"So the birth may have occurred earlier, before they left the fields?"
"Very likely. However, the tradition of a late-December Nativity is eighteen centuries old, and I'm not messing with that."
"Still, if they were traveling in December, nighttime temperatures would have been freezing." His wife pondered this, shaking her head. "Just think! All that misery over taxes!"
"Some things," he said, "never change."
A conversation between Tim Kavanagh and his wife Cynthia in Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon
"So have you ever been accused of being a pagan because you celebrate Christmas?"
That was the opening line of our pastor's sermon last week. It sure made us sit up and take note. No, we had not, but he has since a family member has become part of a church that celebrates nothing "extra" scriptural.
Extra scriptural? Didn't the Shepherds and Wise Men go to worship the child?
This entire discussion has given John and me plenty to ponder in the week since. Ultimately, I celebrate Christmas because I will not be silent when all the world focuses, even for one brief golden moment, on the Christ of Christmas. What a sneaky strategy on the part of the evil one to get Christians to stop celebrating Christmas. What a lowdown trick!
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. ~Titus 1:15
Merry Christmas to You!
