Clever Free Methodist

  Santa Claus has to be, without a doubt, one of the most recognizable icons of the Christmas season. But with this status of “icon” comes the annual and seasonable tradition of thinking that this holiday symbol “overshadows” Jesus Christ who is the true meaning being Christmas. Instead of thinking of Santa Claus as some blasphemous replacement for the baby Jesus, I honestly feel we can use the characteristics of Santa to teach those who don’t know Jesus Christ is a wonderful lesson about the Divine Majesty of God. It is God’s Divine Majesty that has perplexed the world for centuries. It is hard for our human minds to fathom that a Holy God would take on human flesh. As Martin Luther was noted as saying, “The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.” That is why we turn to jolly old Saint Nicholas. The one true God who gave us Jesus (John 3:16-17) can be discovered and the concept of Him becoming flesh, can be...

Once again, we find ourselves in the joy of singing the beloved Christmas and Advent hymns during worship. I also find myself grinning in child-like humor as I chuckle as we sometimes struggle to properly pronounce some of the words in those hymns. We struggle because some of those words are either in French or Latin. One hymn is obvious as the French word is in the title of “The First Noel.” The second hymn, the Latin words are not so obvious in the hymn as they are reserved for the “refrain.” Let’s take a look at the “easy” one entitled “The First Noel” as the song tells the story of the announcement of the birth of Jesus through the Angelic announcement and the prominence of the brilliance of the Bethlehem star. The word “Noel” is French and translates into the English word “Christmas.” The word can also mean “good news” or used as our word “birthday.” The beloved hymn’s “refrain” could literally be saying “Good news! It’s Christmas! Good news! It’s the birthday of a King! Bor...