The Christmas Season

The Meaning of Christmas
Christ Mass is really where the word Christmas came from. The worship service called the
Mass is a sacred choral composition made up of five sections: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus,
and Agnus Dei. The Christ Mass is a worship service focusing on the birth of the Christ,
which means the Anointed One. The Christ is the promised Savior, Whom God so loved the
world that He sacrificed (His One and Only Son) so that whoever believes in Him and is
baptized shall receive everlasting life.

God foretold the Savior's birth through the prophets in the Old Testament and God kept
His promise in the New Testament by the birth of Jesus. The first book of the New
Testament, Matthew, tells us that the angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a
dream saying, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and
thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:20,21.

Notice the word "for", which indicates the whole reason that Jesus was born. "for he shall
save his people from their sins." Jesus said that He didn't come into this world to condemn
the world (we already stood condemned because of our sinfulness), but He came as a
ransom for many. We are no longer "kidnapped" by death and the devil, but Jesus' perfect
life and His death, which He didn't deserve, paid the ransom to free us so that we are
declared right with God.

The liturgical church calendar celebrates Christmas in a formal way until the Epiphany
season. The season is remembered for the visit from the Wise Men.

There are many festivals on the church calendar that many times are not formally
celebrated unless the day happens to fall on a Sunday, so along with the events that
happened with the birth of Jesus, The Holy Innocents (which were the boys of Bethlehem
under two years of age, who were slaughtered by the order of King Herod because he
wanted to destroy the newborn King of the Jews, so he could retain his throne),
The Circumcision, and The Epiphany are celebrated on December 28th, January 1st, and
January 6th respectively.