CSN - LightWing Messages - The Birth of Jesus - Sunday - 12/24/2023
The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.” Luke 2:1-21 (New International Version)
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE:
Last week’s message about the faith of the Magi, and what it meant for their journey into enemy territory was a testimony of their belief in God, but even more - their faith in God. One is able to have a belief in God without having faith in God. In my humble opinion this is what Christians are learning in America in such a time as this during the existential crisis our nation is going through at present. Many have a belief in God, but truly lack faith in His capabilities. People have more of a tendency these days to have more faith in the capabilities of super heroes in the popular movie fantasies than in the power of God.
Yet, in last week’s newsletter, I mentioned that when people are in awe of God; or, “when one has a genuine relationship with their Father in Heaven, they behave in obedience to His guidance.” That is trust in God, or faith in God’s promises and His fulfillment of those promises through His direct commands or His prophecies. The point made was that “the Magi, Joseph, and Mary did as God instructed them. And, as Jesus survived childhood and was able to grow to manhood, he demonstrated absolute obedience to His Father in Heaven.” For Jesus, his obedience originated from his genuine love for his Father in Heaven. God gave humanity His son. Jesus showed humanity the depth of his love for God.
Our featured message for this edition is focused on a recent article I wrote entitled, “The Heart of Christmas vs. The Material World.” It would hopefully provoke some thought, if not action based upon the concept of what is at the heart of Christmas.
The second message on this Christmas Eve is from A. Dru Kristenev, and it is entitled, “A tale of Christmas tradition” that was also written recently. The title of the article gives an indication of the deeper content, but one will not know the deeper part of the message until they read it, just as elected officials often do not know what may be in a bill they vote on, unless they read it. So, take some time to read it, unlike the legislation, it will be better for the soul.
Our Zoom call this past Wednesday was a great discussion about the Magi, which was the focus of that Sunday’s edition. So, those who want to know more about this week’s message, please join us on the call this Wednesday.
We are grateful when any of our readers are willing to offer comments or check in with us on our Zoom sessions. They can be part of the conversation or can simply listen. They usually discover like-minded thinkers and people with good hearts. Our Zoom call this Wednesday will feature a discussion on faith, as the Magi demonstrated their faith in such a dramatic manner. Readers who are not on our standing list to receive the Zoom link to the call, please reach out and send an email request to this address: d.jamzon@gmail.com We’ll honor the request and add you to our regular mailing list.
CSN LightWing Mission – Zoom call Wednesday 12/27/23 at 5:00pm PST
Generally each Wednesday at 5pm PST (6pm MST; 7pm CST; and 8pm EST).
These words are being freely offered to you – intended to shine light unto our paths, as written: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18 - KJV
As always, we hope our readers would consider all the messages in this edition relevant or meaningful, and if readers know others who might value them as well, please consider being one of our official LightWing messengers and pass this newsletter on to those whom you feel would be able to welcome it. Or simply, please receive it yourselves.
May God bless our readers and all of their loved ones. Merry Christmas to All!
May we humble ourselves, seek His face, repent, and turn from wickedness - even if that may mean to truly seek the face of the Christ, to receive his words as if he were speaking them directly to each of us, to learn his heart from his guidance to us, and to transform our lives in the way he would want us to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.
The Heart of Christmas vs. The Material World
By Dennis Jamison
12/22/2023
The Christmas holiday normally provides an opportunity to inject one’s Christian faith into a very material world. And, the spirit of Christmas can dominate the secular world in several ways, but the commercialization of Christmas can pollute the reason for the season.” Yet, it does not have to turn out that way.
The commercialization of Christmas, or the over emphasis upon the shopping frenzy in the season can poison the deeper meaning behind the celebration of the birth of Jesus and the more spiritual dimension of the occasion. After all, the celebration should focus more on the purpose and less on poisoning the purpose. While people run around and scurry from one shopping center to another, in order to find the perfect gifts for loved ones, the entire process may burn people out, and the heart of the holiday becomes less and less valued. Yet, it does not have to turn out that way – especially for those who consider themselves Christians.
Obviously, not all who celebrate Christmas are Christians. It is just like not all of those who celebrate St. Patrick’s Day are Catholic, or even Christian! Such a diverse culture as that which exists in the United States often opens the door for such blended cultural exchanges of religious celebrations or holiday traditions. Christmas captures the hearts of many non-Christians as the heart of the holiday is giving or offering gifts to others. It is the essence of the celebration in honoring the birth of the Christ child. The story of the Magi is a story of bringing precious gifts to the newborn king. However, the Magi were a part of the process of God’s giving the most precious of gifts of His son.
