Can you imagine Christmas being cancelled?
It happened in the past!
In the 1600s, religious reformation transformed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. The Puritans changed and threw Christmas away. In England, Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan group ousted King Charles I in 1649 and cancelled Christmas. However, King Charles II brought Christmas back. Like many immigrants who came to America, pious Puritans who sailed from England in 1620 to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, brought even more pious Christians with their contempt for Christmas.
The Puritans kept their shops and schools open and churches closed on Christmas, a holiday that some disparaged as “Foolstide.” In England, the parliament declared that December 25 should instead be a day of “fasting and humiliation” to account for their sins. The Puritans of New England eventually followed suit. In 1659 the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared it as a criminal offense to publicly celebrate the holiday and determined that “whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way” was subject to a 5-shilling fine. In Boston, the celebration of Christmas was prohibited from 1659 to 1681. Captain John Smith of the Jamestown settlement still celebrated Christmas without being fined.
Why did the Puritans hate Christmas? Stephen Nissenbaum, the author of The Battle for Christmas, says it was partly because of theology and the rowdy celebrations that marked the holiday in the 1600s. Based on their strict Biblical interpretation, the Puritans determined that there was no scriptural basis for commemorating Christmas. They claimed that the Bible didn’t mention about celebration of the Nativity.
The fourth century AD, the church in Rome established the celebration of the Nativity on December 25, which coincided with the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, a Roman winter holiday marked with lights, drinking, and feasting. The Puritan minsters claimed that Christmas simply followed the pagan celebration of Saturnalia. Some Christians believed that the Catholic church took over pagan customs without any Biblical basis. The rowdy break allowed Christians to have an excuse to drink, gamble, feast in immoral behavior. Men dressed as women, and vice versa, and went door-to-door asking for food or money in an exchange for carols or Christmas wishes in the Yuletide, a twist on trick-or-treating! Those who failed to give could be greeted with vandalism or violence.
Christmas was legal again in England in 1660, but the Yuletide was not allowed in Massachusetts. Even though Christmas was not permitted in public, people still celebrate with heavy drinking and loose sexual activity, according to Nissenbaum. Finally in 1681, the Massachusetts Bay Colony removed the ban on Christmas under the pressure from King Charles II. However, the Puritans were still hostile toward the public celebration of Christmas for years.
Americans recreated Christmas and transformed it from an immoral carnival holiday into a family-based gathering across lines of wealth or social status. Americans focus on social gatherings and built Christmas traditions like decorating trees, holiday cards, and gift-giving. In 1856, Christmas finally became a public holiday in Massachusetts and in 1870 for the United States.
What do we learn from this? We celebrate Christmas in the right mindset, the birth of Jesus Christ, who gave His life for our sins. Santa Claus is not our god. Gifts are not our idols. We worship only the Trinity of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Christmas is not supposed to be filled with immoral behavior, but social gatherings in celebrating His birth.
~~ Pastor Andy
It happened in the past!
In the 1600s, religious reformation transformed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. The Puritans changed and threw Christmas away. In England, Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan group ousted King Charles I in 1649 and cancelled Christmas. However, King Charles II brought Christmas back. Like many immigrants who came to America, pious Puritans who sailed from England in 1620 to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, brought even more pious Christians with their contempt for Christmas.
The Puritans kept their shops and schools open and churches closed on Christmas, a holiday that some disparaged as “Foolstide.” In England, the parliament declared that December 25 should instead be a day of “fasting and humiliation” to account for their sins. The Puritans of New England eventually followed suit. In 1659 the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared it as a criminal offense to publicly celebrate the holiday and determined that “whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way” was subject to a 5-shilling fine. In Boston, the celebration of Christmas was prohibited from 1659 to 1681. Captain John Smith of the Jamestown settlement still celebrated Christmas without being fined.
Why did the Puritans hate Christmas? Stephen Nissenbaum, the author of The Battle for Christmas, says it was partly because of theology and the rowdy celebrations that marked the holiday in the 1600s. Based on their strict Biblical interpretation, the Puritans determined that there was no scriptural basis for commemorating Christmas. They claimed that the Bible didn’t mention about celebration of the Nativity.
