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New Thought Ministries of Oregon|A New Look at Christmas: Rise Up Shepherd Episode
A New Look at Christmas: Rise Up Shepherd December 14, 2008Rev. David AlexanderAs we continue in Advent, we pause and take a conscious look at the Christmas story so that we can pull meaning and value, insights and revelations from a tradition that may not fit for us any more.When we take away the dogma of the Christmas story, we are left with a living story! It doesn’t destroy the journey, but rather, adds richness to it.The Christmas story, as written in the Gospels, reflected what the Gospel writers knew was important—they had to relate the birth of Jesus with Old Testament prophecies so that Jesus’ message would be accepted by the Jewish community. Theologians now know (and have known for almost 200 years) that the details of Jesus’ birth were not historically accurate. Those details were meant to placeJesus’ birth in Bethlehem so that his birth would correspond to prophecies and connect him with the lineage of King David. The connection with David brings up the idea that Jesus was a shepherd, just like King David. Jews would have also known that there was a watch tower (used to keep watch over the sheep) in Bethlehem—saying that Jesus was the ultimate shepherd.When we look at the metaphysical meanings of Jesus being a shepherd, we focus on the shepherd part of ourselves (the observer mind) that keeps watch over everything. The shepherd part of us rises up and awakens to a higher vision.We can ask ourselves:“What would it be like if I awakened and followed a higher light?”
[ Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:04:43 -0800 ]
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