Well, All Hallow's Eve is over for another year and now today is All Saints Day. It is almost over too. This is the day when all the saint's who have reached heaven are celebrated. Tomorrow is All Soul's Day and is the day for prayer for those who are in purgatory and trying to get to heaven can be helped by the prayers of those who arenot departed from this earth....
It is funny how many days have been taken by the almighty Roman Catholic Church as days for Christian celebration that were originally pagan special occasions. Lets face it so much of what the "church" does is political with very political reasons. Still I suppose it doesn't hurt to pray for those who are stuck in purgatory and I suppose that praying in any form is good in the end.
As a lay preacher for the Anglican church, it falls on me to know the Christian calendar. We are in the season of Pentecost which is considered the "regular" time of the year.... that is the time after the Ascension but before Advent. For the most part there is nothing special about this time of the year. Still we are only four weeks away from Advent. I like Advent. It is a time of waiting and a time for prayerful reflection. It is a time for those of us who take it seriously that the second coming of our Lord and Saviour will return and we need always be prepared.
Christmas is the culmination of Advent and everyone loves Christmas. Christmas is the time when the fat man comes down the chimney, Christmas is the time of the year when people give gifts to the people around them and for those who are very thoughtful... Christmas is the time of the year when we give to the poor. For me Christmas is not a time to get tipsy and knock back a few. It is not a time to party it up. That all changed in a slow and progressive way. The thing that I like best about Christmas, the miracle of Christmas is when the lights turn low in church and the candles are lit and everyone sings Silent Night... at that moment I feel like anything is possible. That is the magic of Christmas. A jaded old fart like me gets one shining moment of magic in the form of 'all things possible'! It is a lovely moment and I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world.
There I stand with my family in the night and all those voices are singing that lovely old carol and it just fills me up with pure joy! That's what I love about Christmas night.
So there you go a little bit of Christian information for you... from All Hallow's Eve to Christmas....
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