this enduring and transformational power which we celebrate this season, yet abide in throughout the year?

It is the hope of deep joy, not mere shallow happiness.

It is the hope of a purpose beyond self-satisfaction, of a meaning beyond random chance, of direction for the lost and aimless.

It is about God becoming small that Man may become great, in Him. - The Celebration of Hope | The Doctor Is In

Jesus Christ is not only pivotal to our own civilization, but he is also by far the most influential figure in history. So much so that the world uses the year of his birth as the central reference point in keeping track of historical time. His thoughts are deemed so profound that his every single recorded word has been carefully numbered and his every known utterance analyzed in innumerable books and treatises. More books have been written about him than about any other historical personage. The number of times he has been depicted in painting and sculpture exceeds by an order of magnitude the depictions of all the other great men combined. His ideas have shaped western civilization to such an extent that it has been called Christendom and his pronouncements defined the way people across the world understand concepts such as love, mercy, justice, friendship, charity and sacrifice.

"The Journey of the Magi" by T.S. Eliot [VIA Brothers Judd ]

Posted by Vanderleun at December 24, 2008 11:05 PM