1 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
Our whole society... is focused on the celebration of Christmas. With the excessive commercialism which begins in our country immediately after Halloween (once it started the day after Thanksgiving), with the secular gaiety and extravagant glitz, with the sickening efforts to sanctify profit-making, the "Reason for the season" (that's the by now too-commonplace cliche among evangelicals) is ignored more often than not. The mind-boggling mystery of God-in-the flesh tends to become a mere stimulus for our economy.
—Vernon Grounds in a 1991 Christmas letter.
Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 15.Elesha Hodge, comp., Today's Best Illustrations – Volumes 1-4, (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1997), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "CHRISTMAS".
