{"id":692,"date":"2015-12-27T00:15:41","date_gmt":"2015-12-27T00:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?p=692"},"modified":"2015-12-27T00:16:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T00:16:48","slug":"now-christmas-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2015\/12\/27\/now-christmas-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Now Christmas Really Begins!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Doug Beacham<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Candles3\"This Sunday, December 27th<\/sup>, is the first Sunday after Christmas. It is also the day when the \u201cthree French hens\u201d appear at your front door. Alright, that\u2019s a bit imaginative on my part, but it\u2019s still fun to think about!<\/p>\n

In our western-consumer-driven emphasis from late November to the week leading to Christmas Day, it\u2019s easy for two things to occur:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We get so consumed in the decorating, the shopping, and the preparations, that we struggle to find time to reflect on the real Person about whom we do all this;<\/li>\n
  2. With Advent, Christmas Eve services, and all the activities of Christmas Day, we sometimes sigh with relief, \u201cIt was nice but I\u2019m glad that\u2019s over!\u201d New Year\u2019s activities and going back to work or school take our attention.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I have family members who actually start taking down the decorations on Christmas Day. After over forty years of marriage, I have convinced my wife to wait until at least New Years! But I\u2019m engaged in a slow and deliberate campaign to win her over to keeping things up through January 6th<\/sup>, the Day of the Epiphany!<\/p>\n

    There is a reason for all this. The Twelve Days of Christmas begins on Christmas Day and ends on January 5th<\/sup>. Usually, the hustle and bustle of Christmas have taken leave (except for returns and use of gift cards in the malls) and there is actually some time to relax, reflect, and, of course, watch football games. But in reality, this is the perfect time to sit quietly in the morning and evening and listen to Christmas carols while prayerfully reading Isaiah 7-16; Matthew 1, 2; Mark 1; Luke 21:21 through 3:38; John 1:1-51.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s interesting that the Christian church historically has remembered the martyrdom of St. Stephen on the day after Christmas Day (December 27 in the Eastern Church). At times, the romanticized views of the birth of Jesus block the reality of life at His birth. We forget He came as an invading King, a clear threat to every human power. We forget He created this cosmos and all that the Hubble telescope and other galaxy traveling missions have seen and have yet to see (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16, 17; Hebrews 1:2, 3). We forget that Satan remains in rebellion against God and that rebellion is manifested in war, violence, poverty, death, famine, and everything destructive of human wholeness, devoid of divine love.<\/p>\n

    St. Stephen draws our attention to the death of the children in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). By the way, many churches remember this episode on either December 28th<\/sup> or 29th<\/sup>. Killing children is a most effective way of destroying the future. This is why later in January IPHC members will join with hundreds of thousands who will March for Life<\/a> in protest against the government supported slaughter of over 57,000,000 unborn children in the United States since 1973.<\/p>\n

    The martyrdom of St. Stephen, recorded in Acts 7:54-60, stands in sharp contrast to the demonic spirit of martyrdom practiced in the name of Islam. Rather than intentionally killing and maiming innocent bystanders after a shout of praise to Allah, as too often occurs today, Stephen prayed for God to have mercy on those who were stoning him (Acts 7:60). Stephen\u2019s death is like that of Jesus\u2019 death \u2013 a death that understands that mercy and love are greater weapons than hatred, violence, and death itself.<\/p>\n

    Stephen\u2019s death is a great testimony to us as we reflect on the purpose of our lives since Christ has come. We live to share the Good News of eternal life to all who are bound in sin and shame. The Good News is that shame and hopelessness do not have to be the defining word over our lives. There is another Word, an eternal Word that became flesh, Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary that speaks greater than all the words of sin and shame.<\/p>\n

    I invite you to take the Twelve of Days of Christmas and turn them into a fresh discovery of who Jesus is. When we come to Epiphany on January 6th<\/sup>, where the visit of the Magi is commemorated (Matthew 2:1-12), we enter into a time of recognizing afresh that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world, the Lord of glory, and the One who will return to fully establish His eternal kingdom.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Photo credit: Creation Swap<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[40,216,46,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-bishops-blog","7":"tag-40","8":"tag-christmas","9":"tag-doug-beacham","10":"tag-epiphany","11":"entry"},"title_es":"Ahora comienza realmente la Navidad!","content_es":"

    Por: Doug Beacham<\/strong> <\/p>\"Candles3\" Este domingo, 27 de diciembre,<\/sup> es el primer domingo despu\u00e9s de Navidad. Tambi\u00e9n es el d\u00eda en que los "tres gallinas francesas" aparecen en su puerta. Muy bien, eso es un poco de imaginaci\u00f3n por mi parte, pero sigue siendo divertido pensar en eso! En nuestro \u00e9nfasis occidental-impulsada por el consumidor desde finales de noviembre a la semana previa al d\u00eda de Navidad, es f\u00e1cil que dos cosas ocurren:

