Meditations In the Christmas Story – Ancestral City - Tempus Antiques

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

Caesar’s decree drives Joseph to Bethlehem, Ephrata; The City of David.  This small insignificant town will be thrust center stage for eternity.  The world is neither aware nor cares what is about to happen.  Were it seen for what it is wars might be fought to stop the event.

The little town is flooded with migrating census registrants.  The inn is full and woman is ready to give birth.  The innkeeper does not realize that his promised Messiah is ready to emerge from the womb.  It is both a blessing and curse that he will do so in the stable of this particular inn.

The birth of the Son will be celebrated now.  It will send ripples through all of time with the epicenters being this stable and on a hill some thirty years down the path.  The joy of the Advent will be both fleeting and permanent. 

A mad king in the city with the hill waits for news from Bethlehem.  When it does not come he will visit wrath and horror on this ancient city.  For now we ponder the good will of God and the peace on earth.  We consider a stable and a manger.  We see love of a mother and a foster father. 

For now we see the Light is those dark streets inviting us all to shine in his illumination.  I must not let the suffering be overshadowed but I must bask in the light.  After all the hopes and fears of everyone’s meet there.  Perhaps really listening to this song might give me some deeper perspective.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem – Annie Lennox

O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary

And gathered all above

While mortals sleep, the angels keep

Their watch of wondering love

O morning stars together

Proclaim the holy birth

And praises sing to God the King

And Peace to men on earth

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear His coming,

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him still,

The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

Be born to us today

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell

O come to us, abide with us

Our Lord Emmanuel

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The Crimson Thread of Christmas – Jeremiah

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

“Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.”

Here our tapestry becomes tear-stained.  Jeremiah weeps over the sin and suffering of his people.  He sees that they are guilty of abandoning the Father who loves them.  He sees their suffering and is moved by it.

Later as the Son weeps over Jerusalem he says. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

It is the willingness that is required.  The Father and Son both want us to see the crimson thread and cling to it willingly.  Neither is ignorant of the pain.  It moves them to reclaim us but not by force.  Advent is the beginning of the hope that Jeremiah clings to in his sorrow. Will you not at least listen?

Will You Not Listen – Michael Card

Is not He who formed the ear

Worth the time it takes to hear?

Should He who formed our lips for speaking

Be not heeded when He speaks?

Will you not listen?

Why won't you listen?

God has spoken love to us

Why will you not listen?

Listen to the sacred silence

Listen to the Holy Word

Listen as He speaks through living

Parables that must be heard

Will you not listen?

Why won't you listen?

God has spoken peace to us

Why will you not listen?

He spoke a word of flesh and blood

Flesh and blood that bled and died

Bled and died just to be heard

How could you not hear this Word?

Why will you not hear this Word?

Will you not listen?

Why won't you listen?

God has spoken hope to us

How could you not listen?

Why will you not listen?

How could you not listen?

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Meditations In the Christmas Story – Taxing Times – Tempus Taxare

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

All the world is being taxed.  This is the prime mover from a human perspective.  Imagine the magnitude of the migration.  Any man who was not in the city of his birth had to return there to register. 

This is only possible because the Romans have made travel relatively safer in the world.  It is doable because of the PAX Romana.  It impacts our story because the man Joseph is already in the midst of the story.  Before he can arrive in Bethlehem part of the story plays out in Nazareth.

Joseph is engaged to Mary.  She confesses that she is expecting a child.  She has never been with a man but Joseph does not believe this.  He does not want her killed for being a pregnant single woman.  He does not want to be part of the scandal either. 

This is the first place in our story where angels intervene.  Mary is told by an angel that she will birth the Messiah.  Joseph is told by an angel that Mary is telling the truth.  Instructions are given for him to follow through with the marriage. 

His faith is surly taxed.  Then the requirement to journey to Bethlehem comes.  Mary and Joseph must journey even though she is near her deliver date.  Their journey of faith and their journey under the law are what make my journey possible.  They travel to Bethlehem.  They live in taxing times indeed.

