MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Original card:
This serves as a card (already designed by someone else), but also as a gift-- months ago I said by Christmas I'd be finished up to Jesus entering Jerusalem for the final time. Then I discovered that the only gospel laid out chronologically/exhaustively about the later portion of His ministry (beginning with His 1st entry into Jerusalem through to the final entry) was John.
At that time, from the other Gospels, I had only somewhat covered His early ministry in Galilee. Then I focused on John; that timespan from John is now complete; it can be seen in PerJohn1 (beginning with John 2) to PerJohn5 (ending with John 11).
All the remainder of the pages are just as has been-- His ministry 1st in Galilee is also somewhat covered. In the future (hopefully by Easter), I will both fill in the gaps about His earlier ministry in Galilee, as well as about the crucifixion, resurrection & ascension-- covered in all 4 gospels.
Then I will tackle the remainder of the N.T.
Below are some ideas that were there originally when I chose this style of page-- I just left them there:
This time of the year is a great time to reflect on our family and friendships. It's the perfect time to catch up and get synced with our loved ones as well!
The best thing about this season is... Hmmm, that's a tough one. There's so much I like that picking just one thing seems disingenuous to the other favorites.
Addition #1 to the card:
About Epiphany
Following is a link you might find useful: Wiki entry for holiday; on it you can find descriptions of the various holidays. E.g., if you want to find out about the holiday Epiphany: click on the link; when it loads, near the top left find the Search space; click on that space & type in Epiphany; then click on Epiphany. You will find for Epiphany (holiday) the following description: "a Christian holiday on January 6 celebrating the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus". Now this is a rather short description, so let me add some other info I found out.
About "The 12 Days of Christmas"
I was told that the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" is based on the 12 days starting on Christmas (Dec. 25) & ending on Jan. 5th-- Epiphany/the Feast of Ephiphany is observed on Jan. 6th. This is a Catholic observance; Jan. 6th commemorates the day the wise men arrived-- these 12 days are also called Christmastide/Twelve-tide. Now Catholic records specify that it took the wise men 16 months to arrive. Matt 2:1 says that sometime "after Jesus was born, Magi (traditionally, 3 Wise Men, based on the 3 gifts they brought) from the east came to Jerusalem; Matt 2:8-11 says that the King Herod sent them "to Bethlehem", but the star led them to "the place where the child was. On coming to the house (which likely was in Nazareth), they saw the child with His mother. I.e., there is no refute, but rather support, of the idea that the Magi arrived after Jesus was 1 1/3 yrs. (16 mo.) old.
Now an account in Luke about some un-specified number of shepherds that visited the new-born Jesus is not to be confused with this Magi story. Luke 2:8,11,16 says, "there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby," to whom an un-named angel announced, "today in the town of David (Bethlehem-- Jerusalem was the city of David, some 10 mi. north) a Savior has been born; so they hurried off. Upon arrival, they found the baby Jesus in the manger."
To view the lyrics & to hear it (the music only-- 15 or 20 seconds after it loads), click on http://www.christmas-carols.net/carols/twelve-days.html. You can also select other Christmas music.
Other links are:
Addition #2 to the card:
1 of the scores of prophesies that were fulfilled specifically when Jesus was born:
Isa 7:14 says, "The virgin will be with child & will give birth to a son, & the virgin will call Him Emmanuel"-- in Isa 8:8,10 we have God speaking to Immanuel & declaring "God is with us" (compare this to Matt 1:23).
About Hannakah:
You can see on page Feasts-n-Locs (click on it listed above) that Jesus went to 4 feasts during His ministry-- He went to Jerusalem 5x, but the 1st & 5th time was for the same feast (the Passover feast). The 1st 3 feasts were ordained of old-- indeed, all Jews were required to go to them during the many centuries (the places in scripture that reveal this are not repeated here). The dates of these 3 feasts-of-old depended on the moon phases (gathered from various Study Bibles):
- the Passover Feast (Feast of Unleavened Bread) occurred sometime in our spring;
- the Feast of Harvest (Firstfruits; Weeks; Pentecost) occurred in our early summer;
- the Feast of Ingathering (Tabernacles) occurred in our fall.
Gathered from Conway (AR)'s Log Cabin Democrat (Wed., 12/2/2009, p. 1 of Sec. B), the 4th 8-day "feast" was Hanukkah (Chanukah; the Festival of Lights), which started on the 25th day of the mo. of Kislev-- which also changed each yr. according to the moon phases (sometime in our late Nov. to late Dec.). That's all I'll put here from the myriad of info. printed-- well, except to point out that it started in the 2nd century B.C. in observance of the recovery of the Temple.
But as noted before, John 10:22 says that Jesus went to this approx. 200-yr.-old "Feast of Dedication-- it was winter, & Jesus was walking in Solomon's Colonnade." There was no other wintertime feast, so that likely this was Hanukkah. Now as noted, Hanukkah began on the 25th day of the mo. Kislev (moon-phase-based, as opposed to our permanent Dec. 25th). That's not a problem-- recall me emphasizing that God loves every portion of the world, from babes to old folks.