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E_SpiritFlute
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Name: Erin
Location: Virginia
Interests: Music, music, music!!! Speech and debate, worldviews, theology, learning about other cultures and travelling to other countries.
It says I'm in VA, but I'm also in Oregon-going to school. I guess I bring the East Coast and West Coast together...for now... :-)
Expertise: Thinking too much (...or not at all...), being out of fashion *wink*, and making lots of mistakes
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
MSN: EGatSchool15@yahoo.com
Member Since:
12/1/2004
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| The following is an interesting article I read in WORLD magazine about Christmas and how what I've heard about it being a "pagan celebration that was 'christianized,'" is untrue.
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Why December 25?
The origin of Christmas had nothing to do with paganism | by Gene Edward Veith
Dec 10, 2005
According to conventional wisdom, Christmas had its origin in a pagan winter solstice festival, which the church co-opted to promote the new religion. In doing so, many of the old pagan customs crept into the Christian celebration. But this view is apparently a historical myth—like the stories of a church council debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or that medieval folks believed the earth is flat—often repeated, even in classrooms, but not true.
True, the Emperor Aurelian, in the five short years of his reign, tried to start one, "The Birth of the Unconquered Sun," on Dec. 25, 274. This festival, marking the time of year when the length of daylight began to increase, was designed to breathe new life into a declining paganism. But Aurelian's new festival was instituted after Christians had already been associating that day with the birth of Christ. According to Mr. Tighe, the Birth of the Unconquered Sun "was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians." Christians were not imitating the pagans. The pagans were imitating the Christians.
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The early church tried to ascertain the actual time of Christ's birth. It was all tied up with the second-century controversies over setting the date of Easter, the commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection. That date should have been an easy one. Though Easter is also charged with having its origins in pagan equinox festivals, we know from Scripture that Christ's death was at the time of the Jewish Passover. That time of year is known with precision.
But differences in the Jewish, Greek, and Latin calendars and the inconsistency between lunar and solar date-keeping caused intense debate over when to observe Easter. Another question was whether to fix one date for the Feast of the Resurrection no matter what day it fell on or to ensure that it always fell on Sunday, "the first day of the week," as in the Gospels.
This discussion also had a bearing on fixing the day of Christ's birth. Mr. Tighe, drawing on the in-depth research of Thomas J. Talley's The Origins of the Liturgical Year, cites the ancient Jewish belief (not supported in Scripture) that God appointed for the great prophets an "integral age," meaning that they died on the same day as either their birth or their conception.
Jesus was certainly considered a great prophet, so those church fathers who wanted a Christmas holiday reasoned that He must have been either born or conceived on the same date as the first Easter. There are hints that some Christians originally celebrated the birth of Christ in March or April. But then a consensus arose to celebrate Christ's conception on March 25, as the Feast of the Annunciation, marking when the angel first appeared to Mary.
Note the pro-life point: According to both the ancient Jews and the early Christians, life begins at conception. So if Christ was conceived on March 25, nine months later, he would have been born on Dec. 25.
This celebrates Christ's birth in the darkest time of the year. The Celtic and Germanic tribes, who would be evangelized later, did mark this time in their "Yule" festivals, a frightening season when only the light from the Yule log kept the darkness at bay. Christianity swallowed up that season of depression with the opposite message of joy: "The light [Jesus] shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).
Regardless of whether this was Christ's actual birthday, the symbolism works. And Christ's birth is inextricably linked to His resurrection.
Copyright © 2005 WORLD Magazine
December 24, 2005, Vol. 20, No. 50 | | |
| Thoughts
While there, our team had our own daily devotional called Ministries of Mercy, based on the book by Tim Keller. I learned several things about mercy that I had never thought about before. One was that Jesus didn’t show mercy to those who deserved it—he showed mercy to all, whether they deserved it or not. I realized that in my own life, I was subconsciously deciding who was “worthy” of my mercy, even though I myself don’t deserve the mercy Jesus has given me. This eye-opener encouraged me in our team work with the Cherokee as well as changed my view of people as a whole—that like Jesus, I should show mercy to all. | | |
| *Cherokee Mission Trip-- June 25th-July 2nd 2005*
After a 9-hour drive to Cherokee, North Carolina, our team reached the camp site where we would stay for the next week. The mission was sponsored by Mission to the World (MTW) who has had a presence there for about 20 years. Teams from different churches come on different weeks to usually do a Vacation Bible School of sorts for the Cherokee children, as well as some work project, whether that be painting/fixing someone's house, or helping with construction at the main campsite, or anything else the community needs.
