Pre-order your copy of Corey Piper’s new book
500 Year Journey: From Babylon to Bethlehem
This book explains how the magi knew when Christ would be born.
To be released September of 2023.
Now that Christmas 2022 has joined the Ghost of Christmas Past, let’s have an honest talk: Christmas is a confusing mess. Yes, I agree, there are many magical moments. I love it when my son runs around celebrating a new gift, and I enjoy spending time with family. Some of my best memories are at Christmas.
However, has Christmas become more about Christ or Santa? Generosity or excess? Tranquility or agitation? When it comes to Christmas, we have gotten aboard the Bi-Polar Express and there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it. Even on the radio we can go from “O’ Holy Night” to “It’s a holly, jolly Christmas” within five minutes. And those who have a “Keep Christ in Christmas” bumper sticker on their cars, still find themselves careening around stressed on their way to the mall to get the best deal. So many people who want it to be a magical time of year are disillusioned because it has simply become a chore, something to dread. Far from being peaceful, Christmas is stressful.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could celebrate the birth of Christ peacefully? Without all the “noise, noise, NOISE, NOISE!”
Oh sure, the way we do Christmas now is fun for children, but what about everyone else? What about the one who has to buy all the gifts, wrap all the presents, make all the food, and then clean it all up? They are more weary than merry; more depressed than festive. They don’t look forward to Christmas; they look forward to it ending.
But what if we could celebrate the birth of Christ in peace? Can you imagine such a moment? And I don’t mean by developing some Zen-like technique that would allow us to honor our Lord while shopping in the toy aisle, fighting the crowds.
“How is this possible?” you ask.
By quietly celebrating it on the actual date our Lord was born (which wasn’t on December 25th). If we knew when that was, then we could focus our attention on him while nothing else is distracting us. So, buy my book to learn when he was actually born, but shhhh… don’t inform Santa or the in-laws. Let’s just keep this between ourselves so we can peacefully and quietly honor our Lord with an expression of gratitude for all that he has done. Let’s enjoy a silent nativity, a day of Grace, like the first one.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
As a result of learning the true date, we will then be able to step outside, look up, and calmly tell God, “Thank you for sending your son.” That’s got to be worth something. And when the Christmas season inevitably comes along, maybe we will be able to face all the rigamarole with a little more perspective and fewer divided expectations. We can enjoy the Christmas season for what it is: a fun time to hang with family, give presents to each other, and put trees in our houses (my personal favorite). Oh sure we will still tell everyone Merry Christmas and proclaim our Lord’s birth, but we will also be able to enjoy the secret satisfaction of having already honored Christ on his actual birthday.
Consider my book as a guide to see the miracle of his birth as if for the first time–and then, together, we can make the birth of Christ peaceful again.