When one considers that such a precious gift was given by our Heavenly Father, one may be caught by the thought of how precious are the rest of God’s children who are to receive His gift. While most of the world’s people who celebrate Christmas are focusing on the giving and receiving material gifts, it takes a person of faith to appreciate the real depth of love God has for all of His children. He sent His son to call us home again and to live in love with God and to love one another equally as children of God.
This means that God’s children need to be more aware of God’s perspective than that of our own. Our perspectives are often caught up in the material world, and we tend to be more immersed in the contemporary culture than in a more comprehensive perspective that could include God’s perspective. The genuine irony is that people may be more caught up in the material world or the commercialism of the holiday at Christmas time than at any other time of the year. Merchants and savvy business owners know this and ramp up their efforts to increase sales in such a season. Charitable organizations and politicians and panhandlers know this and their outreach centers upon the selective or targeted audiences in such a time of year.
People of faith must keep the right priorities in such a time, and it is a unique challenge – especially for Christians. With regard to gift giving, one needs to keep in mind that the gifts one gives needs to be an expression of the love for the recipients, not to be some convenient or rushed replacement for love. There is a subtle difference, but it can also be a flagrantly obvious transfer from genuine love to an inanimate, lifeless thing to take the place of the life-giving energy that is embedded in genuine or “true” love.
In a capitalistic-centered country, material gifts often take the place of true love, and the giver never gets around to honestly or sincerely giving the real article of the heart, which should be the true heart of Christmas. Why? Jesus gives us the answer within the story of the woman at the well. She was talking about quenching one’s thirst through water to be drawn from the well. Jesus was raising her to understand the concept of living water – or what could be described as life-giving energy, which is what love is, which is a way of explaining spiritual reality as opposed to material reality.
It is not unacceptable to give a cup of water to one who is thirsty, it is kind and helpful. So, giving gifts in place of love has a genuine value – it is not to be understood as not having value. However, the living water that Jesus was talking about to the woman at the well was of so much more value. So, the gifts we give at Christmas are valuable, but they should not be replacement for true love – genuine life-giving energy – living water.
Consider this simple perspective: God arranged the preparations of the coming of His son upon the Earth. Like a parent preparing a nursery for a newborn baby, He prepared the conjunction of planets, he gave his prophets words of inspiration and enlightenment about sending His son into the world, He sent angels to the shepherds, being a proud parent announcing the birth of His son, He inspired the Magi to keep watch for the star that had been prophesied as well. He had to arrange all of this simply to bring Jesus to His other children, to teach us about our Father in Heaven.
Why? Because He could? Because the material world could be so manipulated? God went to all of that trouble to bring His son into the world because He so loved the world. It was love, true love that was at the heart of Christmas. God gave the greatest gift to His other children so that they would be able to know Him more deeply and to return the love He gave His children at such great cost. The heart of Christmas was God’s gift to us – so that we could learn more fully about His love through His son directly. Why? So we could return His love and live in an ongoing relationship of love with our Father. Is that so hard to grasp? One may say no, but it is critical to ask: to what degree have I returned my love to my Father in Heaven?
Is this not what Jesus asked of us? But, we must remember that Jesus told those who interrogated him that his words were not his own, but his words were from his Father who had sent him to share more substantially. In this sense, Jesus was the incarnation of God and God’s word to His children. So, God was asking through His beloved son that we should” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40
And, when we give our gifts at Christmas do we just wrap them in pretty paper, based upon what is acceptable per our culture, or do we offer the gift smothered in genuine love to those whom we are giving gifts? Truly, it is a challenge to all who call themselves Christians. It is not the challenge from some writer composing an article on the heart of Christmas, but it is a challenge from Jesus. And, his challenge to us, more than 2,000 years ago, penetrates into our time at this Christmas – especially in such a turbulent time as this.
The spirit of Christmas offers everyone the opportunity to consider our own relationship to Jesus and our Father in Heaven, but, has this been shuffled to the bottom of our priorities during the hustle and bustle of the season as we struggle to survive the material world? Consider that Jesus came to help us all understand that love is the heart of Christmas and that each of us received the gift of life from God, and what we make of our lives is our gift to God and to those we can touch with the unique gifts He also gave to us.