There were 5 teams there the same week our team was--totaling about 85 people, which is a smaller number of people than usual (usually it numbers between 100-200). Each team has their own assignment, sometimes grouping with another team. Our team had 18 people. In the mornings, we would go to the Wolftown Recreation/Day-Care Center from 9-12pm. There, we would run around and play games with the kids whose ages ranged from 5-12 and usually numbered around 20 for about an hour or so. Then we would put on our puppet show presentation, followed by singing. By the third day, the kids were interested in the puppets and would stay---but when it came time for singing, most of them would get up and start shooting their basketballs or leave the room. That was a little discouraging. (However, I heard a story about a young man who used to be one of those little boys that the teams would meet at the different recreation/day-care centers. This young man said that he used to run around and pretend like he wasn't listening to what was being said and ignore what was going on--but in actuality, he wasn't. He was still watching and listening and was touched by what he heard and saw...and now has a strong walk with the Lord. That encouraged me after experiencing that same thing from the kids at the recreation center where we were.)
Afterwards, there was a craft, followed by more games/running around, a snack, and then more playing with the kids. Although Cherokee, the kids don't speak Cherokee because their parents don't really speak Cherokee. In that generation between the grandparents and the kids now, the Cherokee language and way of life tried to be wiped out. A lot of these kids don't get a lot of care and attention from their parents because both parents work, or whatever. So we try to give them that needed love and care while we are there...and share with them about Jesus' love that will always be there for them.
In the afternoons, between 2-5pm, we would work on a house of a recently widowed lady--fixing/painting, and weeding/fixing up her gardens. I heard later that she was very touched by the way we interacted with her, with each other, and how we worked.
Never having been on a mission trip before, it was truly a great experience and I would go back to Cherokee again next year (God willing of course!)  | | |
| As my week of Spring Break comes to a close, I realize that I have one month until AP testing....but only two months until graduation.
I will be attending Oregon State University starting fall term (of 2005). Of the other two schools I applied to (Cedarville Univeristy in Ohio and Wheaton College in Illinois), I received an acceptance letter from Cedarville. By the time Wheaton responded with their "We regret to inform you...", I was already in the Oregon State system. However, I was just a little surprised at the answer. But as a good friend of mine said, "God is telling you something." This "rejection" was a confirmation of my decision to go to Oregon State.
I went out to OSU for a music scholarship audition on March 12th. Although my accoompanist was short in stature, she was a very positive, energetic lady-- full of life. Her accompanying skills were top notch and made me want to play even better. I played Fantasie by Gabriél Fauré and Polonaise from J.S. Bach's Suite in B-minor. Everything went well...and then came sight-reading. No matter how many times I've been through this, I always start too fast.So again, I start out too fast (grr...); for the first 75% of the piece, I'm trying to catch up with myself. The last 25% was good. But if you do the math with those numbers....(ugh!) But oh well. I should be receiving a letter from the scholarship people VERY soon. | | |
| Observations from a transfer senior--
When attending a new school, one doesn't just have to learn the layout of the school, but how things work too--the library, the cafeteria, leaving early, etc. Being new, one has no clue which clubs the school has, nor where they meet. Trying to listen to the announcements over the PA system, one realizes its easier to just read them on the bulletin board because your classmates don't have enough courtesy to hush-up. And you are always full of questions about EVERYTHING--when an event is, what "this" means, where to go, what to do...even as one steps onto the platform to receive the diploma you question, because you still aren't quite sure how your new school does certain things/events. It's especially hard when you're a new senior, because no one knows who you are, unless you happen to participate in the right clubs and sports. And then you're busy trying to keep up with schoolwork and college applications and other scholarships, that the extra cirruculars you DO want to do, you can't. But through it all, you learn from your experiences and get to meet some great people. (...But it's still HARD!) | | |
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