Christmas is our shortest season - often there is only one Sunday between December 25, Christmas Day, and January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany.
Christmas is the season when we become a complete Christian family on earth, as God himself comes to earth in the form of a child.
Christmas is a season of
great joy: the child that God promised would save the world from
its sins was born on Christmas Day after hundreds of years of
waiting. But even as we celebrate the birth of this one special
baby, the Baby Jesus,
we remember the other children who
were killed by King Herod.
When
the Wise Men asked Herod where they could find the child who was
born to become the King of the Jews, Herod became worried, because
he already had a small son whom he wanted to become the King of
Israel.
So Herod ordered that all the babies younger than his own son
should be killed,
so his son would be sure to inherit the kingdom from his father
when he grew up. An angel warned Joseph of the danger in a dream, so Joseph
took Mary and the Baby Jesus to Egypt to
keep them safe. But on the Slaughter of the Holy
Innocents, we remember all those babies who were killed.
The first Festival Day of the season is Christmas Day itself.
The second special day we observe during the Christmas season is the Name of Jesus on January 1. The Baby Jesus was circumcised in a Jewish ceremony called a bris when he was eight days old and given the name Jesus, which is the name the angel Gabriel told Mary to give him.
The second celebration of Christmas, the Name of Jesus, remembers that Jesus was shown to Simeon in the temple in Jerusalem by his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. Simeon called Jesus "a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."
Christmas is a special time to celebrate the love of God who came to earth as an infant to live the complete life of a regular person, to be with us and to be one of us. It is a season of children, celebrating new life and the hope of a savior for the world.
We often celebrate the season with Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve.
And we make gifts, crismons, and stars to decorate the tree, or candle rings or tryptiches in honor of the season as well as the bulletin board from Isaiah 9: 2.
The color of Christmas is white.
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