Mary’s Song – Petra

Hold that blanket closer Mary dear

All the world waits with you for your day

But for now the wind is cold and it's drear

And Bethlehem's still so far away

Do you remember the way you felt back then?

Joy and wonder filled your soul and when

The angel slipped away

You knew your life would never be the same

And now you're travelling, travelling on a road to Bethlehem

Wandering thoughts fly away

If you knew the road that lay ahead of Him

Would you break down and cry?

Your child is born to die

Feel that hand of strength upon your own

A husband's love that guides along the way

And as his understanding has grown,

His hopes too are centered on that day

For do you remember the way he looked back then,

Pain and sorrow filled his eyes until when

The angel came to say

The Savior's birth was meant to be this way

Think back on that promise you received

For him in whom the prophets long believed

Now belongs to you, you've been chosen too

But He's the One Who's gonna shine

We call His name Jesus, Immanuel

He'll save His people from sin and hell

And of His kingdom there will be no end

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The Crimson Thread of Christmas – Isaiah

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

We enter the area of the prophets The crimson thread here is more deliberate in drawing us to see that a Messiah is on the horizon.  He is fulcrum in the void by which the Father will lift us from our fallen state. 

As with every tapestry there are places that catch the eye and demand attention.  Isaiah is such a place in our weaving.  He portrays the Messiah as a suffering servant.  He gives his life for his work. 

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia he was sawn in half for his prophecies to King Manasseh.  He weaves a strong image of the Messiah and how he would come to us.  When Jesus arrives in the tapestry as a servant all the priests needed to do was look to the prophet they revered to see the overwhelming presence of the thread.

The context of the passages below bears out their veracity.  As the first of the prophets we consider in the thread it is clear that the Advent is the humble beginning of the God/man whom we celebrate at Christmas.

Messiah would be born of a virgin (Is 7:14, Luke 1:34-35)
Messiah would be Immanuel "God with us" (Is 7:14, Matt 1:21-23)
Messiah would be God and Man (Is 9:6, John 10:30)
Messiah would have the 7-fold Spirit upon Him (Is 11:1-2, Matt 3:16-17)
Messiah would heal the blind, lame, deaf (Is 35:5-6, Mark 10:51-52)
Messiah would be proceeded by a forerunner (Is 40:3, Luke 1:17)
Messiah would be a light to the gentiles (Is 42:6, John 8:12)
Messiah would be despised by the Jewish nation (Is 49:7, John 10:20, Matt 27:23)
Messiah would be whipped and beaten (Is 50:6, Matt 26:67, 27:26)
Messiah would die as a guilt offering for sin (Is 53:10, John 18:11)
Messiah would be resurrected and live forever (Is 53:10, Mark 16:16)

The Prophet – Michael Card

Reluctant ride in the middle of the belly of a whale

A wheel on fire in the middle of the sky

Abandoned baby kicking on the side of the road

And a wife has died but you're denied the right to cry

Three men walk out protected from a furnace of flame

One man cries out from a miry well

See a man in the myrtles and women with the wind in their wings

Understand what these seared lips can tell

I am the prophet and I smolder and burn

I scream and cry and wonder why you never seemed to learn

To hear with your own ears with your own eyes to see

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

I hold out hope to everyone who hears and understands

The Word of God can echo in the voice of a man

He's the shadow of a great rock in a dry and weary land

With the names of the ones He loved carved into His hands

I am the prophet and I smolder and burn

I scream and cry and wonder why you never seemed to learn

To hear with your own ears with your own eyes to see

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

The sorrow in His anger, my eyes weep His tears

His life alight in me

I am the sword that cuts His people apart

I speak the Word that comforts their faithless hearts

I am the prophet and I smolder and burn

I scream and cry and wonder why you never seemed to learn

To hear with your own ears with your own eyes to see

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

I am the prophet and I smolder and burn

I scream and cry and wonder why you never seemed to learn

To hear with your own ears with your own eyes to see

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Meditations In the Christmas Story – Caesar Augustus - Tempus Plena

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.”