The Christ child wasn’t born to establish anguish or loneliness, but to bring joy of salvation and closeness to God
A tale of Christmas tradition
By A. Dru Kristenev ——Bio and Archives--December 24, 2023
Some writers feel compelled to compose a column commemorating each holiday that comes along, especially Christmas. I’m not one of them. This year, however, there has been an inner pressure to speak to the “holy day,” its import and impact upon the earth’s inhabitants beyond and including the billions of believers.
Our family was melded between traditions of two faiths – my father a Jew, and my mother a Gentile raised to honor Christian legacy.
Christmas was a joyful season in a household that was also sprinkled with Hanukkah lights and gelt as a reminder of Father’s heritage. Music, the aroma of baking #, and crafting décor to festoon the house colored the month leading up to Christmas morning.
Having parents that revelled in song, a treasured memory is how we came together to voice carols when my grandmother came to live with us for a brief period. Raised in a family of professional musicians, years before she had prepared multiple copies of Christmas carol lyrics that we sang from during that one special Christmas season. Although grandmother passed away just a month before the holiday, as a child I kept one of those songbooks with me, continuing to sing throughout the year the words she so loved and revered. Always will I remember her favorite as the “Cantique de Noël” which she sang in her native tongue.
Preparing for the celebration of the Lord’s earthly incarnation wasn’t religious in that the ceremonial trappings of the holiday weren’t the focus of Christmas, family and giving was. Even after Mother’s passing during my teen years, my sister and I did our best to keep Mother’s spirit of sharing, and a month of joyful preparation alive.
Honoring the birth of Christ has infiltrated nearly every culture worldwide with celebrations, despite differing religious traditions
As a missionary for the past 13 years, landing in numerous households and often spending the holy days alone, the significance of attending church services, especially those laced with inspiring hymns honoring Jesus’ birth, have taken on a precious role. Recalling the music that underlaid the activities of a loving household, no matter how difficult finances were, brings home the blessing of God’s gift who became our salvation.
Honoring the birth of Christ has infiltrated nearly every culture worldwide with celebrations, despite differing religious traditions. Commercialization of the holy day has spread the tradition far and wide, embedding the impact of Christ among the nations. The Gregorian calendar that schedules secular society is based on that day of Emmanuel’s arrival in the earth, whether or not non-Christians acknowledge that fact.
No other human personality has shaped the social order and underlying ethos as has Christ who manifested God’s Word, and was the Word come in the flesh (John 1). There can be no denial of Him and His affect on every nation, no matter how vehemently an individual argues. Attempting to redesignate B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini) as B.C.E. and C.E. (Before Common Era and Common Era) erases nothing regarding the rationale behind the dating system. It centers around the birth of Christ.
As the beauty of the season culminates in the celebration Christ’s coming on a day that may or may not have been His actual birthdate, it is incumbent on all mankind to recognize who laid the foundation of the world, provided moral tenets, and demonstrated forgiveness, stemming from God’s ultimate sacrifice on a cross as a gift of forgiveness for any to receive.
He suffered for any and all who will simply believe
Before brushing aside the offering Jesus made of His own body on the cross, a reminder is in order of just how brutal and utterly inhumane is the torture a person endures hanging only by nails impaling hands and feet. It is humbling to investigate the torment inflicted on Christ’s body by relentless scourging that flayed skin open to the bone, and how one fights agonizing pain in order to breathe from a position devised to steal breath.
Yet, Jesus came to the earth to suffer this humiliation for all to gain access to God’s forgiveness, and to prove His deity by rising from death, testified to by hundreds of witnesses. There is too much corroborative documentation from sources other than the Bible of who Jesus was, is, and what He suffered for any and all who will simply believe.
Whatever Christmas means to each, the season’s melodies, lighted streets, shops and homes, and scents of # can bring memories sweet or sorrowful. If the reason for the celebration of sharing and comradery is understood, then melancholy is overcome by gratitude and worship.
The Christ child wasn’t born to establish anguish or loneliness, but to bring joy of salvation and closeness to God, the Creator, in hearts of all mankind. “on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14) means what the host of angels declared, if only we will open our hearts to receive His promise that it can be lived through us for Him.
Merry and Blessed Christmas to All!
