Daily News Roundup-Merry Christmas!
The Daily News Roundup will resume on January 4, 2024. The Prickly Pear Editors wish all of our readers a very healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year. We sincerely thank you for your readership and support of The Prickly Pear and our efforts to provide important content each day to inform, educate and advocate important issues for the defense of our Republic as stated in our Mission Statement:
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Merry Christmas! May you have the gift of faith, the blessing of hope, and the peace of His love at Christmas and always.
CHRIST’S BIRTH PLACE
Longenecker: No Room in the Inn — What Inn?
Bailey goes on to explain in more detail what a typical home in Bethlehem would have been like, “Simple village houses had but two rooms. One was exclusively for guests. That room would be attached to the end of the house or be a ‘prophet’s chamber’ on the roof [15] The main room was a family room. At the end of that room, on a lower level was where the animals were kept. Often the lower level would be a cave—the main room being built in front of the cave. Between the cave and the main room was a stone wall—a half partition where feeding troughs were carved into the stone surface. [16] An article from 2009 in the Chicago Tribune [17] reports on Palestinian shepherds who still live in cave houses in the same region. In the article, one of the Bedouin shepherds tells how “the animals live in the lower level and we live in the room above.” Bailey affirms, “Such simple homes can be traced from the time of David up to the middle of the twentieth century. I have seen them both in Upper Galilee and in Bethlehem.” [18] “Many houses in the area are still built in front of caves and perhaps we should envisage Joseph as taking his wife into such a back area to give birth away from the living room—the cave part would have been used for stabling and storage.” [19] So Joseph travels with Mary to Bethlehem. They seek lodging in the home of a relative, but the guest room (kataluma) on the roof is either already occupied or it is too small and inappropriate as a place for Mary to give birth, so they move to the warm stable/cave which makes up the lower level of the family home. There Jesus is born and is laid in one of the stone feeding troughs in the wall between the stable/cave and the main room of the house. This understanding of the story also connects with Matthew’s gospel that says the magi found Mary and the young child in a house rather than a stable/cave.
Read more: https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2023/12/no-room-in-the-inn-what-inn-dwight-longenecker.html
Christian Media Center: Nativity Church in Bethlehem
Watch the 10:58 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjSKADyQRbU
CHRISTMAS IN SONG
(History of traditional Christmas Songs) Federer: “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” – Charles Wesley; and Classic Carols: “Joy to the World,” “Messiah,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
From 1714 to 1718, James Oglethorpe was a military aide under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy fighting to drive the Muslim Turks out of Belgrade, Serbia. After the battle, at the age of 22, Oglethorpe returned to England, where he entered Parliament and worked for prison reform after one of his friends died in debtors prison. In 1732, Oglethorpe founded the Colony of Georgia in America for poor debtors and persecuted Christians. Oglethorpe defended Georgia from attacks launched out of Spanish Florida. General James Oglethorpe’s secretary was Charles Wesley. Charles’ brother, John Wesley, served as the colony’s Anglican minister. John Wesley’s efforts to evangelize the Indians proved more difficult than anticipated, and his strict religiosity was resented by the colonists. In 1737, John and Charles Wesley returned to England where they were befriended by a Moravian missionary named Peter Boehler, who was waiting for a ship to sail to Georgia. Peter Boehler shared with the Wesleys regarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which resulted in their “Aldersgate experience” in May of 1738. John Wesley wrote: […]
In 1739, Charles Wesley penned “Hark! how all the Welkin – Heaven – rings.” George Whitefield suggested the first line be changed to “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”The song was put to the music of Lutheran composer Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the notable Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn. […] The same year Charles Wesley was born, 1707, Isaac Watts wrote the carol “Joy to the World,” which became one of the most published Christmas hymns in North America: […] At this time in Europe, composer George Frideric Handel was at a low point in his career, having suffered partial paralysis on his left side due to a stroke. Incredibly, beginning August 22, 1741, George Handel composed “Messiah” in only 21 days, as part of a series of concerts in Dublin to benefit charities. In Messiah, Handel included a line from the Book of Job 19:25: . . .
Links: Hark The Herald Angels Sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGP68i3JvU
Joy to the World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N40D2pk-w0
O Come, All Ye Faithful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRqq5EeVpRo
Messiah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71NCzuDNUcg&list=RD71NCzuDNUcg&start_radio=1&rv=71NCzuDNUcg&t=0
(Contemporary Christmas song) Logan Institute Singers: Mary, Did You Know?
“Mary, Did You Know?” is a Christmas song addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, with lyrics written by Mark Lowry in 1984, and music written by Buddy Greene in 1991.
Watch the 7:23 minute music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CihO7vA_ps4
(Contemporary Christmas song) A Christmas Hallelujah – Cassandra Star & her sister Callahan
Watch the 5:11 minute music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUJRZRymd1I
