Worship Notes ~ ChristmasMost Christians celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus, each year on December 25. But since the date of Christ’s birth is not recorded in any of the New Testament accounts of the event, how can we know whether we are celebrating on the right day? It makes sense first to explore how the tradition of celebrating in December came about. There are several modern hypotheses. Evidence from as early as the fourth century indicates that the Roman church created a chronograph, or calendar, on which they listed the feast days of martyred saints. On the chronograph, the feast day in honor of Jesus was celebrated on December 25. The use of this date spread throughout the Church and was eventually adopted in Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Antioch. Today, only the Armenian Orthodox Church does not recognize December 25 as the day to observe Christ’s birth. Some church historians believe that Nativity celebrations had been taking place long before the Roman Chronograph. One theory suggests that the date was chosen to oppose the pagan celebration of the birthday of the sun, established by Emperor Aurelian in 274 A.D. Others think that early Christians calculated the December date using an ancient Jewish idea that “the deaths of patriarchs would have fallen exactly on the anniversary of their birth.” These early believers calculated that Jesus died on March 25, and hypothesized that also as the day of His conception. “Counting forward nine months [they] arrived at [December 25] as the date of His birth.”1 In the early church and today, much attention was paid to the meaning of the celebrations of Christ’s birth. Was it just another feast day in honor of a saint? Or is it a celebration of the mystery of the incarnation of God in human form? Our sinful human minds cannot conceive how “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), but Christmas gives us an opportunity each year to re-experience Christ’s physical presence on earth and to meditate on His presence with us even now through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian church today is a Resurrection church. We celebrate Christmas in the full knowledge of Christ’s crucifixion and triumphant rising from the dead. So when we celebrate Christmas, we not only commemorate the date of our Lord’s coming to this world, but we remember with praise and thanksgiving the gift of eternal life we have received through His Son. So whenever Christians choose to observe the date of Christ’s birth, let it be a time to reflect not only on that night two millennia ago but on our very present lives in Christ. Noel. 1 The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship; Paul Bradshaw, Ed.; © SCM Press 2002 Pg. 113 Return to home page
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