 3.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children let us not love with words and tongue but with actions and in truth? 1 John 3:16-18

“Here John is saying that because God, out of tender mercy for humanity and out of love for us, sent us the most inward treasure of His riches, the dearest of His jewels, His only Son, for our atonement, then we also should show love to one another. And how much more then should we place our temporal treasures before each other for the common use in common community. If one does not have that much love for the others, how can he be so shameless as to hope to enjoy the love of God, who gave his most precious son for us? If you want to have part in the love of God, so that He will give you part in the possessions of heaven along with all of His children, how then can you hang on to your own little beggar’s bag, which you will not here give over to the children of God, to have it in common with you and you with them? Are they not worth it to you?”

Peter Walpot (1521-1578) in “True Yieldedness and the Christian Community of Goods” excerpts from sections 117-118 in Daniel Liechty Early Anabaptist Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994) 178-179.

“One of the main benefits of giving is its effect on the giver. Our need to give is every bit as desperate as the poor’s need to receive…In a paradox of faith, the one who shares…comes away enriched, not impoverished.”

Philip Yancey in Church: Why Bother? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998) 33-34.

Boxing Day takes its name from the ancient practice of opening boxes that contained money given to those who had given their service during the year. It was also the day when alms boxes, placed in churches on Christmas Day, were opened. The money was then given to the priest or used to help the poor and needy. Another name for Boxing Day used to be Offering Day.

The earliest boxes of all were not box shaped, as you might imagine, nor were they made of wood. They were, in fact, earthenware containers with a slit in the top (rather like piggy banks). These earthenware ‘boxes’ were used by the Romans for collecting money to help pay for the festivities at the winter Saturnalia celebrations.

During the seventeenth century it became the custom for apprentices to ask their master’s customers for money at Christmas time. They collected this money in earthenware containers, which could be opened only by being smashed, and on Boxing Day the apprentices would eagerly have a ‘smashing time’, hence the expression, seeing how much they had collected.

A later tradition, and the one which has survived to this day, was the distribution of Christmas ‘boxes’, gifts of money to people who had provided services throughout the year – the postman, the lamp-lighter, parish beadles, parish watchmen, dustmen and turn-cocks – which happened on the day after Christmas Day.

This history of Boxing day, also known as, Offering Day, was taken from www.thebritishshoppe.com/boxing_day_history.htm

Thank you,
scandalous God,
for giving yourself to the world
not in the powerful and extraordinary,
but in weakness and the familiar:
in a baby: in bread and wine.

Thank you
for offering, at journey’s end, a new beginning;
for setting, in the poverty of a stable,
the richest jewel of your love;
for revealing, in a particular place,
your light for all nations.

Thank you
for bringing us to Bethlehem, House of Bread,
where the empty are filled,
and the filled are emptied;
where the poor find riches,
and the rich recognize their poverty;
where all who kneel and hold out their hands
are unstintingly fed.

Kate Compston, Bread for Tomorrow: Praying with the World’s Poor (London: SPCK, 1992).

“On this Christmas Eve, I am pausing to remember the hardship, devotion, and love of one woman for one child. She suffered ignominy, discomfort, and ostracism. Her love and self-sacrifice changed everything, because her son came for a unique purpose: us and our world.”

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” Luke 1:46-55

Howard Freeman in 24 December email from Zoey Creative Development. For info, visit: www.zoeycreativedevelopment.com

“To worship God rather than idols of our own making, we must allow God to break apart the idols we create, through the Spirit’s relentless and intimate work within our lives.”

Miroslav Volf in Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005) 23.

“A feast is approaching which is the most solemn and awe-inspiring of all feasts…. What is it? The birth of Christ according to the flesh. In this feast namely Epiphany, holy Easter, Ascension and Pentecost have their beginning and their purpose. For if Christ hadn’t been born according to the flesh, he wouldn’t have been baptised, which is Epiphany. He wouldn’t have been crucified, which is Easter. He wouldn’t have sent the Spirit, which is Pentecost. So from this event, as from some spring, different rivers flow—these feasts of ours are born.”
John Chrysostom, Homily VI: On St. Philogonius (23-24)

This excerpt is from his homily intended to rally Christians in Antioch (c. 386) to observe this holy day which celebrated God’s greatest gift to mankind, Jesus.

Today, winter solstice is observed on 22 December, however under Julian (361-363) the reform of the Roman calendar placed winter solstice on 25 December. Prior to the “Christ Mass” being celebrated on that day, the pagan festival, sol invictus, celebrated that the sun had returned to shine.

As early as the time of Pope Liberius (354) the birth of Jesus Christ was observed on 25 December, and would become known as the feast of the “true son.” On this day, Chrysostom was urging believers in the East to observe this holy day to unify the Church in the ancient world.

Later, the term “Christ Mass” became Christmas. Some would say “the rest is history” but I would say “the rest is generosity” because Christmas celebrates God’s greatest act of generosity toward mankind. From the spiritual and material abundance we receive from him, let us, in turn, give abundantly.

For further reading, see: Rosa Giorgi, Saints: A Year of Faith in Art (2006).