Shalom, you are early this year, inviting me to write for your music blog last month in November 2025. I think I will pen some of my recent lateral thoughts and meditation. Your invitation gives me another chance to worship God... thank you for the opportunity.
The Hebrews consider Bible study as the highest form of worship for God... singing is basically preparing the heart to worship.
Wishing you and your family a Blessed Joyous Christmas, good health and a Happy New Year 2026.
Shalom and Best Regards,
Phil.
Dear Phil,
It's a very distinctive paper but you have made it an easier read for a simple folk like me. I must thank you for writing the Christmas messages and selective songs that have been popularly accepted through the years by many of our readers. Counting the articles, it is the twelfth one you've composed, complete with the downloads of carols and hymns from YouTube.
Yours Sincerely,
Andy.
Some Lateral Thoughts and Meditation for Christmas 2025.
Why do we have turkey at Christmas dinner celebrations?
In Hebrew, turkey is called הודו (hodu). The term hodu is both the biblical word for India and a Hebrew root meaning give thanks or praise, as in Hodu laAdonai ki tov (Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good). Hebrews sometimes play on this double meaning, noting both turkey and thanksgiving, which fits beautifully with themes of gratitude in both Thanksgiving and Biblical faith.
The reason turkey sits on Christmas tables is chiefly historical and practical, the Hebrew name hodu, thanksgiving, and praise has rich symbolism for Christians to reflect on during this season of gratitude, Hanukkah (John 10:22-2 documents it as the Feast of Dedication), and the celebration of Christ’s coming.
What are Christians grateful for?
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. What is this government?
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. To achieve this Kingdom, Jesus preached the Gospel.
So, what is the Christian Gospel, sometimes known as Good News (NIV)?
Mark 1:1-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
What is the Gospel?
Perhaps it may be more insightful to ask the reverse question, what is not the Gospel of Jesus?
The Gospel of the kingdom of God (“Good News”) is not a moral improvement program or a set of religious checklists or a performance-based system where we strive to earn divine approval or a fear-based message that manipulates through guilt, shame, or anxiety. It is not a transaction where human obedience begets God’s grace.
All of these are distortions that reduce grace to regulations and transactional type of relationships. Paul’s entire argument in Galatians and Romans defends this freedom: “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3). If a message exhausts rather than restores, enslaves rather than liberates, it is not The Good News Gospel - it is, perhaps bad news in disguise.
The True Nature of the Gospel
The Gospel at its core is God’s act to restore communion with humanity through Jesus Christ (Messiah). It is God’s initiative, not our achievement. God comes to us; not we are reaching out to Him. (John 1:14, Philippians 2:6–8). God loves us first, while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8). God reconciles and not after we fix ourselves, but in our brokenness, God transforms, not through obligation, but through adoption and relationship. This is why it is right to call the relationship sonship and daughter ship. The appropriate response is not fear or striving, but relational trust.
Transformation, Not Transaction
The transformation of the Gospel is reflected in Jesus’ teaching. In the parable of the prodigal son, the father doesn’t wait for the son to clean up his life. He runs to embrace him while he is still far off. The son’s confession flows from having already been received.
Grace precedes repentance; salvation generates transformation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDNWM7RsqI4
The Finished Work and the Covenant:
The Gospel is not a contract, which depends on mutual performance, but actually a covenant sealed by God’s own faithfulness in Christ (Hebrews 8–10). Our salvation rests on His obedience, not ours. Repentance is not the cause of forgiveness but its fruit — the turning of a forgiven heart towards the Forgiver.
That’s the “Good News”: God, through Christ, has done everything necessary for our reconciliation with God the Father and Creator of the Universe. What remains is for us to believe, receive, and rest in His love.
Jesus came to reveal God, the Father and Creator
John 17:6, 25-26: I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world... O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your Name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.
Finally, Jesus’ Gospel According to Paul:
According to the Apostle Paul, the Gospel is the message of grace and love fully accomplished in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1–4). Christ died for our sins — the finished work of redemption. He was buried, confirming His death. He rose again — guaranteeing new life for all who believe.
This is not an offer to “try harder” (many of us may have mistaken) but a complete rescue received by faith. The Good News is that salvation is God’s gift, not our achievement - it is Jesus alone and nothing else. Repentance in this light is not the price we pay for salvation but the response of a heart that finally feels safe in God’s love. It is the change of mind (metanoia) from unbelief to trust in Christ’s finished work.
When one truly accepts the Gospel, fear and striving cease. We realize we are already loved by the Creator God, forgiven, and included as sons and daughters in God’s kingdom. As Romans 12:2 says, Transformation begins through the renewing of the mind - awakening to the truth that the Father’s love is already ours.
Christmas Posture of the Heart:
This Christmas invites a posture not of fear or striving, but of restful, grateful joy in The One who came near to us in love. Having a carefree, thankful heart towards Jesus aligns perfectly with the Good News: loved, accepted, and welcomed home as sons and daughters.
Celebration with Food and loved Ones:
Sharing “choice food, turkey meals and wine” with loved ones becomes more than just tradition when it overflows from gratitude. It becomes a lived parable of grace: abundance instead of scarcity, fellowship instead of isolation, joy instead of fear. May our dinner table this Christmas 2025 be a small foretaste of the Kingdom feast - full of Shalom peace, joyous laughter, and heartfelt thanksgiving to the Father through Jesus.
Isaiah 25:6 "LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines." (NIV).
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Acknowledgement: I have drawn inspiration from Ps. M. Ledbetter.
Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New 2026.
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