Do you realize that at this time next year we’ll be staring 2020 in the face?
Where has this year gone, some say. I say, Where has this century gone?!
At any rate, I do wish you all a blessed New Year. May God’s grace be yours in abundance. May His kingdom and His righteousness be your guiding principle, your mission statement in 2019.
“Wise men still seek Him,” the signs say. I saw one the night my friend and I cruised through a community lavishly decorated with lights and Santas and candy canes and an occasional nativity scene. Years past when I was a teacher, I even had those words as the title of a Christmas bulletin board in my classroom.
The phrase, layered with meaning as it is, sounds sort of profound. And Christ centered.
But here’s the thing. In my experience, it doesn’t seem like we seek God so much as God seeks us.
First, God isn’t hiding. He has purposefully and dramatically made Himself known. That’s what the first Christmas and the ensuing thirty-tree years were all about. Jesus came to show humankind the Father.
Secondly, people seem to be more interested in dodging and ducking and hiding from God than in seeking Him. Of course many flat out deny and reject Him. C. S. Lewis wrote of his reluctance, his fight, actually, against God. He called Him his adversary once and wrote this of his conversion:
That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. (Surprised by Joy)
It seems to me, the people who fall into the category of “seeker” are more apt to be hiders, ducking behind the quest for the spiritual in order to avoid God and His claim on their lives. Scripture says clearly that anyone who truly seeks, finds.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! (Matt. 7:7-11)
Consequently, it seems to me the seeking process isn’t some protracted, drawn out, involved study of world religions or long nights of deep meditation. Those kinds of things are hiding tactics, more likely to obfuscate than to reveal. God has told us what we need to do to find Him: look at His Son Jesus.
Jesus said to [Thomas], “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
So there’s Christmas in a nutshell. When we look at Jesus come down from Heaven, we are seeing the Father: His love for the lost, His sacrificial heart, His generosity, His mercy and grace, His forgiveness, His humility, His desire for reconciliation and peace, His goodness.
Do wise men seek Him today as they once did over two thousand years ago? Those ancient magi thought they were going to find the King of the Jews, and they did. But they also found the Creator of the world, the Redeemer of Mankind, the Friend of sinners.
Whoever seeks Jesus on those terms is bound to find Him.
This article is a re-post of one that has appeared here twice before: originally in December, 2013, then again in December, 2015.
I think it was a message on the radio by Pastor Greg Laurie that got me thinking about the beauty of Christmas. In some ways Christmas should be beautiful because we have a beautiful Savior whose birth we are commemorating. It’s sort of like the now-ignored idea that when we go to church we wear our “Sunday best,” because God deserves our best.
But that idea morphed into an unhealthy tradition that actually kept some people away from church. So I wonder, is our beautiful Christmas doing the same?
First, the original Christmas was far from beautiful. Even the glory of the Lord that shone upon the shepherds caused them to be terrified. Not just a little disturbed. Not just mildly agitated. Terrified! That’s not so beautiful. These were men who stayed with their sheep during the night so that they would be in position to protect them. From robbers. From wild animals. From wandering into the dark. They likely were prepared to face all kinds of danger. But God’s glory terrified them.
Of course the message the angel delivered to them was beautiful. Joy. A Savior. The long expected King, born today! But that meant He was a newborn. Who couldn’t yet focus His eyes. Who had no bladder control. Who couldn’t eat solid food. Who needed to be burped. Who had a feeding trough for a bed. He couldn’t sit up or crawl or smile or speak or do anything king-like. He could sleep and cry and breast-feed and not much more. Not so beautiful when you think about it. But there is something beautiful about babies.
But they were in a stable, or wherever the manger was located. Not a clean hospital or a nicely decorated nursery. No cute matching outfit, not even a soft receiving blanket. Just strips of cloth wrapped about Him to protect Him from whatever was in that manger. Straw? Or had Joseph cleaned it out as best he could and the Christ lay with his step-dad’s cloak beneath Him? Had Mary the help of a midwife to cut the umbilical cord, to take care of the afterbirth? Was she able to get a quick bath before the shepherds showed up? Whatever. We can be fairly certain that Jesus’s surroundings weren’t so very pastoral as we often picture them. Not so peaceful or so beautiful.
