William Booth

William Booth

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was born in poverty.  At his death in 1912, over 150,000 English citizens filed by his casket and 40,000 were in attendance at his funeral including Queen Mary herself.  He was converted at age 15 via an invitation to church from a Wesleyan couple.  That night, in his diary, he wrote, “God shall have all there is of William Booth.”

A few years later, with a group of friends, he heard American preacher Charles G. Finney speak about revival.  They made their purpose the evangelization of the poor.  Booth held open-air meetings in the poorest communities and organized follow-up meetings in individuals’ homes.  After a brief foray as a pastor in a Methodist church, William and his bride Catherine, committed themselves to full-time evangelism of the poor.  He was fond of saying, “Go for souls, and go for the worst!”

William upended the ‘traditional church’ of the day.  He believed in short sermons, a fiery exhortation to receive Christ, secular music in the meetings, and visitation of the sick and poor.  These were the initial qualities to go into his “Salvation Army.”

Catherine was herself a bit of a firebrand.  She, also, was influenced by Finney, having read many of his writings during a period of being bed-bound for a few months as a young woman.  She was convinced after this time of her own calling to the ministry – in a day where Victorian values permeated dictating that ‘a woman’s place is in the home.’  Catherine responded that since the Gospel liberated men and women equally, and placed them on equal ground, then there was no Scriptural ground for denying a woman a place in the ministry, including the preaching ministry.  She eventually got the opportunity to preach at a Salvation Army service, and her abilities were noted.  She was often compared to a gentle but firm lawyer pleading with judge and jury for the life of a prisoner.  Catherine eventually gave birth to and raised eight children, in addition to the formal and informal duties as “Co-founder” of the Salvation Army.  The ministry she seemed most passionate about was training evangelists to reach the poor.

In 1865, Catherine received an invitation to preach in London.  William accepted what was meant to be a temporary position to run a mission in East London, a very squalid area of the city.  East London of that day was very densely populated, and one writer noted that “every fifth house was a gin shop.”  Many of these gin shops had steps to where even a young child could reach the counter of the bar.  William’s mission was to reach these people where they were.

William’s converts came from the drunkards and the prostitutes of that area.  They were trained to reach others and, within ten years, the ministry had spread throughout East London and in many European cities, with well over a thousand volunteers.  In 1878, William read a draft copy of the annual report for his ministry, his eyes fell on the words, “…the Christian Mission is a volunteer army.”  Booth crossed out the words, “volunteer army” and replaced them with the words “Salvation Army.”  The idea of an “army” caught on, and Booth organized the mission with a military-like structure with himself as the “General.”  Within another ten years, the Salvation Army had recorded over 250,000 converts.

His zeal was infectious.  He once said, “While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while little children go hungry, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, where there remains one dark soul without the light of God – I’ll fight!  I’ll fight to the very end!”

Over the years, he created a complex social relief structure to meet the needs of those he was called to serve.  He published a bestseller in 1890 entitled ‘In Darkest England and the Way Out’ to explain his plans in the regard.

When William died in 1912, seven of his eight children held leadership positions in the Salvation Army, including his seventh child, Evangeline “Eva” Booth, who served for 30 years as national commander for the North American Salvation Army mission, organizing the work and laying a structural foundation for the future of American work.  She was noted by the United States for her tremendous effort to soldiers heading to World War I, organizing “Doughnut Girls” to minister to the solders, and oversaw the appointment of Chaplains to serve in the US Army.  Eva left America in 1934 a tremendously popular figure to return to England and become the fourth General of the Salvation Army.  She retained her American citizenship until her death in 1950.

131 Christians Everyone Should Know, J.I. Packer, Broadman and Holman, 2000.

https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/history-of-the-salvation-army/

Ignatius Loyola

Ignatius of Loyola

Ignatius, born Inigo Lopez de Loyola, was born to a noble family in Spain in 1491.  As a boy, he was sent to a Spanish court to become a page – the first step to becoming a court official.  He embraced the life of royalty and fell in love with the practice of chivalry and war, hoping at some point in the future to win glory for himself.

As a young man, he was involved in a battle with the French for the town of Pamplona, Spain.  During the battle, a cannonball the size of an orange hit him.  After the battle, he was helped back to Loyola by the French soldiers who greatly respected his courage.  He had surgeries to reset his knee and to remove a protruding bone.  During his seven-week convalescence, he read spiritual books, including one by a monk which captured his attention describing the life of a monk as one of “holy chivalry.”  By the time he was released, he had decided to commit his life to holy living and doing penance for his sins.

Inigo walked to a small town in Northeastern Spain where he lived in a cave for about a year, subsisting as a beggar, flogging himself, attending Mass daily, and praying for seven hours per day.  It was in this town he wrote the beginning of his book Spiritual Exercises: a little book designed to help lay people develop the discipline of spiritual contemplation.  He studied in Barcelona where he attracted a number of followers and worked with them to help people walk closer to Christ.  As a yet-unordained person, he fell under suspicion of the established church during the Spanish Inquisition and was arrested at least twice.  Due to these persecutions, he and his companions moved to study for years in Paris, then later to Venice.  In Paris, he changed his name to Ignatius.

