A LONELY TIME OF YEAR FOR SOME

  The Christmas/New Year season can be lonely for people who “go down memory lane.”

A minister friend told me this: the word “nostalgia” comes from two Greek words that combined mean “the pain of the return.”

“Nostalgia” is “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations,” sources say.

Three days before Christmas 2021, I visited my lung doctor’s office in the Prisma Health Greer Memorial Hospital complex for a yearly checkin. A lady ushered me into a room I recognized as the room my late wife, Carol, and I waited in many times while she battled pulmonary hypertension and was Dr. Armin Meyer’s patient. 

Memories flooded my mind. Carol and I lived for almost 30 years in North Carolina. In Dec. 2012 a blood clot rose from Carol’s leg and burst in her lungs, causing pulmonary hypertension (that made her heart work hard to pump blood through her lungs). We moved back to the Greenville, SC, area on Jan. 10, 2018. Right after Christmas 2018, Dr. Meyer told Carol her “time had come.” After a few days at the Upstate Community Hospice House, Landrum, SC, Carol died on Jan. 11, 2019 (one year and a day after we moved from NC to SC).

That history flashed through my mind as I sat … with Christmas only days away.

“The holidays magnify feelings of anxiety, depression, and family discord that make holiday gatherings hard,” someone said. 

Stress can rise in December, caused by lack of money, shopping decisions and deadlines, strained family relations, pressures to please family and friends, and the media blitz of families enjoying holiday get-togethers.

Writer Ray Williams says, “Some get depressed because Christmas appears to be a trigger to engage in excessive self-reflection and rumination about the inadequacies of life (and a ‘victim’ mentality) in comparison with other people who seem to have more and do more.”

Christmas comes with expectations of perfect, happy families. And we remember loved ones who are not with us any longer. For many, this year marks their first Christmas without a certain loved one.

Some people feel anxious or depressed around winter holidays due to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), sometimes referred to as seasonal depression. 

Many folk have experienced loss of a friend or loved one to COVID-19. That disease puts a damper on our getting together with friends and family, where there are possible tensions about COVID vaccinations — strife between the vaxxed and the unvaxxed.

Jesus is still our hope — during any time of the year! Let’s rely on Jesus, no matter what trouble comes. 

Here are some verses to encourage us as we enter the new year of 2022:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). 

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

DETAILS OF JESUS' BIRTH

  Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and returned to Nazareth. Joseph was distressed that his engaged wife was pregnant. He didn’t know about the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary or the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.   

He planned to break his engagement to Mary in a quiet way — didn’t want her to suffer public disgrace and wanted to avoid embarrassment for himself. 

As a just Jewish man, Joseph could have followed the Mosaic Law on adultery. God himself authored the Mosaic Law. Here is what justice requires for adultery, according to the Law: “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10).   

If Joseph did not act according to the Law, we might consider him merciful, but not just, sources say. 

(In the case of rape, under the Mosaic Law, the woman would go free, but the man who did it should die.)
 
THE DREAM (Matthew 1:20-23)
 
“But while he [Joseph] thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.’

“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.’”
 
THE MARRIAGE  
 
“The marriage was quietly solemnized according to the laws of the Jewish religion, and Joseph meekly accepted the task which Divine Providence assigned to him as the protector of Mary, and the foster-father of her Divine Child,” writes the Rev. Charles P. Roney, D.D., author of Beautiful Bible Stories. 

“And [Joseph] knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son.”

Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, but that wasn’t where Jesus was to be born. 

Augustus Caesar, the Roman Emperor who ruled most of the known world at that time, helped bring about God’s will because he wanted all his subjects enrolled and taxed.

“She [Mary] and her betrothed, Joseph, were members of a conquered people group, forced to travel about 90 miles to be counted for the census of the conquering empire so that it might know just how many people it had available to tax,” sources say. 

“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child” (Luke 2).
 
