Re: How do you celebrate Christmas?
Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:05 am
OH HOW I LOVE THE ADVENT SEASON!!
We have celebrated Christmas in a variety of ways because we live out of state from ALL our family-
We start the Advent season by reading the Gospel of Luke each day plus some other devotional focused on Christ's birth-
To me, I am constantly aware of the wonderful opportunity to share the prophecies fulfilled by the birth of our Savior!
It truly is an amazing time to relive the entire Bible pointing to the Messiah, to reread the prophesies of His birth, to share those, to think about what the Jews were anticipating, to think about how the Gentiles would now be brought into the 'elect' by this Savior born of a Virgin- the wonder of the Maggi who followed the Star over the Christ Child, and how even though they were Gentiles, they knew the importance of this Birth and brought gifts, and fell down to Worship Him- to relive these truths in our minds and hearts brings an excitement in heart & soul that is so unique to anything else-
We love the 'symbols' that the Christmas Season brings- while realizing satans attempt to distract & destroy- none the less, he has always done this so we still appreciate the angels, who appeared to the Shepherds, they were SO EXCITED they could not but bear the Good News!! And these lowly Shepherds abiding in their fields, whose lives would never be the same from that point on! The lights, the symbolism of Christ being the Light of the World, the tree which is symbolic that our Savior would die on a tree- and we hang meanngful symbolic ornaments and think about them, and think about Christmas' gone by-
We have an Advent Wreath, which tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent where we light the first of 4 candles- and you read each time part of the story of the Nativity of Christ-
We start out by going to Amish Country the day after Thanksgiving as they have a Nativity Parade in Berlin OH- no 'santa', it's all about Christ- it ends by the crowd gathering together and singing Christmas carols- and lighting each other's candles- the Gospel is read- it ends with the Amish & Mennonites who know German, singing "Silent Night" in German-
We often attend "Journey to Bethlehem" also in our Amish area- which puts you in a 'path' like Mary & Joseph would have traveled- it's a free event, and you go from place to place in the 'journey to Bethlehem'
Joy on the forum introduced us to sending Christmas cards to prisoners- this is a special time for us to do this together-
I know of Amish that do this as well- as you address each card & write, you pray for that prisoner-
Christmas Eve is always at Church, Christmas Day too if on a Sunday like last year-
Simple gifts and simple celebration of Christ,, quiet- and a special dinner-
For Christians, it is an opportunity to share & be a witness of what the true meaning is, and how Christ fulfilled prophesies and why He came- most of our families are Believer's so they do focus on Christ, and get along- no drunkeness, etc- we have spent Christmas' with those who are into the santa & gift giving as primary focus and I feel sorry that all that excitement ends and life continues void of Christ afterwards-
A good time to really pray for people who don't know Him! An for open doors of opportunity to witness-
We have celebrated Christmas in a variety of ways because we live out of state from ALL our family-
We start the Advent season by reading the Gospel of Luke each day plus some other devotional focused on Christ's birth-
To me, I am constantly aware of the wonderful opportunity to share the prophecies fulfilled by the birth of our Savior!
It truly is an amazing time to relive the entire Bible pointing to the Messiah, to reread the prophesies of His birth, to share those, to think about what the Jews were anticipating, to think about how the Gentiles would now be brought into the 'elect' by this Savior born of a Virgin- the wonder of the Maggi who followed the Star over the Christ Child, and how even though they were Gentiles, they knew the importance of this Birth and brought gifts, and fell down to Worship Him- to relive these truths in our minds and hearts brings an excitement in heart & soul that is so unique to anything else-
We love the 'symbols' that the Christmas Season brings- while realizing satans attempt to distract & destroy- none the less, he has always done this so we still appreciate the angels, who appeared to the Shepherds, they were SO EXCITED they could not but bear the Good News!! And these lowly Shepherds abiding in their fields, whose lives would never be the same from that point on! The lights, the symbolism of Christ being the Light of the World, the tree which is symbolic that our Savior would die on a tree- and we hang meanngful symbolic ornaments and think about them, and think about Christmas' gone by-
We have an Advent Wreath, which tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent where we light the first of 4 candles- and you read each time part of the story of the Nativity of Christ-
We start out by going to Amish Country the day after Thanksgiving as they have a Nativity Parade in Berlin OH- no 'santa', it's all about Christ- it ends by the crowd gathering together and singing Christmas carols- and lighting each other's candles- the Gospel is read- it ends with the Amish & Mennonites who know German, singing "Silent Night" in German-
We often attend "Journey to Bethlehem" also in our Amish area- which puts you in a 'path' like Mary & Joseph would have traveled- it's a free event, and you go from place to place in the 'journey to Bethlehem'
Joy on the forum introduced us to sending Christmas cards to prisoners- this is a special time for us to do this together-
I know of Amish that do this as well- as you address each card & write, you pray for that prisoner-
Christmas Eve is always at Church, Christmas Day too if on a Sunday like last year-
Simple gifts and simple celebration of Christ,, quiet- and a special dinner-
For Christians, it is an opportunity to share & be a witness of what the true meaning is, and how Christ fulfilled prophesies and why He came- most of our families are Believer's so they do focus on Christ, and get along- no drunkeness, etc- we have spent Christmas' with those who are into the santa & gift giving as primary focus and I feel sorry that all that excitement ends and life continues void of Christ afterwards-
A good time to really pray for people who don't know Him! An for open doors of opportunity to witness-