In spite of this, the shepherds believed the message the angel had delivered. This was the Christ, born to be the Savior. Their Savior. They determined to go see this thing “that had happened,” not because they were skeptical and wanted to see if what the angel said was really true, but because they believed it was true. Their faith was beautiful.
Maybe the least beautiful part of the original Christmas was the fact that Jesus came to earth to be the once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world. That meant He was destined for the cross of Calvary, that the red of Christmas is His blood, shed for all who believe in Him.
The green? Perhaps the evergreen of eternal life that is ours because of Christ.
So the red and green of Christmas is truly beautiful, but not that first Christmas. The suffering of death was still ahead for the baby as He lay in the manger. And the thing about shed blood, about sacrifice, is that it’s not beautiful as it is happening. It’s painful and messy and full of loss and sorrow and, in Christ’s case, betrayal, rejection, disappointment, confusion. Not beautiful.
But after the fact, the wonder of His love is proven by the nail prints in His hands, the hole in His side, the red wine that represents His blood, the broken bread that represents His body. All the evidences of Christ, alive are beautiful, sacred, filled with such meaning they cause us to weep even today.
So which is it? Is Christmas beautiful or not?
I suppose it depends on whether or not we scratch the surface. Today we make all the outside trappings beautiful—decorated trees, Christmas wrapping, music, light displays, special Christmas cookies, cozy and warm settings with snow falling outside. You know, the Kincaid picture (the kind I love so much).
But what’s underneath? If we don’t get to the Savior who brings joy and peace, who solves our sin problem, who gave Himself as God’s gift to the world, then all the external beauty we manufacture stands in stark contrast to the reality of that first Christmas. I guess it’s up to each of us to make Christmas beautiful indeed.
Call me cynical, but I find the call to put Christ in Christmas to be a suspect cause.
I do think there’s a legal issue at stake—the US Constitution guarantees the freedom to express and practice our religious beliefs, but that freedom is slowly being squeezed out of the public arena. The ban on such expression is just one more instance.
And yet, I can’t help but think too many Christians are willing to fall on the wrong sword.
Was Paul beaten because he wanted to put up a manger scene? Was Stephen stoned because he insisted on saying “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy holidays”?
I’m not suggesting we should roll over and go the way of the world just to get along. But I think we too often draw a line in the sand over the symbolic rather than the significant.
First of all, Christ should not be in Christmas only. Christ should be part of our lives, and I don’t think we should approach Christmas in a way that is particularly different from any other day as far as our witness for Christ is concerned. Hanging up a “He is the reason for the season” sign falls short, in my way of thinking, because He is the reason for EVERY season, for every breath I take—or He ought to be.
Then, too, becoming angry at and hateful toward those who disagree and who want to eliminate the religious from Christmas seems to contradict much of the Christmas message. Joy to the world, not anger. Peace on earth, not enmity. Of course, joy and peace come through knowing Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior—no other way. But when Christians treat non-Christians as the enemy, as the ones against whom we are to fight, then we’re missing an opportunity to take them the message of redemption that first manifested to the world in God’s incarnation as a little baby.
If we can no longer put up a symbol of God come down, perhaps we need to think more creatively and see how we can show that message ourselves. When was the last time we served in a soup kitchen or made a blanket for a homeless person? Have we ever volunteered to teach English as a second language or tutor at our local public school . . . for free? Have we encouraged our church leaders to reach out to the needy in our community—families of those in prison, unmarried women who chose to give birth to their babies.
The point is, God did come down. And because of His redemption, each person who believes in Him and accepts the forgiveness He made available through Jesus, is now a Christmas tree ornament, a bright light announcing Emmanuel.
