On this Christmas eve, I thought I might explore the meaning of Christmas.

Is Christmas about gift giving, random acts of kindness, Santa or shopping?

Well, sadly yes and no.

Christmas has become something a bit different from its roots.

Simply stated, Christmas historically is the celebration of the birth of Christ. It is a celebration that the savior of the world was born in a little town called Bethlehem.

Here is a blurb from Wikipedia.org on Christmas:

The Nativity of Jesus refers to the Christian belief that the Messiah was born to the Virgin Mary. The story of Christmas is based on the biblical accounts given in the Gospel of Matthew, namely Matthew 1:18-Matthew 2:12 and the Gospel of Luke, specifically Luke 1:26-Luke 2:40. According to these accounts, Jesus was born to Mary, assisted by her husband Joseph, in the city of Bethlehem.

According to popular tradition, the birth took place in a “stable”, surrounded by farm animals, though neither the “stable” nor the animals are mentioned in the Biblical accounts. However, a “manger” is mentioned in Luke 2:7 where it states “She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel, and were the first to see the child. Christians believe that the birth of Jesus fulfilled many prophecies made hundreds of years before his birth.

If you are a Christian (like I am), please take a moment and reflect on the importance of Christ’s coming into the world.

Merry Christmas!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 5:26 am and is filed under Random Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.