The History Of Christmas

Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. No one knows the exact date of Christ's birth, but most Christians observe Christmas on December 25. On this day, many go to church, where they take part in special religious services. During the Christmas season, they also exchange gifts and decorate their homes with holly, mistletoe, and Christmas trees. The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, an early English phrase that means Mass of Christ.The story of Christmas comes chiefly from the Gospels of Saint Luke and Saint Matthew in the New Testament. According to Luke, an angel appeared to shepherds outside the town of Bethlehem and told them of Jesus's birth. Matthew tells how the wise men, called Magi, followed a bright star that led them to Jesus.

The first mention of Christmas

The first mention of December 25 as the birth date of Jesus occurred in A.D. 336 in an early Roman calendar. The celebration of this day as Jesus's birth date was probably influenced by pagan (unchristian) festivals held at that time. The ancient Romans held year-end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras, the god of light. Various peoples in northern Europe held festivals in mid-December to celebrate the end of the harvest season. As part of all these celebrations, the people prepared special foods, decorated their homes with greenery, and joined in singing and gift giving. These customs gradually became part of the Christmas celebration.In the late 300's, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. By 1100, Christmas had become the most important religious festival in Europe, and Saint Nicholas was a symbol of gift giving in many European countries. During the 1400's and 1500's, many artists painted scenes of the Nativity, the birth of Jesus.
The popularity of Christmas grew until the Reformation, a religious movement of the 1500's. This movement gave birth to Protestantism. During the Reformation, many Christians began to consider Christmas a pagan celebration because it included nonreligious customs. During the 1600's, because of these feelings, Christmas was outlawed in England and in parts of the English colonies in America. The old customs of feasting and decorating, however, soon reappeared and blended with the more Christian aspects of the celebration.

Gift giving

The custom of giving gifts to relatives and friends on a special day in winter probably began in ancient Rome and northern Europe. In these regions, people gave each other small presents as part of their year-end celebrations.

Other customs

In the 1800's, two more Christmas customs became popular--decorating Christmas trees and sending Christmas cards to relatives and friends. Many well-known Christmas carols, including "Silent Night" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," were composed during this period. In the United States and other countries, Santa Claus replaced Saint Nicholas as the symbol of gift giving.The celebration of Christmas became increasingly important to many kinds of businesses during the 1900's. Today, companies manufacture Christmas ornaments, lights, and other decorations throughout the year. Other firms grow Christmas trees, holly, and mistletoe. Many stores and other businesses hire extra workers during the Christmas season to handle the increase in sales.The word Xmas is sometimes used instead of Christmas. This tradition began in the early Christian church. In Greek, X is the first letter of Christ's name. It was frequently used as a holy symbol.

The Lord's voice

A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?"

After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways.

It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "God...If you still speak to people speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey." As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that you?" He didn't get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. "Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home. As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn Down that street." This is crazy he thought and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will". He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around.

He was in semi commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street." The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid." Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door, "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here." He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. "What is it?" The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, "Here, I brought this to you." The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk." His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?" The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers.

This is so true. Sometimes it's the simplest things that God asks us to do that cause us, if we are obedient to what He's asking, to be able to hear.

His voice more clear than ever. Please listen, and obey! It will bless you (and the world). Phil 4:13

If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow the directions. Jesus said, "If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father."

紙戒指

現在，如果把愛情和麵包擺在一百個女人面前，選擇愛情的會有幾個?

一個女人和一個男人戀愛了。女人有一次看到人家手上戴的白金戒指很漂亮，就羨慕地說：「要是我也有」男人看在眼裡，可是他實在太窮，買不起好看的白金戒指。

不久，在女人過生日時，男人送給女人一個用那種透水油紙包著的「紙戒指」，很別致，重重的，正在戀愛中的女人戴在手上, 左看右看，就觉得自己真的好幸福。女人後來嫁人了，新郎當然不是他。男人除了上那種沒什麼錢的班，吃飯之外，又寫一些她看也不想看的稿子。她不想嫁給他，雖然她愛他。

她嫁給了另一個有錢男人。是的，女人結婚的時候，上從耳朵、脖子，中至雙臂，以 至於腳踝，全身白金、黃金，金光閃閃，她把男人送給她的紙戒指塞到抽屜的角落裡。

可是不久之後，她那多金的老公因為家族公司出山事，陷入困境，老公也因涉及不 法行賄，被逮進了牢房。女人悲從中來，忽然就憶起了送她紙戒指的男人。

一天，女人在街上不期而遇男人。男人很大方，邀女人到他家坐坐。男人也結婚，住在租來的房子。女人看到男人家裡的擺設，仍然是很清苦的樣子。男人的妻子替女人倒茶，女人於是看到男人的妻子手上也戴著和被自己扔在抽屜角落幾乎一模一樣 的紙戒指。男人的妻子離開客廳的時候，她可以感覺男人過的很幸福他的妻子也是，不像自 己的一無所有，連丈夫都身陷囹圄。

後來女人在一本雜誌上看到一篇文章，題目是「紙戒指」，作者不折不扣就是他。 女人看完文章後，便一切都明白了。她迅速打開抽屜，摸出了被她棄在角落裡沾滿了灰塵的紙戒指，她小心地將油紙剝開，剝著剝著，眼前出現的赫然就是一隻純純正正的白金戒指。文章裡說，為了買這隻戒指，在那個全民皆窮的年代，只好瞞著女人去賣血，因為女人的生日就迫在眉睫，去賺、去借都來不及了。

女人哭了，眼淚滴在戒指上。女人隨後又將紙戒指小心翼翼地還原回去。從此女人 不論上班下班都只戴著紙戒指，同事們都讚賞她的戒指精緻又好看，有創意，問她是 誰送的，女人不禁一陣黯然，說：很多東西，要等到失去了，才知道它的珍貴。