So do we need to fight to keep Christ in Christmas? As long as His followers live for Him, there’s no way anyone can keep Him out of Christmas, or any other day, for that matter.
This post is a revised version of an article that first appeared here in November, 2012.
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 9:6
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
A child born, not a son born. The Son is preexistent, the I AM, and did not come into being that day when Mary gave birth. God gave us His Son. He left heaven, emptied Himself, took the form of a bondservant, and was found in the likeness of Man.
He who fashioned Man in His image, took the likeness of the one He had fashioned. And as a child, He was born—the humble relinquishing of His place at the right hand of the Father in order to secure for us a place at His heavenly banquet table.
I can’t conceive of a greater example of love. The Father giving His beloved Son. The Son obeying the Father and leaving His heavenly home to come to earth. The Triune God expressed His love for us in giving Jesus and in His coming in the form of Man.
In that one act God showed His generosity, His self-sacrifice. But He also showed what His love means: it’s not sentimentality or warm, fuzzy feelings. It’s not tit for tat or “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” It has no limits and is freely given. Further, God’s love “has legs”—it’s not just an emotional expression but it has action to back it up.
God’s love is not about God spoiling us. He doesn’t treat us like a sugar daddy. His love has our best in mind—a spiritual and eternal best. Consequently, God doesn’t hesitate to correct us as part of His love for us. He will not withhold discipline for fear that we might not like Him as well any more. He’s also not concerned about people concluding that they might be nicer than He is. He knows the truth and His love doesn’t compromise the truth.
In fact, God’s love is an extension of His character. He can no more stop loving than He can stop being God.
What did it mean for Immanuel, God with us, to take up residence outside of glory? He was subject to all the stuff of Mankind—the passions and joys and hopes and successes, but also the dreams cut short, the sadnesses, the temptations.
Indeed, the temptations. Scripture says He was tempted in every way we are, yet without sin:
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15)
Impossible, some may think. How could He be tempted to OD on computer games or look at dirty pictures?
We know He lived life among us for over thirty years. At different junctures during His public ministry, the religious leaders laid traps for Him, trying to trip Him up so they could catch Him in an offense they could prosecute by law.
But what about those years before He began preaching and healing? Isn’t it likely that the strains of His blended family created temptations? Perhaps He also faced noisy neighbors during those years or the abuse of a bully. Because of the wedding in Cana, we know He had to deal with the expectations of His mother. Perhaps He also dealt with jealous brothers.
Later He may have had to deal with the temptation to abandon His life work to fit in with the role His family likely expected Him to fill—that of elder brother, settling down, marrying, and caring for their widowed mother.
Unfortunately we too often reduce Jesus’s temptations to three—the notorious ones recorded in the gospels for us where Satan entices Him to made bread from stones, to swap worship for power, and to test God’s promise. Lots of people have lots to say about these temptations—the kinds, the depth, the significance. Meanwhile, we’re overlooking a little clause in Mark 1:13.
And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. (Emphasis mine)
So on top of the thirty years of temptations Jesus encountered by living life among us, he also had an intense forty days of Satan throwing whatever he could at Jesus. Whatever we face today, Jesus faced a comparable temptation.
But His coming among us served two greater purposes than offering us an understanding heart to turn to when temptations crowd in upon us.
First, He showed us God. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father, He told His disciples. Paul said, “He is the image of the invisible God,” and “In Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.” We look at Jesus, we see God—which makes sense, of course, because He IS God.
However, without the second reason, His coming would have amounted to cruel taunting. Here’s God, a-ha-ha-ha-hah, you can see but you can’t approach. Jesus came precisely for the reason that we needed what only a perfect man could give—His blood, for the remission of sins. Not for His own sins, because He had none. He poured out His life’s blood so that our sins could be forgiven.
In so doing, He opened up the way for us to be reconciled to God:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16, emphasis added)
A Child come and a Son given as an expression of God’s love!
This post is a revised version of one that appeared here in December, 2014.