The fourth century AD, the church in Rome established the celebration of the Nativity on December 25, which coincided with the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, a Roman winter holiday marked with lights, drinking, and feasting. The Puritan minsters claimed that Christmas simply followed the pagan celebration of Saturnalia. Some Christians believed that the Catholic church took over pagan customs without any Biblical basis. The rowdy break allowed Christians to have an excuse to drink, gamble, feast in immoral behavior. Men dressed as women, and vice versa, and went door-to-door asking for food or money in an exchange for carols or Christmas wishes in the Yuletide, a twist on trick-or-treating! Those who failed to give could be greeted with vandalism or violence.
Christmas was legal again in England in 1660, but the Yuletide was not allowed in Massachusetts. Even though Christmas was not permitted in public, people still celebrate with heavy drinking and loose sexual activity, according to Nissenbaum. Finally in 1681, the Massachusetts Bay Colony removed the ban on Christmas under the pressure from King Charles II. However, the Puritans were still hostile toward the public celebration of Christmas for years.
Americans recreated Christmas and transformed it from an immoral carnival holiday into a family-based gathering across lines of wealth or social status. Americans focus on social gatherings and built Christmas traditions like decorating trees, holiday cards, and gift-giving. In 1856, Christmas finally became a public holiday in Massachusetts and in 1870 for the United States.
What do we learn from this? We celebrate Christmas in the right mindset, the birth of Jesus Christ, who gave His life for our sins. Santa Claus is not our god. Gifts are not our idols. We worship only the Trinity of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Christmas is not supposed to be filled with immoral behavior, but social gatherings in celebrating His birth.
~~ Pastor Andy
Lutherans are illogical!
Theological paradox
Christians have always been at home with illogical doctrines, such as the Trinity and the two natures of Christ. However, most Christians are very uncomfortable with the Bible's answer to the question: “Why are some people saved and others are lost?” Both Calvinists and Arminians have perfectly logical answers.
See more on this topic on our website: “What is a Lutheran?”
Also see related videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@ChristDeaf/videos
~~ Pastor Andy
Christians have always been at home with illogical doctrines, such as the Trinity and the two natures of Christ. However, most Christians are very uncomfortable with the Bible's answer to the question: “Why are some people saved and others are lost?” Both Calvinists and Arminians have perfectly logical answers.
- Calvinists teach that God predestines (chooses in advance) specific people whom He forces to believe and be saved. All others (also by God's choice) will be damned.
- Arminians on the other hand teach that people have a free will with which they can choose to believe or not believe.
- Lutherans teach that they are both wrong. If we are saved, God receives 100% of the credit; it is entirely His doing, as Calvinists teach. If we are lost, that is 100% our own fault, as Arminians teach.
See more on this topic on our website: “What is a Lutheran?”
Also see related videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@ChristDeaf/videos
~~ Pastor Andy
Isaiah 49:13-16
Shout for joy, you heavens;
rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.”
The Lord says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Although she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.”
Picture in your mind one time in your life when you felt completely helpless and alone. It may be the very first night you spent in jail. Or it may have been an incident during your childhood, when someone who should have been your protector wasn't.
Now picture Jesus coming into that scene. Watch the door open and Jesus comes in. He comes straight to you, and sits next to you. Then He puts His arm around your shoulder. He helps you to stand, and leads you out of the dark and lonely place.
Now picture Jesus coming into that scene. Watch the door open and Jesus comes in. He comes straight to you, and sits next to you. Then He puts His arm around your shoulder. He helps you to stand, and leads you out of the dark and lonely place.
Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.”
The Lord says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Although she may forget, I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.”
Walls have cut you off from everything near and dear to you. You are not behind those walls by your own choice. But there is no wall high enough or strong enough to keep God out. You are not alone.
Even if your earthly parents have turned their backs on you, He says, “I will not forget you! I have engraved you on the palms of My hands” – the nails that held Jesus on the cross as He was thinking of you.
Even if your earthly parents have turned their backs on you, He says, “I will not forget you! I have engraved you on the palms of My hands” – the nails that held Jesus on the cross as He was thinking of you.
2023 Great Lakes Regional Conference
October 6, 2023, Friday, the ship arrived at Silver Spring, Maryland. The regional registrants fought the battle of Metro Washington, D.C. beltway traffic. I am sure most of them express their white knuckles! Some of the asked me how did I survived this horror driving the beltway! In the years of my experience, you both go with the flow and try to drive like Indy 500 racing driver at high speed or get out of the way!
