There is a legend suggesting that Martin Luther
Who was a sixteenth century religious
reformer
And founder of the Protestant church in
Germany
Was the first to put candles onto a Christmas
tree
It’s said he was walking home one winter’s
night
When he noticed the stars were shinning
bright
And through the tree’s he saw the twinkling
light
And he was so impressed by this majestic
sight
When he returned home he set up his Christmas
tree
Decorating it with lighted candles for all to
see
In Rome a monk living about 530 ad
A mathematician and an
astronomer
Was given the task of calculating
And reforming the Christian
calendar
In essence to pinpoint with all precision
The date of Jesus Christ’s
birth exactly
A miscalculation was discovered later
He was four years out
unfortunately
Christ was born on January the sixth
According to the scholarly
Egyptians
The date of Christ’s death was thought
More important to the early
Christians
Rome selected Christ’s birth date to be
On the twenty fifth day of
December
To coincide with the old pagan festivals
Like that of Mithras and
Saturnalia
The sixth of January is Christmas day
For the apostolic church from
Armenia
But its the following day that’s Special
For the Orthodox Church of Russia
Faith is such a simple concept
It’s so simple
It’s just about belief
It’s so completely uncomplicated
You just have to believe
No strings attached
Just unconditionally believe
And if you do the world is your oyster
All your doubts and fears subside
When you accept his existence
His, hers its
The creator, the deity
The master puppeteer
Don’t analyse it
Don’t try to define it
To deconstruct it
Don’t worry about the Who the what or the why
Its doesn’t matter
Don’t worry about who the creator is
It doesn’t matter what race
What gender, what creed or what colour
Just accept it, embrace it
You still won’t be able to see it
But you’ll know its there
It’s totally invisible to your senses
Yet it connects with you at the core
With your essence, your soul
You can’t see it yet its wonders are all
around
You can’t hear it
Yet its sound fills the world
You can’t taste it
But it’s the spice of all life
You can’t smell it
But its exotic and heady fragrance is on
every breath of wind
And you can’t touch it
But it can be felt when it touches you
Omnipresent,
Omnipotent
Omniscient being
Ever present,
All powerful
All knowing, all
seeing
Awesome,
Ubiquitous God
Of our spiritual
wellbeing
Of everlasting life,
Salvation guaranteeing
God winds the clock of life,
It is wound but once
And when set in
motion,
At the moment the
second hand
Begins its sweep
It can be neither
slowed
Nor hurried
There is no hint of
duration
No preset point
When the hands cease
The only certainty
Is that the time piece
will stop
All you can do is be
ready for that day
Leave nothing unsaid
Nothing undone
Place your faith in
God
And not the timepiece
Live your allotted
time fully
And have no regrets
When the movement
stops
At the appointed hour
A cross for you,
A symbol of your
sacrifice
A cross for me,
A sign of my devotion
Across the veil
To the place beyond
To bathe together
In everlasting love
One of the twelve
Simon the
Zealot
Witness of the
ascension
Who then
spread the Gospels
Far and
wide
Was Martyred in Beirut
In the Roman province
of Syria
Feast Day October 28th