I’ve heard the story of the wisemen since I was a child. At one point, one of my favorite Christmas carols was “We Three Kings.” But when I learned the Bible never calls them kings and that we don’t actually know if there were three or three dozen, it kind of spoiled the song for me.
Largely their part in the Christmas story has been a mystery to me. I mean, is there some truth to astrology—God does tell our stories in the stars? Or were the wisemen experiencing a miracle? But how can you know to look for a miracle? Unless, as some think, these particular wisemen, more accurately called magi, came from Persia and had access to or had been influenced by Daniel’s writing, including some Messianic prophecy.
Mostly, we don’t know. It’s a mystery.
But what we do know is really interesting, and the pastor who preached at my church this Sunday drew a really interesting contrast. Others have done so in part, but there’s more than we often consider.
I’m talking about the contrast between the magi and King Herod of Judea.
The magi showed up in Jerusalem asking to see the new king because they wanted to worship him. That, in itself, is a little startling. I mean, Caesar likely took the role of a god in the Roman empire, but I don’t think the lesser kings who ruled in out-of-the-way places like Judea would have talked about themselves as deity.
In other words, there’s a spiritual aspect to the magi’s visit. They didn’t just come to make a political statement, though that would not have been unheard of. At various times in the Old Testament one king or another was traveling to a neighboring country or sending emissaries to honor a new king, the son of one who had recently died.
The thing was, Herod had not yet died and no son of his had recently been born. The magi could only be looking for one person—the promised King of the Jews, the Christ, the Messiah.
Herod knew this, which was why he turned to the Jewish religious leaders to find out where the Christ was to be born. Once he had the location spelled out for him via the scribes and priests who knew the prophecies, he passed the information on to the magi, for one reason and one reason alone: he planned to execute this “new king.”
Apparently historical records all agree about Herod: he was a power-hungry, barbaric ruler who would kill anyone he suspected of trying to usurp his position, including his own sons and his own wife. In other words, all Herod cared about when the magi showed up was putting down a new threat to his power. He wanted to hold on to what he had, at all costs.
The magi, on the other hand, had nothing to gain. Their mission was to give. Yes, the physical gifts they had brought: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But they also had adoration to give because when they came to the house and saw Jesus with Mary and Joseph, they prostrated themselves before the baby and worshiped Him.
Before that, they gave their knowledge—some amount of study had to go into their ability to recognize what this star that they saw rise in the east, referred to. Then there was the planning and the preparation to go to Jerusalem. I mean, you didn’t just hop in the car and take off to another country. Then there was the travel time. Maybe four months, maybe six, maybe eight, followed by the return trip.
In short, the magi went all in. They invested their talent, their resources, their time, their treasure, their worship.
And Herod? He wasn’t willing to invest in anything except a plan to kill the Christ Child.
Sadly, the priests and scribes who gave Herod the information about where the Messiah would be born, responded more like Herod than like the magi. I mean, Bethlehem was maybe five miles from Jerusalem, they knew that was where the Messiah would be born, and they knew the magi were looking for Him, so why didn’t they look too?
I suspect they were just as concerned about holding on to their religious power as Herod was holding on to his political power.
But one more cool thing about the magi: they opened the door to us Gentiles. The Messiah, after all, was King of the Jews. But Gentiles came and worshiped Him. Oh, I suppose the magi could have been of Jewish descent—descendants of those exiled to Babylon years before. But still, they came from a foreign place, which foreshadowed the worldwide ministry Jesus declared: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
When I was teaching English to seventh and eighth graders, we did a speech unit. Students selected poems or prose pieces (and later, puppet scripts), memorized them, and recited them in front of the class.
One of the poems provided was “If Jesus Came To Your House.” It was a little shorter than some, with an easy rhythm and a clear rhyme, so it became a favorite. Over the years, I heard it quite often. The poem was all about what you might do if Jesus came to visit at your house. Would you have to hide some magazines and put the Bible where they’d been, for example.
Of course, today magazines wouldn’t be as much an issue as your computer’s online history. “Would you have to hide the sites you’ve searched” might be a line from the revised version of the poem.
