Christmastide

The Puritans said it was unfit for God-fearing men, but George I thought it fit for a King.

The Sunday before Advent is known as ‘Stir Up Sunday’, after the opening words of a Church prayer on that day. Appropriately, it is also the day for stirring up your Christmas plum pudding.

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‘Goodwill’ was on everyone’s lips, but the Roman Emperor and the God of Israel had very different ideas about it.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the ancient birthplace of his distant ancestor King David. He would have been born in Nazareth, had Joseph not been summoned to Bethlehem to swear loyalty to the Roman Emperor.

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The first thing George Frideric Handel’s oratorio ‘Messiah’ did was to set a hundred and forty-two prisoners free.

George Frideric Handel’s Oratorio ‘Messiah’ tells the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, entirely through quotations from the Bible. Its premiere was given in Dublin during the Lenten fast, and from the very beginning it touched hearts and changed lives.

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