Preparing for Christmas – Bryn Athyn Church

There is so much to do to prepare for and celebrate Christmas that it is easy for schedules to be disrupted and tempers to wear thin. It seems that the Christmas season has expanded over the years, with displays in retail stores appearing well before Halloween, and constant ads asking us to buy more, do more, and give more.

New Church teachings say very little about Christmas as a day or season of celebration. In the Law of Moses there were three major feasts—Passover after the spring equinox, the feast of First Fruits seven weeks later, and the feast of Ingathering near the fall equinox. In the winter there was no harvest to celebrate. The Lord’s rising on Easter (which literally means “rising”) is tied to the Passover and Spring equinox, but there is no certainty in the Gospels about when the Lord was born, and no direction about annually celebrating it.

By the time the Lord came into the world the Jews were celebrating Hanukkah (the Dedication of the temple, also called the Festival of Lights). Lights are appropriate for the darkest time of the year, and the Lord participated in that celebration (John 10:22-23).

The Writings do not give any specific direction about celebrating the Lord’s birth, yet they speak of the Lord’s advent and birth quite often. In fact, one of my favorite Christmas passages is from True Christianity 2:

The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subdue the hells and to glorify His Human. Without this no mortal could have been saved, and those are saved who believe in Him.

This statement about why the Lord was born is the “faith of the new heaven and the new church in universal terms.” It’s for all times and places, and embraces the whole theology of the New Church. It is followed by a list of five specific things we can do on our part in response to the Lord’s work (paraphrased from True Christianity 3):

Believe in the One God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Believe that He has the power to save us.

Don’t do bad things—they come from hell.

Do good things—they come from God.

Do them on your own initiative, but believe that it isthe Lord working in you.

I think this is the best way to prepare for and celebrate Christmas—it’s not what we do in one day or in one season, but what we do all year round.

Previous Entries

Preparing for Christmas

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Celebrating 40 Years of Troop 97

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Listening to What You Hear

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Many Things to Say to You

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By: Rev. Jeffrey O. Smith, 12/4/2023

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The Unexpected Merciful Face of God

By: Rev. Malcolm Smith; 9/18/23

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Pastor’s Message

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By Jeremy Simons, 3/8/22

Invading Boundaries

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By Rev. Phil Schnarr, 2/15/22

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Zeal for the Common Good

By Rev. Phil Schnarr 1/11/22

Reflecting on the Past Year

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Remembering and Forgetting

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By Rev. Jeremy Simons July 20th, 2021

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