The basic question actually is a good one.
What if Jesus came to my house for His birthday celebration? Would we feel a little awkward around Him, the way you do with that aunt you only see once a year or the great-uncle who starts most of his sentences, “I remember the time …”
Would we want to listen to Jesus’s stories, or would we tell Him to wait until after the game?
Would we ask Him what He got us for Christmas, or would we have a gift for Him waiting under the tree?
If Jesus came to my house on Christmas day, would I have to check my grumbling and complaining because no one is out in the kitchen helping with the dishes? Would we have to finish the argument later about why we didn’t invite the in-laws this year?
Would we find it hard to relax, thinking we had to be on our best behavior for the King, or would we tell Him to make Himself comfortable, then go about our business? Maybe we’d cluster around Him and ask Him to lead us in Christmas carols or ask Him what it was like to be both God and Man at the same time.
Would any of us think to ask Him what it was like to leave Heaven for … here? Or would we think to ask Him what the earth He created was like before sin took effect?
I wonder if we’d scurry around and try to make Him comfortable. You know, give Him the best chair, ask Him what His favorite foods are, and make a last minute grocery store run if need be. I wonder if we’d turn up the heat if we thought He looked cold or ask Him questions to be sure He’s included in the conversation.
I wonder if we’d go beyond trying to make Him comfortable and become concerned about making Him feel special. After all, it is His birthday we’re celebrating. So, do we know what would make Him feel special? It’s an important question.
Would He want us to read the Bible all morning or hold a prayer meeting? Or can we make Him feel special by making the other people we’re with feel special?
I wonder, will Christmas this year look anything like it might if Jesus came to my house?
This post is a lightly edited version of one that appeared here in December, 2010.
As a matter of accuracy, Easter actually “started” before the beginning of time when Jesus committed to saving sinners. In addition Jesus, the coming Messiah, is the focal point throughout the Old Testament—God’s record of His dealings with Man.
Nevertheless, the actual act and fact of God’s Son coming to save all who believe begins with the first Christmas. Yet His coming was never an end in and of itself.
That would be like Santa showing up, just to show up. What child would anticipate for weeks the arrival of a red-suited, rolly-polly, white-bearded stranger who would come in the middle of the night to eat cookies and drink milk? No, the story of Santa Claus only makes children wide-eyed and hopeful because of what he supposedly comes to bring.
Jesus, of course, has the advantage of being real, but would His story have any more impact than Santa’s if it was simply about a baby—even God’s Son—showing up one night long ago? Sure, the events were miraculous. A pregnant virgin, a miraculous star, an angelic announcement—well, actually three angelic announcements, capped by the grand showing of a host of heavenly beings saying, Glory to God in the highest.
Glory to God, indeed!
Not because He’d pulled off the birth—His fullness, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. But because the baby would grow up and become the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In Him, peace with God would be possible, and love, one with another, a reality.
The Victorious King coming as the Suffering Savior was the good news—the very gospel—those shepherds heard that night. No, I don’t think they “got it” any more than Mary and Joseph did. Nevertheless, the events of Easter were underway.
One man got it a week after Jesus was born—eight days later, to be precise. His parents took Him to the temple, as prescribed by Jewish law, and they encountered Simeon:
And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;
For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:25-35, New American Standard Bible)
May we all, like Simeon, have a clear understanding of the significance of this day we commemorate.
Merry Christmas
This post is a lightly edited version of one that appeared here in December, 2010.
A widely celebrated event like Christmas generates all types of art and music, which sometimes overshadows Biblical facts. Did you know what actually happened, though artists’ renditions might show something else? Here are various statements taken from the Bible that might be surprising in light of what we think we know from Christmas carols, cards, nativity scenes, and the like.