THE BIRTH
 
“And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

“Though it flies in the face of Christmas tradition, the truth of the matter is that Mary and Joseph probably stayed with family in Bethlehem,” according to biblestudytools.com. “The Bible never says Jesus was born in a stable; it simply says he was placed in a manger: ‘She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them’ (Luke 2:7).

“Note that there was no “guest room” available for them; Mary and Joseph probably stayed on the crowded ground floor of a relative’s house, writes Tim Chaffey for Answers in Genesis. The idea of a fruitless search for an inn comes from a translation of the Greek word for guest room getting turned into ‘inn’ in some English Bibles. (Not to worry; you can still have cute animals in your nativity scene. Small animals were often brought inside the house during the night in the first century. This is probably where the manger came from.)” (from biblestudytools.com).

Whatever the details, the Bible says that in the city of David there was born a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Dr. Roney writes, “Hidden from the eyes of a thoughtless and wicked world, possessed of a dual inheritance of royalty, and destined to receive a name that has no equal in heaven or earth, the Son of God made his silent entrance into the world.”

APPLAUSE IN CHURCH?

  Sources say applause began in 6th century BC when lawmaker Kleisthénes of Athens made it so that audiences would have to clap in approval of their leader, since there were too many people to meet individually. Through this came the “applause,” the unified voices of people in the form of clapping together in admiration.

“Miss Manners,” Judith Martin, said in 1994 that applause should not be given in church. 

“All this [applause] is because the only public event anybody recognizes anymore is entertainment,” Miss Manners said. “Having forgotten church manners, people are substituting those that would be proper for a performance. This drives Miss Manners wild. Hard as it may be to imagine, musicians in church are supposed to play or sing for the glory of God, not the pleasure of the congregation (whom people increasingly slip and call ‘the audience’).”

Robert Brown, a Facebook friend of mine, wrote recently, “As a child and much younger adult, I do not remember applause in church after someone sang or played an instrument. Has my memory changed or has applause become much more the norm?”

Here are some responses to his post:

One man said, “It [applause] is praising the servant instead of The Master. My God-fearing grandmother called it ‘Blasphemy.’”

A lady said, “It may be just our age, but I was taught that you do not applaud in church as it is a reverent place of worship.”

Another lady said, “There are times when applause is appropriate and times when it is not. If the applause is an outward sign that someone was touched by a performance, I have no problem with it.”

Martha wrote, “I wonder … has worship in music become a performance? Has applause become agreement that we want this [the performance] to be pleasing to God? Sometimes your heart is so full and happy, you can’t help but applaud.

“Applause is becoming the norm,” a lady said. “When I joined the worship team at my former church, I remember feeling very strange when hearing applause in the church. That feeling never fully went away.”

Kevin wrote, “Let the waves clap their hands … let the hills sing out in praise. … Applause is a 21st Century “Amen,” as long as the object of our worship (and applause) is the LORD!”  

“Applause is not appropriate in church,” Kathleen said. “I was taught quiet reverent respect in His house of quiet worship.”

Someone posted, “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph” (Psalm 47:1).

Bonnie wrote, “No applause at our church during a service. And I like it that way. Applause is not reverent, in my opinion … just my opinion, mind you.”

Sally said, “I grew up with reverence in church, but as I get older, I like the freedom of praising God in raising my hands, applauding if warranted. When I think of what the Bible says of Heaven being a place of great praise, with every instrument used, some of us might be surprised how God interprets worship.”  

“I didn’t grow up with church applause, and hearing it now makes me think ‘performance,’ and I cringe a little, “Kathy said. “The next thing I expect to hear is ‘Let’s give it up for God,’ as if He’s a celebrity of sorts and being called to the stage. Let the clappers clap; only they and God know the heart of their applause. I’ll be saying my amens and smiling because that’s me.”

Rick wrote, “When worship became a production to satisfy the masses, it changed. Worship was supposed to be quiet reflection (dignified by cultural norms), not cause for joy and celebration.”

