Love
Why is Christmas our Most Celebrated Holiday? Part 1
For the next three weeks we will be re-publishing some US Renewal Classics that are the most widely-read blogs I’ve ever written. They all center on Jesus Christ whose life has changed the world like no other.
In thirteen days, three-quarters of the world will celebrate Christmas–the world’s largest holiday. Ninety percent of Americans celebrate Christmas with my home state of Washington being the most “Christmasy” state in the union.
Check out where your state stands here.
Why is Christmas the most celebrated holiday? Because there is no one who has influenced the world more than Jesus of Nazareth.
Christmas is the biggest because there is no one like Jesus.
The Constant of Change
Change.
Most of us shy away from this word because we don’t like the uncertainty of upsetting the status quo.
I’ve been thinking much about change recently, not out of choice but necessity. By the time September rolls around, I will have spent the past six months involved in five different moves.
Unsettling. Lots of work. Many memories. Even a few tears.
Yet, recently, I’ve enjoyed great peace in my life by admitting the obvious.
Change is a constant of life on this earth.
The Permanent Victory of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
Easter time remains one of the most memorable weeks of year for me. When I was young, I enjoyed attending sun-rise services where we awakened the dawn with shouts of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today!”
In 1974, I was privileged to spend Easter in the Holy Land where an early dawn prayer time at Golgotha and a visit to the Empty Tomb stand out as cherished memories.
Twenty years later, I participated in mid-week prayer meetings in our hometown–every day of the week–leading up to Resurrection Day. Good Friday always included a “Walk with the Cross” through town, praying for our friends and neighbors and thanking God for His greatest of gifts. This Good Friday we will walk the cross again for the 25th year in a row.
Easter is special, world-changing, cosmos altering.
It celebrates the permanent victory of Jesus’ death and resurrection.