It is significant that John's birth is recorded as having taken place when the days began to grow shorter, while the Lord was born as they grew longer. It was John himself who explained the meaning of this contrast when the crowd thought he was the Christ because of his great virtues, and the Lord was considered by some as only a prophet and not the Christ because of his lack of austerity. "He must increase," said John, "while I must decrease."
Divine Service tonight will celebrate this day which LSB denotes "a principle feast of our Lord." Join us! 6:15 p.m.
4 comments:
That whole solstice assessment, longer/shorter days, works well north of the equator but I am afraid such a comparison would be lost on a New Zealander. ;)
Blessed Feast Day to you and yours!
Yes. It is part of Bede's whole argument against the Celtic Easter celebration (Elsewhere he calls them Pelagians, on the same account). I like the St. Augustine homily on this feast. He points out that St. John is the only person other than our Lord Himself, whose nativity we celebrate.
Happy Feast, Pastor!
Yes, apparently in his time the celebration of the Nativity of the Virgin had not yet been established. Happy feast to you too, Kiran!
Dixie,
Yeah, it doesn't quite work so well down south. I cannot fathom Christmas in the summer!
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