The Christmas story involves the fullness of time.  For centuries the western world divided time by this event.  Time was measured as happening before and after the Advent of Christ.  It is why the phrase “In the year of our Lord” exists.

The time is right for the Advent of Christ.  The silence of the prophets has lasted for three centuries.  Rome has made the world more “civilized” through force and brutality.  They have set up a puppet king in Israel who is corrupt and evil.

There is a moment when the time is right.  There is an instant when the world is ready.  Israel has left its idol worship and clings to the law so deliberately that it forgets the spirit whilst corrupting the letter.  In the midst of all of it there is a measure of peace that has not existed before.  The PAX Romana has ended the upheaval that plagues the region.

It is in the moment that the Father acts.  He sends the Son.  The hourglass will turn and the sands will begin their flow back to the end of time.  For now we are paused in the moment when time is full.  We pause in a cattle shed in Bethlehem.  We are there because of Caesar.  More so we are there because the Father is working all things to get them back to good. 

In the moment of fullness a child is born; a Son is given.  In the night a cry breaks the stillness proclaiming new life.  The difference is that it proclaims the chance at new life for all of us.  It is the world that pauses to listen to that first sound that begins Jesus’ call of all us to himself. 

I will think on this before the time passes.  I will think upon the child and time and where we are headed.  The Father desires peace on earth and offers his good will to all.  How can I not pursue the same.    

What Child is This – Faith Hill

What child is this, who lays to rest,

On Mary's lap is sleeping,

Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,

While shepherds watch are keeping

This, this is Christ the King,

Whom shepherds guard, and angels sing,

Haste, haste to bring him praise,

The babe the Son of Mary

So bring him incense, gold and myrrh,

Come peasants, king to own Him,

The King of Kings salvation brings,

Let loving hearts enthrone Him

This, this is Christ the King,

Whom shepherds guard, and angels sing,

Haste, haste to bring Him praise.

The babe son of Mary

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The Crimson Thread of Christmas – Song of Solomon

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

The crimson thread in our tapestry becomes the red of romance.  This last of the poetical books shows us a King in love seeking his bride.  Christ made it clear that the metaphor of Christ as the Bridegroom is significant to our understanding of the Gospel.  This divine romance it vital to our comprehension of our destiny. 

We are the beloved of God.  He pursues us all with a jealous fire.  He gives us good and we reject it.  He leads and feeds but we are not satisfied.  He asks us to care for the needs of others and we are petulant and selfish.

No matter the level of our rejection he pursues us with love and humility.  He pursues with a love stronger than death.  He loves us no matter what we do to him.  The crimson thread of his heartbeat constantly calls out his love to us.  The Bridegroom holds out a nail scarred carpenter’s hand and asks us to arise and come to a wedding only made possible by the Advent.

Arise My Love – Michael Card

Arise, my love, my lovely one come,

The winter is past and the rains are gone.

The flowers appear, it's the season of song,

My beautiful one, arise and come with me.

Who is it that appears like the dawn?

As fair as the moon, as bright as the sun?

Show me your face, let me hear your voice.

My beautiful one, arise and come with me.

Set me like a seal on your heart,

For love is unyielding as the grave.

The flash of it is a jealous fire,

No flood can quench,

For love is as strong as death.

Arise my love and come with me

Before the dawn breaks and the shadows flee.

You ravished my heart with just one glance

My beautiful one, arise and come with me.

Set me like a seal on your heart,

For love is unyielding as the grave.

The flash of it is a jealous fire,

No flood can quench,

For love is as strong as death.

Do not arouse or awaken love

Until it so desires.

Arise, my love, my lovely one come,

The winter is past and the rains are gone.

