'To Ransome Captive Israel'

[faeriemaiden]

We've started playing Christmas music early. I'm normally a stickler about this: Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year, yes, even more so than autumn, but there is a wonderful holiday called Thanksgiving that oughtn't to be ignored! (The Christmas season is much too short, though.) But we need some holiday spirit hereabouts, I think, as

Comments

[wanderlight]

I'm atheist, and so I don't celebrate Christmas in a religious sense -- more in terms of family, giving, goodness. (Ever head "The Atheist Christmas Carol" by Vienna Teng? That encapsulates Christmas for me, pretty much.)

Anyhow, what I wanted to say was: you made reference to Emily's Veil! ♥ ♥

[faeriemaiden]

Anyhow, what I wanted to say was: you made reference to Emily's Veil! ♥ ♥
Indeed! I have the exact experience--oh, not often, I suppose, but frequently, and I didn't know how to describe it or even quite what it was until I connected it with Emily's Flash. Oddly enough, half the time it's music that does it. Or certain words--gloaming, attic, evanescent, macabre (eek, rather dismal words!)--that send me spinning into a moment's glimpse of whatever other world or dimension it is that they belong to. :D

[wanderlight]

Dismal words indeed, to go with all of your dismal music. xD

I get The Flash in a few different situations -- a lot of the time it's a glimpse of something, maybe sunlight catching on a tree in a certain way; realisations about life. It happens more at dusk, for some reason.

[avendya]

Given that Christ was most likely born in April, and that Christmas is in December due to pagan festivals to the god Mithros, I'm afraid your point doesn't really stand.

The Mithros-festivals were to celebrate the return of the sun, though - and Christmas celebrates the return of the Son.

But, yes, the events leading up to the first Christmas would have been... dark, but not hopeless, because there is always hope with God.

[faeriemaiden]

Which is why I said 'we've chosen to celebrate', because, really, I'm sure the date on which we celebrate Christ's birth was divinely ordained, too, if not, perhaps, with quite so much...precision, shall we say? (Ack, I'm beginning to sound like a pretentious textbook.)

On a similar train of thought, it's awfully good that we've got Christmas, or the onset of winter would be a great deal less magical and something to look forward to. As it is, I am magnificently sick of snow and everything cold by mid-January. ^-^

Drat you, Christmas spirit! I want cookies now!

[midenianscholar]

Not to do with Christmas, but all about the second coming: Then I saw Heaven open wide-and oh! a white horse and its Rider. The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness. His eyes are a blaze of fire, on his head many crowns. He has a Name inscribed that's known only to himself. He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and he is addressed as "Word of God." The armies of Heaven, mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen, follow him. A sharp sword comes out of his mouth so he can subdue the nations, then rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the raging wrath of God, the Sovereign-Strong. On his robe and thigh is written, King of kings, Lord of lords.
Revelation 19:15

I love that passage so much, because it's visual.

(Have you seen the previews for The Navity? It looks really, really good.)

[midenianscholar]

And, for the record, who cares if your (our) logic isn't perfect? I love moments like that, when it just sort of comes clear.

(I was searching BibleGateway for the word "understanding" and--wow! It's amazing to see the flow of scripture. Especially in Isaiah, where it's talking about the Holy Spirit and the shepherds who see Jesus.)

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
Psalm 111:10

[avonleigh]

I think perhaps historically it doesn't fit all the details, but then, that's why it's pull-away-the-veil moment.

I wonder, often, how many things there are we take for granted and explain away with reason and history that God designed specifically to not be such an in-your-face declaration of his existence but to be something more subtle, something we can explain away... but can't, at the same time.

[liveonthesun]

Oh, I love that song! It's on my list of top three Christmas Carols; "O! Holy Night" and "What Child Is This" are the other two. Though nothing can beat "The Boar's Head Carol!"

I've never thought of that before! I love it thought, now that you've mentioned it.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I just love the special feeling you get way down deep inside of you during the season!

[liveonthesun]

Oh, and I think it all makes perfect sense! It's not that humans planned to celebrate Christmas in December, but more that through a chain of events, that's how it ended up being. Just because somethin isn't planned, doesn't mean it has no effect. As any LOST fan will know, coincidences are everything, and everything happens for a reason. ♥

[faeriemaiden]

As any LOST fan will know, coincidences are everything, and everything happens for a reason.

*giggles* Also, if your plane crashes with your father's coffin on it, chances are that EVERYONE ON THE PLANE will have had a completely bizarre meeting with him. :D