We’re interrupting our series on the Apostles’ Creed to talk about Christmas. Usually at this time of year I post or repost some of the essays on the Heidelblog about Christmas but this year I thought it might be useful to talk about how Reformed folk have thought about Christmas and why this season is both a blessing and a curse. The season is nearing its climax. Tomorrow begins the last week before Christmas and the shopping crush is on. On Christmas morning most Christian congregations will gather for worship but it was not always this way. Indeed, when some early Christians proposed celebrating the nativity of Christ on December 25, it was not because they believed that is when he was born (although after the fact justifications were made) but because the church needed something with which to replace a popular pagan celebration of the sun. Notable father of the church supported it but others opposed it. Obviously, the proponents of what became Christmas won. So from the beginning there were complications attached to Christmas and they remain. The Reformed were divided over what to say and do about Christmas too. In this episode we explore the blessings and curses of Christmas including the problem of Santa.

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Show Notes

• How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia
• How To Make the Coffer Clink: Use the Donate Button Below This Post
• Heidelblog Resources
• The HB Media Archive
• The Ecumenical Creeds
• The Reformed Confessions
• Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
• Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008).
• What Must A Christian Believe?
• Why I Am A Christian
• Resources On The Reformation Solas
• Resources On Christmas, Advent, And The Church Calendar
• Resources On The Rule Of Worship
• Resources On Christian Liberty
• The Church Order of the Synod of Dort (1619)

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