Folk once thought it irreverent to applaud after hymns were sung or played in church. Listeners may have said “amen” after a song but did not applaud.  

Applause is now accepted as an act of worship — like saying “amen” with one’s hands. Applause may indicate approval of a performance more than approval of a message, but that’s a complication we’ll have to live with. Applauding in church is here to stay. Should “the rocks” Jesus referred to have to “cry out”?

'PICTURING' JESUS: WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE?

 A copy of what a painter named Sallman may have thought Jesus looked like hung in our home when I was a child in the 1950s. My family attended Gum Springs Pentecostal-Holiness Church, Taylors, SC, where Sunday school illustrations also showed Jesus as fair-skinned.

Warner E. Sallman’s (1892–1968) “Head of Christ,” created in1940, depicts “a gentle Jesus with blue eyes turned heavenward and dark blond hair cascading over his shoulders in waves,” Emily McFarlan says.

Sallman’s “Head of Christ,” called the “best-known American artwork of the 20th century,” became an image of a “white Jesus” that influenced generations. 

A backlash to Sallman’s painting began during the civil rights movement that gained speed in 1954 when the U.S. Supreme Court made segregation illegal in public schools in the case of Brown v. Board of Education.

What did Jesus look like? What color was he?

The late Dr. E.V. Hill (1933-2003), a former pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, became a leader in the civil rights movement and was honored by Time magazine as one of the seven most outstanding preachers in the United States died at age 69 in 2019.

Dr. Hill, a black pastor, was asked if he thought Jesus was Caucasian as depicted in paintings. This was his reply:

“I don’t know anything about a white Jesus ... I know about Christ, a Savior named Jesus. I don’t know what color He is. He was born in the brown Middle East; He fled to black Africa; and He was in heaven before the gospel got to white Europe. So, I don't know what color He is.

“I do know one thing: if you bow at the altar with color on your mind, you'll get up with color on your mind. Go back again — and keep going back until you no longer look at His color, but at His greatness and His power — His power to save!”

The Bible gives no physical description of Jesus, but he was a Jew, born of a Jewish mother. His friends were Jews; he worshipped in synagogues. The New Testament names his younger brothers: James, Joses, Simon, and Jude (Mark 6:3, Matthew 13:55, John 7:3, Acts 1:13, 1 Corinthians 9:5).

According to Wikipedia, art of the first centuries showed Jesus with a short beard. The long-haired, bearded depiction of Jesus that emerged in fourth century A.D. was influenced by imagined images of Greek and Roman gods, especially the Greek god Zeus, sources say. By the 1800s, theories that Jesus was non-Semitic (not Jewish) were being developed, with writers suggesting he was white, black, Indian, or some other race. The average Jew from Judea, at the time Jesus was born, likely would have had dark brown to black hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. Judean men of Jesus’ time averaged about 5 feet-5 inches in height. Jesus likely had short hair and a beard, in accordance with Jewish practices of the time, scholars say.

If you wonder about Jesus’ physical appearance, consider “Some Children See Him,” a song by Wihla Hutson (1901-2002). She wrote the lyrics and Alfred S. Burt penned the music in 1951:

      SOME CHILDREN SEE HIM

Some children see Him lily white,


The baby Jesus born this night.


Some children see Him lily white,


With tresses soft and fair.


Some children see Him bronzed and brown,


The Lord of heav'n to earth come down.


Some children see Him bronzed and brown,


With dark and heavy hair.



 

Some children see Him almond-eyed,


This Savior whom we kneel beside.


Some children see Him almond-eyed,


With skin of yellow hue.


Some children see Him dark as they,


Sweet Mary's Son to whom we pray.


Some children see him dark as they,


And, ah! they love Him, too!



 

The children in each different place


Will see the baby Jesus' face
Like theirs, 

but bright with heavenly grace,


And filled with holy light.


O lay aside each earthly thing


And with thy heart as offering,


Come worship now the infant King.

'Tis love that's born tonight!