The Holidays – Christmas November 28, 2008
Posted by Josiah in Culture.Tags: Church, Claus, Coca Cola, Credit, Cristmas, December, Greek, Jesus, Roman, Santa
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Here’s the last of me playing holiday news reporter.
Christmas
Everyone knows this one: Christmas was originally a day set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus. December 25th was chosen not because Jesus was actually born on that day, but rather because of the persecution of the early church. The Roman festival of Sol Ivictus was on December 25th, so the church was able to celebrate without drawing too much attention. Most of the traditions that we have came much later.
The Christmas Tree has a much-disputed origin, but everyone seems to agree that Martin Luther was the first one to make a tradition of decorating one.
Santa Claus is based on the very embellished story of Nicholas of Myra. He was a Greek bishop in Lycia in the 4th century. He was generous, but mostly known for once giving three young women dowries so that they would not have to prostitute themselves. Santa Claus as we know him today was actually a marketing idea for Coca Cola in the 1930s.
Modern Christmas celebrations usually mean buying a bunch of stuff on credit cards and then lying to your kids about a man who could not possibly still be alive, who lives in a place that no one could possibly live in, and once a year decides to defy all of the laws of physics for no apparent reason.
-J
The Holidays – Thanksgiving November 26, 2008
Posted by Josiah in Culture.Tags: America, Gluttony, God, Good, Knowledge, Lincoln, November, Pilgrim, Plymouth, Stuffing, Thanksgiving, Thursday, Turkey
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Continuing to spread the holiday knowledge around, here is the post that inspired this little series in the first place.
Thanksgiving
This is the most recent of the holidays, and therefore the most information was available to me regarding it. Days of thanksgiving have been declared in America since 1565. There was originally no set date, and they were just days set aside to feast and thank God for His goodness.
The one that everyone calls the first Thanksgiving (though it wasn’t) was in 1621, when the pilgrims at Plymouth declared a day of thanks to God for the help of the Native Americans that got them through a particularly harsh winter.
No national day of Thanksgiving was made an annual event until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln made the last Thursday in November a reoccurring holiday.
There is not a whole lot of lore or tradition around Thanksgiving. It’s only been around for 145 years, and it’s just a day set aside to thank God.
Modern Thanksgiving celebrations usually involve pretending gratitude to a god you don’t believe in, around a table of relatives all gorging themselves on turkey and stuffing. When the gluttony is finished it is generally acceptable to retire early and “sleep it off”. It is also normal to blame some turkey chemical that you know nothing about for your laziness.
-J
The Holidays – Easter November 25, 2008
Posted by Josiah in Culture.Tags: America, Celebration, Christmas, Church, Easter, Holiday, Jesus, Passover, Thanksgiving, Tradition
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If I were to guess which three holidays in America were the most celebrated, I would say Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. There’s not much left of them though. Don’t worry, I’m not going to rant about how “God has been taken out of America” and all that. There are plenty of other people doing that, and I don’t see how it can help anybody. But seeing how the time from Thanksgiving until the New Year is known as “The holidays”, I thought I’d share a little bit about them. I’ll be writing about them in chronological order.
Easter
Easter is the celebration of when Jesus was resurrected the third day after his crucifixion. But nothing about the holiday really has much to do with it’s meaning. The date is not because it’s close to Passover, but rather because it’s the day that the Alexandrian Church picked, and they had the most influence at the place and time the holiday was created (around 900 AD). You’d think they could come up with something more simple than, “the first Sunday after the first full moon that’s 14th day is on or after March 21st.”
The name comes from the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess, “Eostre”. She had a month named after her in the Germanic calendar. Apparently the holiday landed in her month.
The bunny and the eggs came from a tradition in southwest Germany in the 1600s. Kids would make a nest for the Easter rabbit (a symbol of fertility) to put colored eggs in (also a symbol of fertility). Eventually the nest became a basket.
Modern Easter celebrations usually include lying to your kids about a mutant egg-laying rabbit and then getting all dressed up to go to a church service, provided that you can find one big enough that you can slip in and out without anyone noticing that you are never there and didn’t put anything in the offering.
-J
Calling all Missionaries November 12, 2008
Posted by Josiah in Life, Prayer Room, Work.Tags: America, Call, Calling, Food, Gas, God, Intercessor, Job, Lord, Minister, Missionaries, Missionary, Pray, Prayer, Rent, Room, Support
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I know beyond any shadow of doubt that my calling in life right now is to spend 40+ hours a week ministering before the Lord in the house of prayer. It’s not a paying job, and doesn’t leave much time for one. I have been living on the support of others for nearly five months. It’s not easy. The reality of it is that even though I only spend money on the absolute bare necessities (rent, food, and gas), at the end of the month I’ve usually still spent more than I’ve received. Add to that the fact that most people think it’s foolish and irresponsible of me to spend all my time praying and fasting, and it can get discouraging.
So, I have this idea:
I’m posting here asking any missionaries that also are living on support to pray for me. Whether you’re in America, or over-seas, or in the 10-40, or you’re an intercessor like me, I’m asking for prayer that God will provide. I believe that the prayers of God’s people shape history.
If you read this and pray, please leave a comment and let me know, it would be encouraging to me. Thanks!
-J
A Change of Schedule November 3, 2008
Posted by Josiah in Life, Prayer Room, The Night Watch.Tags: Alive, Goal, God, Hours, House, Night, Nightwatch, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Room, Promise, RHOP, Spirit, Watch
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About three weeks ago, RHOP changed it’s hours to be open more during the day. The result is that most of us nightwatchers are feeling like we’re not getting enough “personal time”. In actuality, most of us are here about the same number of hours per week, for some reason it just feels like less.
I am in the prayer room the exact same number of hours as before, but the number of hours on the Nightwatch has gone from six, to four. It may not seem like much, but to me that means 33% less of my time is being spent praying during the time that I feel most alive in The Spirit.
I find myself having to remind myself that God has promised that He will establish His house of prayer here. It is easy to get discouraged when it feels like we are not all pressing toward the same goal.
-J