• The events surrounding the birth of Christ hinge on an understanding that God can do the impossible. (Luke 1:37)
• Mary was a virgin at the time of Jesus’s birth. (Matthew 1:24-25)
• Jesus’s birth was predicted to Joseph by an angel in a dream. (Matthew 1:20-21)
• Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Joseph’s ancestral home. (Luke 2:4)
• Jesus was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn. (Luke 2:7)
• An angel appeared to a group of shepherds to announce the good news that that day the Savior had been born. (Luke 2:9-11)
• The angel gave the shepherds two signs by which they could identify this Savior: he’d be wrapped in cloths and he’d be in a manger. (Luke 2:12)
• A host of angels joined the first and spoke, rather than sang, praises to God. (Luke 2:13-14)
• The shepherds believed the angel and went to Bethlehem right away to see the Christ Child. In other words, they didn’t go to see if what the angels said was true. They went because they knew they would find the Savior. (Luke 2:15)
• Magi from the east visited Jesus later; they did not arrive the night He was born. (Matthew 2:1, 11, 16)
• These visitors saw, rather than followed, a star in the East and went to Jerusalem in search of the King of the Jews. (Matthew 2:1-2)
• The number of these magi is not specified in Scripture. There may have been three—each giving one of the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But there just as easily could have been a larger group, each giving one of the three types of gifts. (Matthew 2)
• Scripture does not refer to the magi as “kings.” (Matthew 2)
• Herod told the magi to go to Bethlehem. Of course, he first had to ask the learned Jewish scholars. He himself apparently wasn’t knowledgeable concerning the prophecies connected with the Messiah. (Matthew 2:6-8)
• From Jerusalem the magi followed the star and came to Jesus who was now in a house. (Matthew 2:9-11)
Feel free to play the following as you continue blog reading this week.
People in other parts of the world may celebrate Christmas in some ways that are familiar, but in others that contain a national flavor. Here are some items or activities that some people in these nations may include:
• Brazil Nativity Scenes, known as Presépios, set-up in churches and homes in December. Big firework displays occur after Midnight Mass.
• France On December 6, the feast day of Saint-Nicolas, Father Christmas, le Père Noël, brings small gifts and sweets for children.
• India Giant paper lanterns, in the shape of stars, hung on Christmas Eve between houses so that the stars float above you as you walk down the road.
• Ireland A ring of Holly on a front door.
• Japan A secular celebration, thought of as a holiday for lovers, rather than a time to gather with family.
• Kenya Christmas eve some churches dramatizing the whole story of the birth of Christ throughout the night.
• Mexico Celebrated from December 12th to January 6th. Children perform the ‘Posada,’ processions celebrating different parts of the Christmas story, culminating in a fiesta which will usually include one or more piñatas.
• Philippines Christmas carols played in shops as early as September! Formal celebrations start December 16 with nine early morning masses, then mass on Christmas day. Celebrations continue until Epiphany or the Feast of the Three Kings.
• Serbia In the past the father of the family cut a young oak called the ‘Badnjak’ (Christmas Eve tree). Today people buy their Badnjak which they burn like a Yule Log. Churches may have bonfires outside, burning oak branches and Badnjak.
• South Korea An official public holiday. Churches decorate with lights and perhaps with a bright red neon cross on top (which remains in place year round) and have a service on Christmas day, often attended by both Christians and non-Christians.
• Switzerland A meal eaten on Christmas Eve, including a Christmas ham and scalloped potatoes with melted cheese and milk. Desert is often a walnut cake and Christmas cookies.
• Ukraine Celebrated January 7 because they use the old ‘Julian’ calendar for their church festivals. Christmas Trees decorated with artificial spider’s webs in conjunction with the popular story of “The Christmas Spider.”
• Venezuela Colorful displays and presentations: firework shows, Nativity Scenes (Nacimientos), Christmas Trees.
• Zimbabwe Special food—chicken with rice, a very expensive dish and special treat often eaten at Christmas Day parties. Santa sometimes arrives at big stores in a Fire Engine and streets in big cities display colorful Christmas lights.
What traditions have you heard about or experienced in other countries?
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A Christian Worldview of Fiction 