A. Dru Kristenev
Author
Fact-based Political Suspense
Scripture Led Politics: Mutual Exclusivity Be Damned
Former newspaper publisher, A. Dru Kristenev, grew up in the publishing industry working every angle of a paper... Since 2007, Kristenev has authored five fact-filled political suspense novels, the Baron Series, and two non-fiction books, all available on Amazon. Carrying an M.S. degree and having taught at premier northwest universities, she is the trustee of Scribes’ College of Journalism, which mission is to train a new generation of journalists in biblical standards of reporting. More information about the college and how to support it can be obtained by contacting Kristenev at cw.o@earthlink.net.
ChangingWind (changingwind.org) is a solutions-centered Christian ministry. Donate Here
Onward and Upward!
From ComeUntoChrist.org: He is the Gift | #LightTheWorld – 12/10/2020
From Libera (Boys choir): Angels We Have Heard On High – – 11/28/2011
From ComeUntoChrist.org: The Christ Child: A Nativity Story | #LightTheWorld - 11/23/2019
From Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Canon (Official Music Video) [HD] – 10/26/2009
From Jonathan Cahn: When Was Jesus REALLY born?? – 12/13/2014
From Rhema Marvanne: O Holy Night - Incredible child singer 7 yrs old – 12/12/2009
From World Outreach Church with Allen Jackson: Understanding Jesus’ Arrival: Matthew | Pastor Allen Jackson – 12/17/2022
From the Cedarmont Kids: What Child Is This? – 11/19/2020
From Jonathan Cahn: Unveiling the Bethlehem Tapestry: The Untold Story Behind Jesus's Birth – 12/22/23
From Killard House School: Kaylee Rodgers Singing Hallelujah - Official Video - Full HD - 12/21/2016
From Tony Evans: The True Light of Christmas - Tony Evans Sermon – 12/25/21
From GENTRI: "O Holy Night" (Official Music Video) – 12/24/16
From The Piano Guys: The Piano Guys - The Sweetest Gift (ft. Craig Aven) (Official Video) – If you’re missing someone this Christmas this song’s dedicated to you - 12/19/2017
Podcast - From Dutch Sheets Ministries: Holy Night, Indeed | Give Him 15 Daily Prayer with Dutch | December 22, 2023
ICYMI > Podcast - From The American Minute with Bill Federer: Christmas Songs - "O Come All Ye Faithful" – 12/19/23
From PragerU: The Amazing History of Christmas – 12/9/23
ICYMI > Podcast - From “Bold & Blunt” w/ Cheryl Chumley of Washington Times: A Christmas Message of Hope – 12/12/23
Recommended Reading…
From Spectrum Magazine: Christmas 2023: A Time to Make Room – 12/23/23
From Kingdom Winds: The Depressing Little Manger Scene – 12/22/23
ICYMI > From Faithwire: Max Lucado Breaks Down Biblical Facts About Jesus That Set Christianity, the Christmas Story Apart From ‘Every Other Theology’ – 12/1/23
What affects one, can affect all!
* News From The Growing Free Union -
From My Faith Votes: My Faith Votes | Christmas Invasion
From Craig Huey: The War on Christmas Escalates in 2023: The State Versus Christianity – 12/20/23
ICYMI > From American Thinker: All I Want for Christmas is Election Integrity - 12/11/22
* News From the States –
News From California -
From Faithwire: ‘Superman’ Star Dean Cain Flees Hollywood, Says ‘You See a Lot of Debauchery’ There – 12/21/23
From TownHall: California Library REALLY Does Not Want a Navy SEAL's Wife to be Able to Do a Christmas Story Time – 12/21/23
News From Colorado -
From The Daily Caller: ALAN DERSHOWITZ: The Ridiculous Colorado Ruling To Keep Trump Off Ballot Will Create Disarray In US Electoral System – 12/21/23
From Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN): COURT UPHOLDS DECISION TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM THE BALLOT – 12/21/23
News From Iowa -
From The Christian Post: Christian veteran who toppled Iowa satanic display says detractors 'overcomplicating' evil – 12/22/23
News From Ohio -
From Tim Sheets of The Oasis Church: It's in Your Hands | Tim Sheets – 12/10/23
News From Texas -
From Washington Examiner: The Debrief with Conn Carroll: Current Texas law on illegal immigration might not work – 12/22/23