{"id":10179,"date":"2021-12-21T13:23:50","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T18:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/?p=10179"},"modified":"2021-12-21T13:23:50","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T18:23:50","slug":"midweek-message-7-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ovcf.org\/ovcf_wp\/2021\/12\/midweek-message-7-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Midweek Message 12\/21\/2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #88\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #88. I know I said last week would be my last for the year but this one takes little time for either me or Diana. It is an article I read last week and wanted to pass it on. Hope you enjoy it.\u00a0 It is by James Emery White, the pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church.<\/p>\n

In 1897, Dr. Philip O\u2019Hanlon, a coroner\u2019s assistant on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, whether Santa Claus really existed. He suggested that she write The Sun<\/em>, then a prominent New York City newspaper because \u201cIf you see it in The Sun<\/em>, it\u2019s so.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the paper\u2019s editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, replied in an editorial titled \u201cIs There a Santa Claus?\u201d More than a century later it is the most reprinted editorial in any newspaper in the English language. Here is a taste of what he wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

If given the chance, I would have answered the same, but with even more<\/em> specificity.<\/p>\n

More than a few parents wonder whether to pass on the Santa story and all its accompanying traditions. Particularly those who worry that if they tell their kids about Santa and eventually have to let their kids in on the secret, that they will undermine their child\u2019s trust in other things they\u2019ve been told are true.<\/p>\n

Like the existence of God.<\/p>\n

My wife and I told our kids about Santa and embraced the tradition fully in our home. But \u2013 and this is very important \u2013 we made sure we told them the real story about Santa, which many people do not do.<\/p>\n

On the front end, before the big reveal, we made it clear that Santa did what he did out of love for Jesus and to honor His birthday. And at the time of the big reveal, we told them the \u201csecret\u201d in light of the fuller story of Santa and his love for Jesus\u2014all rooted in history and fact.<\/p>\n

There was no existential spiritual crisis. If anything, it resulted in deeper faith. They discovered there really was a Santa Claus who really did give gifts at Christmas, and that what parents did was in memory of Santa to keep his spirit and heart for Christ and for children alive.<\/p>\n

St. Nicholas was a real historical figure who lived in Turkey and died around the year 350. He was a very active leader in the church and was part of the great Council of Nicaea in 325, which was one of the most important Christian councils in all of history.<\/p>\n

Nicholas was known for holiness and for his passion for Christ. He was actually tortured and imprisoned for his faith under the Emperor Diocletian. He gave almost all of his money away to the poor, and his love for children was incredibly real.<\/p>\n

One of the stories from his life that we know involved three poverty-stricken girls. In those days, the only way that girls could have a future with a husband was if they had a dowry. A dowry<\/em> was money that a father could provide so that if somebody married his daughter, she could bring money to the marriage. A dowry-less girl would likely never marry and would often face the worst of situations because she had no other way to fend for herself.<\/p>\n

This particular father had no dowry, and he was getting ready to turn his three girls over to prostitution. Nicholas found out about it, and he went one night and took three bags of gold and threw them down into the house through some type of chimney or opening in the house. He gave one bag of gold for each daughter to serve as a dowry for them, so that all three could be married. It was because of this (and many other acts of charity toward children) that he actually became the patron saint of children.<\/p>\n

Over time, this led to a tradition of children being given presents in his name. The problem was that the children had trouble saying his name because \u201cSt. Nicholas\u201d has so many syllables. It soon became \u201cSint Klaes\u201d and then later \u201cSanta Claus\u201d by the Dutch.<\/p>\n

Simply put, St. Nicholas was a wonderful Christian man \u2013 one of the true heroes of the faith \u2013 and all things \u201cSanta\u201d can and should be deeply spiritual in nature. Santa isn\u2019t the problem\u2014it\u2019s how we\u2019ve stripped him of his sainthood, motivation and story.<\/p>\n

At the appropriate age, we told our children the fuller story of St. Nicholas and how we, as parents, kept it alive because of Santa\u2019s love for Jesus and for children. We even have a \u201cKneeling Santa\u201d figurine as part of our home Christmas d\u00e9cor that we\u2019ve owned since before even having children. A \u201cKneeling Santa\u201d is a figurine of Santa kneeling before the Christ child in the manger.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very dear to us.<\/p>\n

When Susan and I were dreaming about having children, while I was in graduate school, we saw a limited edition \u201cKneeling Santa\u201d ceramic in a store. We had never seen this depiction before, but it captured what we wanted Christmas to be like with our children in light of the Santa traditions.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t have much money, but as soon as we saw it we knew we wanted to have it for our family. Yet it was more than $100! For us, that might as well have been more than $10,000. So, we asked the store manager if we could somehow put it on layaway. Over the next six months, we made every little payment we could until it was ours.<\/p>\n

Many years later \u2013 not to mention four kids and now 12 grandchildren later \u2013 our \u201cKneeling Santa\u201d is still a centerpiece in our home.\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n

Because \u201cYes, Virginia, there is one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have a joy-filled Christmas. I love you all.\u00a0 Pastor Bill<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MIDWEEK MESSAGE #88\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0   Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #88. I know I said last week would be my last for the year but this one takes little time for either me or Diana. It is an article I read last week and wanted to pass it on. Hope you enjoy it.\u00a0 It is … <\/p>\n

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