The flowers appear, it's season of song,

My beautiful one, arise and come with me.

I am my love's, my beloved is mine.

Arise and come with me.

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Meditations In the Christmas Story – It Came to Pass

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

“And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus.”

My Grandfather used to always say that it the nature of time that things come to pass and not to stay.  Everything temporal is temporary.  In fact these words come from same root. 

Tempus Fugit – Time is fleeting.  It moves through the glass at the same unending pace.  Most of the world did not realize it was waiting for something.  Israel was waiting.  It was longing for release from a new kind of bondage. 

Slavery in Egypt came to pass.  The golden age of David and Solomon came to pass.  The era of captivity came to pass.  The Greeks and then the Romans came not to stay but to pass through the glass into the fleeting mists of time. 

We, however, get to see into the grains as they pass.  Captured for us in the Christmas story is a moment that comes to pass.  This moment is significant and deserves my honor and pause.  Jesus arrives exactly when he should. 

Some will speculate that the timing is wrong.  Some will deny that he came at all.  For me there is no Christmas without Christ.  There is no advantage to life with the Advent.  It is in this moment that comes to pass that we find the silent stillness that as it does each year will pass through the glass too quickly.

I will purpose to listen for the moments where I can live and breathe that moment in Bethlehem.  I will attempt to put forth peace and good will to everyone.  I will not take the moment for granted.  I will remember what has passed and look up on some clear midnight to hope for what is to come.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear – Sixpence None the Richer

It came upon the midnight clear,

that glorious song of old,

from angels bending near the earth

to touch their harps of gold:

"Peace on the earth, good will to men,

from heaven's all-gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay,

to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come

with peaceful wings unfurled,

and still their heavenly music floats

o'er all the weary world;

above its sad and lowly plains,

they bend on hovering wing,

and ever o'er its Babel sounds

the blessed angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours

Come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

For lo the days are hastening on,

By prophet seen of old,

When with the ever-circling years

Shall come the time foretold

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world send back the song

Which now the angels sing.

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The Crimson Thread of Christmas – Ecclesiastes

Greetings Dear Reader,

We need an honest view of the vanity that is in life.  I need to see that the things that are self-serving and those that are not.  As Solomon weaves this part of his tapestry it joins our larger one in it raw honesty.

That honesty is often misunderstood as pessimism.  That honesty is hard to see because it shines a glaring light on my own vanities.  We seek to satisfy our wants by neglecting our needs.  We take in excess and leave others wanting all to satisfy our own desires.

We engage in the futility of blaming this group or that when what it takes is for everyone to act individually.  The crimson thread is seen in the need to avoid the excesses and look to Jesus’ command to care for the poor.

Advent is a reminder of humility in greatness.  When we have we must not put pride and possessions above people.  We must live in wisdom.  We must attend to the  needs of others every day. 

Under the Son – Michael Card

He was a King, a teacher, the wisest in the land

Driven by a passion, just to know and understand

He opened wide His eyes sought to see beyond the lies

And found a world beyond His understanding

Under the sun, He saw the vanity of vanities

He bravely looked at life and saw futility

Torn between the facts He saw and all he ever had believed

Between His hopes and what He'd clearly seen

He hoped it might be wisdom so He set himself to learn

But found the more the knowledge the more sorrow and concern

And so He turned to pleasure, to folly and to cheer

But still His laughter, tasted of His tears

Under the sun, it was all vanity of vanities

In wisdom or in wine, He found futility

In knowledge or in folly, for the wise man or the fool

Hopelessness will always be the rule

And yet there is a time for everything that's under heaven

A time to run, a time to stand and fight

So in the face of cold despair, no matter what seems right

Remember, darkness drives us to the light

Under the sun

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Meditations In the Christmas Story – Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

For the next twenty-five days I am going to try to post twice a day.  I am trying to immerse my thinking in the Advent season and how I should interact with others during it.  I will not have as much family time as I desire and hope to extend my love and joy to others who need it.