    1. Estamos tan consumidos en la decoraci\u00f3n, las tiendas, y los preparativos, que nos cuesta encontrar tiempo para reflexionar sobre la persona real acerca de los que hacemos todo esto; <\/li>
    2. Con el Adviento, los servicios de la v\u00edspera de Navidad, y todas las actividades del d\u00eda de Navidad, a veces respirar con alivio: "Fue agradable, pero me alegro de que acab\u00f3!" Actividades de fin de a\u00f1o y volver al trabajo o escuela tomamos nuestra atenci\u00f3n. <\/li><\/ol> Tengo familiares que realmente comienzan a tomar por las decoraciones en el d\u00eda de Navidad. Despu\u00e9s de m\u00e1s de cuarenta a\u00f1os de matrimonio, he convencido a mi esposa que esperar por lo menos hasta el A\u00f1o Nuevo! Pero estoy comprometido en una campa\u00f1a lento y deliberado para conquistarla para mantener las cosas a trav\u00e9s de 6 de enero,<\/sup> D\u00eda de Reyes! Hay una raz\u00f3n para todo esto. Los doce d\u00edas de la Navidad comienza el d\u00eda de Navidad y termina el 5 de enero.<\/sup> Por lo general, el ajetreo de la Navidad han tomado la licencia (a excepci\u00f3n de los rendimientos y el uso de tarjetas de regalo en los centros comerciales) y no es en realidad un tiempo para relajarse, reflexionar y, por supuesto, ver partidos de f\u00fatbol. Pero en realidad, este es el momento perfecto para sentarse tranquilamente por la ma\u00f1ana y por la noche y escuchar canciones de Navidad, mientras que la lectura de Isa\u00edas 7-16 oraci\u00f3n; Mateo 1, 2; Marcos 1; Lucas 21:21 por 03:38; Juan 1: 1-51. Es interesante que la iglesia cristiana hist\u00f3ricamente ha recordado el martirio de San Esteban en el d\u00eda despu\u00e9s del d\u00eda de Navidad (27 de diciembre en la Iglesia Oriental). A veces, las vistas rom\u00e1nticas del nacimiento de Jes\u00fas bloquean la realidad de la vida en su nacimiento. Nos olvidamos de \u00c9l vino como un rey invasor, una clara amenaza a toda potencia humana. Nos olvidamos de \u00c9l cre\u00f3 este cosmos y todo lo que el telescopio Hubble y otras misiones de galaxias que viajan han visto y sin embargo para ver (Juan 1: 3; Colosenses 1:16, 17; Hebreos 1: 2, 3). Se nos olvida que Satan\u00e1s permanece en rebeli\u00f3n contra Dios y que la rebeli\u00f3n se manifiesta en la guerra, la violencia, la pobreza, la muerte, el hambre, y todo lo destructivo de la integridad humana, carente de amor divino. San Esteban llama la atenci\u00f3n sobre la muerte de los ni\u00f1os en Bel\u00e9n (Mateo 2: 16-18). Por cierto, muchas iglesias recuerdan este episodio a cada 28 de diciembre<\/sup> o el 29 \u00ba.<\/sup> Matar ni\u00f1os es una forma m\u00e1s eficaz de destruir el futuro. Esta es la raz\u00f3n m\u00e1s adelante en enero los miembros de la IISP se unir\u00e1 a cientos de miles de personas que se marcha por la vida<\/a> en protesta contra el gobierno apoyado masacre de m\u00e1s de 57.000.000 ni\u00f1os no nacidos en los Estados Unidos desde 1973. El martirio de San Esteban, en Hechos 7: 54-60, est\u00e1 en agudo contraste con el esp\u00edritu demon\u00edaco del martirio practicado en el nombre del Islam. En lugar de matar y mutilar deliberadamente a personas inocentes despu\u00e9s de un grito de alabanza a Dios, tal como ocurre con demasiada frecuencia hoy en d\u00eda, Esteban or\u00f3 para que Dios tenga piedad de los que \u00e9l (Hechos 7:60) apedreaban. la muerte de Esteban es como la de la muerte de Jes\u00fas - una muerte que entiende que la misericordia y el amor son mayores armas que el odio, la violencia y la muerte misma. La muerte de Stephen es un gran testimonio para nosotros al reflexionar sobre el prop\u00f3sito de nuestras vidas desde que Cristo ha venido. Vivimos para compartir la buena nueva de la vida eterna a todos los que est\u00e1n atados en el pecado y la verg\u00fcenza. La buena noticia es que la verg\u00fcenza y la desesperanza no tienen que ser la palabra que define sobre nuestras vidas. Hay otra palabra, una palabra eterna que se hizo carne, Jes\u00fas, nacido de la Virgen Mar\u00eda que habla mayor que todas las palabras de pecado y verg\u00fcenza. Los invito a tomar el Doce de d\u00edas de Navidad y convertirlos en un nuevo descubrimiento de qui\u00e9n es Jes\u00fas. Cuando llegamos a la Epifan\u00eda el 6 de enero,<\/sup> en el que se conmemora la visita de los magos (Mateo 2: 1-12), entramos en un momento de reconocer de nuevo que Jes\u00fas es el Hijo de Dios, el Mes\u00edas de Israel, el Salvador del mundo, el Se\u00f1or de la gloria, y el que volver\u00e1 a establecer plenamente su reino eterno.
      Cr\u00e9dito de la imagen: Intercambio de Creaci\u00f3n <\/h6>","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-ba","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}