{"id":5780,"date":"2014-12-25T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-12-25T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=5780"},"modified":"2016-01-11T10:30:55","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T10:30:55","slug":"christmas-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/christmas-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Christmas Spirit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>By Raymond Smith<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Political Correctness challenges accepted norms and in a changing culture there are changing attitudes. Some of the challenges can be seen around the celebration of Christmas. Mention Christmas Spirit and it will mean different things to different people. Avid readers may reflect on the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future that visited Scrooge in Dickens Christmas Carol. Drinkers would think of another kind of spirit!<\/p>\n<p>But as we reflect on the Christmas Spirit we will be guided to the ideas of peace, joy and goodwill. These were manifested 100 years ago in a Christmas truce. As opposing armies stopped fighting, played football in a Flanders field and sang Silent night. It would be another 4 years before the guns would be silent again.<\/p>\n<p>The true reason for the season is Immanuel &#8211; God with us. The Holy Spirit was actively involved in the incarnation of Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>We find in Luke\u2019s account of the Christmas narrative mention of the Holy Spirit. Who worked in the lives of the yet to be born John the Baptist (1:15), Mary (1:35), Elizabeth (1:41), Zacharias (1:67) and Simeon (2:25-27). The Holy Spirit filled Zacharias and Elizabeth, created the baby in Mary\u2019s womb and guided Simeon.<\/p>\n<p>He would later come to comfort and empower the Disciples.<\/p>\n<p>I hope Christmas will bring you the peace, joy and goodwill of the season and the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life.<\/p>\n<p>Happy Christmas!<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/christmas-spirit\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas Spirit By Raymond Smith Political Correctness challenges accepted norms and in a changing culture there are changing attitudes. Some of the challenges can be seen around the celebration of Christmas. Mention Christmas Spirit and it will mean different things to different people. Avid readers may reflect on the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[322,38,984,664],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1ve","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9129,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/the-message-does-not-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":5780,"position":0},"title":"THE MESSAGE DOES NOT CHANGE","date":"9 December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We all know that Christmas is going to be different for 2020, this has been a massive challenge for everyone this year.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/joy-to-the-world.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8651,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/christmas-unusual-in-every-respect\/","url_meta":{"origin":5780,"position":1},"title":"Christmas: Unusual In Every Respect!","date":"18 December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It really does not feel like it was that long ago that we were making plans for Christmas 2018, but that was last year. My wife and I had just moved across to North Wales, our son was just in the throes of getting used to his first term in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Llandudno-Pier.jpg?fit=1000%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7250,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":5780,"position":2},"title":"CHRISTmas","date":"20 December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas. Not long to go now, how are your preps going? It all seems to start earlier and earlier each year, doesn\u2019t it? Christmas is for many a time to spend with family, but for many folk it can be a very difficult period when that can\u2019t happen for a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/christmas.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9137,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/last-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":5780,"position":3},"title":"Last Christmas","date":"23 December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/kelly-sikkema-57_H5y498Yk-unsplash.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8276,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/its-chriiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaassss\/","url_meta":{"origin":5780,"position":4},"title":"It\u2019s Chriiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaassss","date":"18 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"To quote Noddy Holder \u2018It\u2019s Chriiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaassss\u2019 (nearly). One of the words used at Christmas is \u2018incarnate\u2019. That basically means in human form, made flesh. The Son of God \u2018incarnates\u2019 himself as a man. He came down to earth in human form to get alongside us, share our life and experiences,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/christmas-unsplash.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7265,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/others\/","url_meta":{"origin":5780,"position":5},"title":"Others.","date":"25 December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I heard this story the other day and I really like it, (I hope it is what actually happened!!), it goes like this: In 1910, William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army, was coming towards the end of his earthly life. It was Christmas Eve, and it was to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5780"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6699,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions\/6699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}