All have arrived safely with the help of our Lord and his angels to protect us from harm. I was glad to see them again. Unfortunately four didn’t make it, two were sick and two decided not to come. I pray for those four to get well I hope to see them at Dearborn, Michigan ILDA Convention next year and/or GLRC at Rochester, New York in two years.
Friday evening, after their arrival and check in the registration to receive the folder with nametag. When everyone settled in, Pastor Andy Petajan (Silver Spring, Maryland) led the open devotion then following with banner/skit/songs. I performed the skit. Social/refreshment afterward then we played the game called LCR (Left – Center – Right) to pass the chips until depleted. Last person have some chips remain is the winner. Fun game, many of us enjoyed! We closed with a devotion led by Pastor Edwin Bergstresser (Columbus, Ohio) and we all went home and hotels afterward.
October 7th, Saturday is the big and long day! Started off at 9am with devotion led by Pastor John Rushton (Rochester, New York) after that, the GLRC meeting for all of us from 9:15am to 10:30am. 15 minutes break and light refreshment. Meeting resumed 10:50am. Lunch served 12:00 Noon. Everyone got his or her selection of submarine from our local Deli nearby. It was delivered to us.
October 7th, Saturday is the big and long day! Started off at 9am with devotion led by Pastor John Rushton (Rochester, New York) after that, the GLRC meeting for all of us from 9:15am to 10:30am. 15 minutes break and light refreshment. Meeting resumed 10:50am. Lunch served 12:00 Noon. Everyone got his or her selection of submarine from our local Deli nearby. It was delivered to us.
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We resumed the meeting at 1:30pm for another hour and meeting adjourned. After the afternoon break/light refreshment, retired Pastor Ron Friedrich (Silver Spring, Maryland) and Pastor Andy Petajan led workshop focused on Light and Darkness from different verses other than our theme, “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5. After the workshop, short break before our dinner.
Dinner was buffet style from our local catering company: Flank steak with herb roasted potato and garden salad with dressing. Marinated grilled chicken with rice and garden salad with dressing. Plenty food left from the buffet, some of us got second helping!
In the evening, we played the family feud style, just like on TV. I found the software and I changed the title to “The GLRC Feud” to play. It was fun to participate. Some of the question such as: ‘Fill the blank, Jesus said “I am the __________” and they need to get the right answer. For example, “Good Shepherd” and checked with the survey says... correct! Some of the answers were hilarious or wrong! After the game, evening devotion led by Pastor Edwin Bergstresser and Vicar Vincent Mroz (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and went home / hotels for the night.
Sunday, October 8th, Pastor Andy Petajan answered questions from the audience in lieu of Bible Study before the Service. The service is just a typical normal Liturgy with Holy Eucharist. Pastoral Advisor, Pastor John Rushton, administrate the swearing the oath with elected officers.
Sunday, October 8th, Pastor Andy Petajan answered questions from the audience in lieu of Bible Study before the Service. The service is just a typical normal Liturgy with Holy Eucharist. Pastoral Advisor, Pastor John Rushton, administrate the swearing the oath with elected officers.
2023–2025 GLRC Officers (L-R)
Rev John Rushton, Pastoral Advisor
Nancy Bergstresser, President
Jeff Padon, President-Elect
Karen Beiter, Secretary
Larry Blout, Treasurer
Diane Francisco, Historian
Rev John Rushton, Pastoral Advisor
Nancy Bergstresser, President
Jeff Padon, President-Elect
Karen Beiter, Secretary
Larry Blout, Treasurer
Diane Francisco, Historian
After the installation of officers, I represents the Christ Lutheran Church of the Deaf passing the Great Lakes Region banner over to Larry Blout, represents Alpha Lutheran Church of the Deaf. It will be held at Rochester, New York, in the year of our Lord, 2025 A.D.
The GLRC ship embarks and sails for two years travel from the Potomac River to the Lake Ontario into the Irondequoit Bay!
The GLRC ship embarks and sails for two years travel from the Potomac River to the Lake Ontario into the Irondequoit Bay!
Respectfully Submitted,
John Mason
John Mason
2023 GLRC Host Committee
Carolyn & John Mason; Pastor Ron, Georganne & Mark Friedrich
Carolyn & John Mason; Pastor Ron, Georganne & Mark Friedrich
