5-13-24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The origin of the word \u201choliday\u201d is \u201choly day,\u201d which, once upon a time before used-car sales and peoples\u2019 desires for three-day weekends, virtually were synonymous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vestiges of holiness have been stripped from commemorations, and lately even the names of observances have been neutered. It is a symptom of the Strange New World we live in, where \u201cBC\u201d (\u201cbefore Christ\u201d) has been de-personalized as \u201cBCE,\u201d Before His Era<\/em>. Where Thanksgiving, in schools, has been stripped of giving thanks and replaced with noticing a \u201charvest\u201d (even in districts where a farm is an abstract concept). Where college entrance-exams are no longer really tests; where urban crime rates go down because crimes are, simply, not called crimes any more; where Bible passages are labeled as hate speech by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christianity is not always the victim of such sea-changes in contemporary life. Not when Christianity itself sometimes is in the forefront!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: I am not referring to denominations. Like the United Methodist Church, recently in the news for encouraging homosexual ordination and blessing of homosexual \u201cmarriage.\u201d Nor churches that deny the Virgin Birth or Divinity of Christ. Nor the Catholic Church\u2019s tolerance of its most prominent member, the president of the United States, who frequently and aggressively advocates for the abortion of unborn children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those matters aside, I note with particularity how large swaths of the contemporary church has sublimated aspects of essential Christian doctrine. I attended a church service recently on Pentecost Sunday where the entire sermon on the Holy Spirit mentioned the Gifts of the Spirit only once, and then not with reference to them as… well, God\u2019s spiritual gifts offered to us for edification and power and service. The latest monthly magazine of a church I attend was devoted to the Gifts of the Spirit\u2026 and addressed not one paragraph to the Gifts described in Acts and listed in Paul\u2019s letter to the Corinthians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These sins of omission are endemic to many contemporary denominations. Instead of a Triune God, do Christians today prefer to worship a Diune God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another example, actually dispositive, is the Church \u201ccalendar\u201d as it largely is regarded these days. It is a symptom of contemporary theology, and represents a deficient view of Christ and Who He really is; how He is regarded by His people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning to \u201choly days\u201d and what they once said to us, in effect \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Annunciation once was a major observance in the church, calling us to remember how the Holy Spirit told Mary she was with Child;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Christmas marked the fulfillment of uncountable prophesies, and reminds us of God becoming incarnate, dwelling in human form;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Palm Sunday once was a festival, symbolically marking the entrance of Jesus as He should be welcomed \u2013 into our hearts;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Good Friday was \u201cGod\u2019s Friday\u201d or \u201cgood\u201d because God\u2019s Son was made a sacrifice for our sins and spared us the punishment we deserve;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Easter was the recognition that Christ overcame death, and the promise that we may do so likewise, when accepting Him as Lord;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pentecost was the \u201cbirthday of the Church,\u201d when the Holy Spirit, foretold in prophecy and promised by Jesus, came to live in our hearts, imbuing wisdom and power.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s it, right? The Gospel story in one bundle of holidays? No. Actually, far from it. All of those sacred days are worthy of commemoration. Essential to our understanding of God\u2019s plan for humankind. Vital to our faith. However, as Holy (indeed) as they are, they all lack one final piece of the Gospel puzzle, so to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary, bearing Jesus, beheld a miracle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The birth of Jesus, God-with-us, was a miracle and blessing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That Jesus can enter our hearts, like He entered Jerusalem, was a miracle and blessing and opportunity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus\u2019s betrayal and crucifixion and death on Good Friday was a miracle and a blessing and an opportunity and a call to repentance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Resurrection of Jesus on Easter was a miracle and a blessing and an opportunity and a call to repentance and a promise of New Life.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was a miracle and a blessing and an opportunity and a call to repentance and a promise of New Life and a Gift from God.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 but none of these fully<\/em> confirmed the Deity <\/em>of Jesus. That only happened on the next Holy Day on the Church Calendar: the observance of the Ascension. This commemorates when Jesus bodily rose Heaven in the presence of Old Testament saints and His Disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, we know that God proclaimed \u201cThis is My beloved Son,\u201d and we know of many miracles performed, many supernatural acts and Godly wisdom He dispensed. Signs and wonders. But on Ascension Day, Jesus again became one with the Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In some traditional and Orthodox faiths, Ascension Day is still observed as a major Holy Day. In some European countries, lip service (at least) is paid to the Day of Ascension, and it is a holiday from work and schools. I wonder, in most American churches, how many worshipers know when or what it is. We ought to. Without the Cross, and the Resurrection \u2013 and the Ascension \u2013 our faith is in vain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n