December 22, 2020
Midweek study with Pastor Edith

I want to start out with a great story about a great Christmas Hymn; O Holy Night. I am inspired by an article in Christian Living Magazine; “God can use the least expected to get God’s message out” (Pg. 27 Winter 2019-2020). It seems that the song “O Holy Night” was written at the request of a priest to have a new and inspired Christmas hymn for a Christmas Eve service in the mid 1800’s; “O Holy Night”, was once banned by the Catholic Church in France because of ‘it’s total absence of the spirit of religion’ and it’s lack of musical taste.

Of course, there’s more to the story. “Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), a wine commissioner in his small town in France, was known for his poetry. Even though Cappeau did not attend church, the parish priest asked him to write a poem for Christmas mass. Cappeau read the Book of Luke and imagined being in Bethlehem when Jesus was born, and thus came the words for the hymn. He asked a well-known composer, Adolphe Charles Adam (1803-1856), to write the music, and three weeks later the hymn was first sung at midnight on Christmas Eve 1847. So, why was the song banned? Placide was an atheist and Adolphe was Jewish, so neither believed in Jesus as the Son of God. Thus, the song was banned by the church. Still, people liked the song and continued to sing it. For nearly two hundred years, words and music written by two nonbelievers have blessed the world with the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ.”

So, what do you think? Is it possible that even nonbelievers can unwittingly share the truth of the Gospel; that Jesus was the very son of God and that he came to seek and to save that which was lost? That has been our journey these past several weeks as we have explored Lee Strobel’s book, A Case For Christmas-A journalist[Atheist] Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger.

I have shared with you from Lee’s book and the Holy Bible that we can know for sure that the baby born in Bethlehem in very poor conditions is indeed the very son of God, sinless, Holy and sent by God to bring life and hope to a dark and dying world. We find these truths to be real though the eye witness accounts and historical renderings also known as the Gospels. There is an abundance of archaeological discoveries that verify the qualifications of the Gospel writers, particularly Luke, to be thorough and accurate in the recording of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have the prophecies of the virgin birth of Jesus to verify that he was not subject to original sin and the New Testament verification, many written at different times in history, to establish that Jesus was completely human and divine. Lee shared that perhaps the one person who really understood the identity of Jesus was Simeon, a devout and pious Jew who remained at the temple awaiting the coming Messiah (See Luke 2:25-35). Simeon even addressed the reality of the price Jesus would pay to be the “consolation of Israel” and that Mary would have her own soul “pierced” as well.

It seems that the reason for Christmas is Easter. “God sent his only begotten (unique) son, so that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life”, that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. Perhaps, as Lee Stobel shared in his teaching, the very first Christmas carol may have been Philippians 2:5-11. Why not read that today and then find the words and sing the marvelous song “O Holy Night”and remember, God can use anyone to get the Good News out to a hurting and dying world.

Merry Christmas, Happy New You!