Happy Christmas and
New Year Dear Reader,
Were we to wait
until the actual event of the Epiphany relative to Christ’s birth, I would be
writing about Christmas for two years or so.
Most scholarship places the visitation of the Magi at two years after
the birth of Christ. I do want to ponder
them for a moment as I close out my writing about Christmas for this season.
We do not know their
number or when they first began to prepare for their journey to Bethlehem. Their understanding came from centuries of
tracking the movement of the stars and their knowledge of the people of
God. We need to recall that there existed
no distinction between astronomy and astrology in the first century. These men were very powerful in their knowledge
and influence in the ancient world.
Even though the focal
point of the Christmas story is Israel, we see that the Father is still working
to draw men to the truth in other parts of the world. The history of the Magi is woven throughout
the story of the redemption but we do not see it. Some of them oppose the Father and some, like
the Magi in the Christmas story, sought and honored the truth.
What we take from
this part of the story into this time is the wisdom of seeking Christ
always. To carry Christmas in our hearts
we must be constantly seeking Jesus. We
must be faithful in our love and in our following of him. Later this year my new book on this subject
will be available. To close our Christmas
writing time, and to excite you for Christmas yet to come I will give you a
snippet. First, however, I greatly
desire to remind you of our purpose in this long series.
Before we put away
Christmas until December beacons again, I plan to live out the year carrying
Christmas in my heart every day. Winter
will get colder. Spring will come with
the rebirth of life and thoughts of Holy Week.
The summer will carry its heat and leisure where my mind thinks of
baseball and beaches. Autumn will see the
slumbering world turn dark and damp again.
In every season, from December to December, I will keep my small pewter Nativity
directly in front of me as I write. I will
think Christmas thoughts every day by trying the infuse that day with love,
joy, and kindness centered on Jesus and his gift to us.
You see, Dear Reader,
none of the other things that lead to our reclamation are possible without the
birth of Christ. So, the celebration of
Christmas is echoed in all the year as we see how the story unfolds. We can see the heart of Christmas in every
season if we determine that we will follow Christ in his desire for us to be
loving and good to everyone. Tomorrow we
will ask a question about a statement on many lips. Today, however, here is one more bit of a
tale to remind us that there is always room and time for another Christmas
song.
Magi: The Gift Bearers
– Prologue – December 2020
As the first
stars appear in the eastern sky, Nahor and Terah watch the young men returning
from the hunt. It is clear that the
brothers have had a successful venture hunting.
Each carries a fresh kill over his shoulders. Servants meet them at the edge of the tent
and take the game to prepare it for tomorrow’s feast.
The men of
Terah’s family will depart in two days.
They are headed south to Canaan.
The journey will be one-way. The
intent is to settle in the land but they do not yet know where. Since the death of Haran, the family has been
uneased. The Son and the Messenger Djinn
have been here often over the last month.
The Messenger Djinn, Gabriel has been teaching Nahor of a new role in
the service of the Son. Nahor has been
designated the first Gift Bearer of the Chaldees. Gabriel has spent much time at the top of the
great tower teaching Nahor about the stars and the stories they have to tell.
They focus on the Ram and the King’s
Star. Gabriel explains why his father
and brother must journey away. Whilst he
does the Son spends time with Terah, Abram, and Lot detailing the purpose of
their migration. Gabriel also passes on
how important it is for the Gift Bearer to pass on what he knows to his
children and to other Chaldeans of good heart.
Gabriel and Nahor descend to join in the last feast with his father,
brother, and nephew in Ur.
So, it is that as the last grains of winter
slip through the pinch that the caravan of Abram begins the journey to
Canaan. In the same day and night, the
Gift Bearers; the Magi, begin their watch.
For centuries they will pass down their knowledge and gain more wherever
they can. They will be apart from the
nation that springs from Abram’s family.
They will also make sure that among his clan are trained Gift
Bearers.
As centuries of sand slip through the pinch, we find the nation that was once a family about to return to the land promised
them by the Father. Even as Thanatos,
the Angel of Death begins his walk through Egypt, on a similar spring night,
Iscah sends a group of faithful Magi to the East. They journey to prepare a place for the gifts
to be safe.
Wishing you joy in
the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus
said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of
Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new
and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
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