This will be me meditating in the Christmas story to keep it and its purpose in the forefront.  I love many of the other trappings of the Holy Day but I refuse to put them ahead of a constant desire to show the love and promise of the birth in Bethlehem.

Amidst the chaos of shopping, spending, and getting we must keep Christ central.  I must not simply make him someone I acknowledge.  I need to assure that I am moved by Christ amidst the trappings and not merely making a token gesture to him.

Finding him in the moment everywhere can be easier if I prepare my heart to do so.  I will keep the songs in my head and the kindness in my heart.  I will seek to show the joy of the seasons to everyone I encounter.

Feel free to enjoy these evening meditations with me Dear Reader.  Perhaps you can find a thought or two of your own.  Perhaps you can find a silent night in which to connect to the babe who becomes the man who loves you beyond measure; the God who would rather die than live without you.

I Need a Silent Night – Amy Grant

I've made the same mistake before

Too many malls, too many stores

December traffic, Christmas rush

It breaks me till I push and shove

Children are crying while mothers are trying

To photograph Santa and sleigh

The shopping and buying and standing forever in line

What can I say?

I need a silent night, a holy night

To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise

I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here

To end this crazy day with a silent night

December comes then disappears

Faster and faster every year

Did my own mother keep this pace

Or was the world a different place?

Where people stayed home wishing for snow

Watching three channels on their TV

Look at us now rushing around

Trying to buy Christmas peace

I need a silent night, a holy night

To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise

I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here

To end this crazy day with a silent night

What was it like back there in Bethlehem

With peace on earth, good will toward men?

Every shepherd's out in the field

Keeping watch over their clock by night

And the glory of the Lord shone around them

And they were so afraid

And the angels said fear not for behold

I bring you good news of a great joy that shall be for all people

For unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord

And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace

I need a silent night, a holy night

To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise

I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here

To end this crazy day with a silent night

To end this crazy day with a silent night

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The Crimson Thread of Christmas – Proverbs

Greetings Dear Reader,

The thread weaves through Proverbs in so many ways as the writer lays out the way of wisdom.  We see Jesus as the obedient Son and the wise Bridegroom.  The Proverbs treat life as a series of wisdom and foolish choices.

It is the Wise Messiah that the Old Testament promises.  It is the way of wisdom that leads us to him.  It is the actions of wisdom that reveal the Jesus is the Messiah.

The Way of Wisdom – Michael Card

The Way of Wisdom starts out

With a step of holy fear

And it makes its way alone

By every good word that you hear

It has to do with passion

And it has to do with pain

It has to do with One

Who has both died and rose again

Died and rose again

And the Way of Wisdom is living

The Path of Peace is forgiving

Behold the Man of Meaning

Behold, He is the Lord

The way of understanding lies

In not how much you know

Where the pathway is a person

That you've come to love and so

You can stop pretending that it all depends on you

For it's not how much you love

As much as how much He loves you

How much He loves you

And the Way of Wisdom is living

The Path of Peace is forgiving

Behold the Man of Meaning

Behold, He is the Lord

And the Way of Wisdom is living

The Path of Peace is forgiving

Behold the Man of Meaning

Behold, He is the Lord

The Way of Wisdom beckons us

To find the end of fear that perfect love pursues

Wisdom did not come to simply speak the words of truth

He's the Word that makes us true

The Way of Wisdom starts out

With a step of holy fear

That's only the beginning

And there's much more that is clear

The path leads on to love

And love is fearless in its ways

For Love Himself was not afraid

To die that we'd be saved

To die that we'd be saved

And the Way of Wisdom is living

The Path of Peace is forgiving

Behold the Man of Meaning

Behold, He is the Lord

And the Way of Wisdom is living

The Path of Peace is forgiving

Behold the Man of Meaning

Behold, He is the Lord

Behold, He is the Lord

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 home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)