From Venice, in 1540, Ignatius and his followers received the Pope’s approval to begin a religious order which they called “The Society of Jesus” – or “Jesuits.”  The Jesuits began a ministry less focused on the trappings of spiritual life and more on ministry.  This caught on, and Jesuit orders soon sprung up in many of the major cities of Europe, in newly-opened areas of the world such as China, as well as many of the settlements in the New World, including areas of Quebec, Michigan, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Arizona, Mexico, and many areas of South America, often specifically reaching out to the Indians.

Ignatius is known for his work Spiritual Exercises.  The book is meant to lead a person through four weeks of meditation and prayer.  It has been in constant use by Jesuits up to this day, nearly 500 years, and is often used by lay people of all spiritual traditions.

The object of the first week is purifying one’s soul: examining your conscience and meditating on your sins, and on Hell.

The object of the second week is a focus on the Gospels and on Christ.

The object of the third week is freeing yourself from your will, to follow Christ.

The object of the fourth week is releasing the heart from worldly attachments.

Ignatius taught what was called “imaginative contemplation” in prayer and study.  In many traditions, ‘contemplation’ means to put all other thoughts aside and have an uninterrupted focus on what you are reading, freeing your mind of all thoughts and images.  Ignatian thought teaches ‘contemplation’ a bit differently: engage your imagination when you pray, insert yourself into the story.  When reading stories of Jesus, for example, use your imagination while reading to smell the smells, hear the sounds, feel the emotions, touch what is there.  In short, immerse yourself in what you are reading.

For nearly 500 years, Spiritual Exercises has been a guide for Christians to deepen their relationship with their Creator.

131 Christians Everyone Should Know, Packer, J.I., Holman Publishers, 2000.

https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-spiritual-exercises

http://sacred-texts.com/chr/seil/index.htm

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/moversandshakers/ignatius-of-loyola.html

Katharina Von Bora (Luther)

Katharina Von Bora (Luther)

Around the year 1523 and friend of Martin Luther’s named Leonhard Koppe came to him with a problem.  He had, years ago, committed his daughter to a Benedictine convent at age 3.  Her father missed her greatly and had received some secret communication from her, but had no options to get her back.  Helping a nun to escape, in this part of the world, was a capital offense.

Martin used some contacts to get his friend a job delivering fish to the convent.  There, Leonhard was able to facilitate communication with his daughter, who mentioned there might be some friends who would join her in her escape.  One day, Leonhard drove his wagon into the convent with twelve barrels of herring and drove out with a fugitive nun hidden inside each empty barrel, back to Wittenberg and Martin Luther.  One man in Wittenberg wrote, “A wagon load of vestal virgins has just come to town, all more eager for marriage that for life [itself].”

Leonhard claimed his daughter, and Martin felt a sense of responsibility toward the young women and set about, first to find their families, then finding them eligible husbands.  He married them all off but one, Miss Katharina Von Bora, a feisty redhead who, at age 22, was well beyond the usual age of marriage.  Martin widened and widened the net until two years later he found an elderly widower who would be willing to marry Katharina and give her the security she would need.  Martin took her to meet him and made the formal introduction.  Katarina told Martin, “Sir, this gentleman is not acceptable!”   Still looking at her patron, she continued, “but if YOU were to ask me, I’d say ‘Yes’!”

While Martin had encouraged marriage for ministers, he shunned it for himself, thinking the constant threat of a heretic’s death to be an unfair burden to any woman.  Nevertheless, in the summer of 1525, the 42-year-old former monk married the 24-year-old former nun and the Luther household was born.  Initially, it was a marriage of convenience, Luther writing this his marriage would, “please his father, rile the Pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep.”  Martin’s Catholic critics turned their venom on his new bride, one pamphlet calling her a “poor, fallen woman” who had passed “from the cloistered holy religion into a damnable, shameful life.”  Katharina did not seem at all affected by the harsh criticism, and kept her focus on the success of her husband.  Over a short time, the marriage of convenience became one of a deep love and respect for each other.

Katharina, or “my Lord Katie”, as he often called her, stormed into his life, setting his domestic affairs in order: bring order to the finances, seeing to his health, and making certain Martin’s habit of giving money away thoughtlessly didn’t damage the family coffers too badly.  Owing to Martin’s bouts of gout, insomnia, constipation, stones, dizziness, and ringing of the ears, Katharina became very proficient at herbal medicines and massage.  She also had an incredible intellect, respectfully challenging her husband in the areas of theology he was studying.  At such times, he referred to her as “Doctora Lutherin.”  She was a bundle of energy, who harnessed that energy into being a blessing to her husband.

The Augustinian monastery where Martin once stayed was purchased by a nobleman and gifted to the Luthers.  Katharina arranged for boarding of their frequent guests in the rooms, at times being hospitable to 30 guests at a time, supervised planting of the fields, managed an orchard, harvested a fish pond, directed the barnyard, and even slaughtered the livestock.  Martin wrote, “In domestic affairs, I defer to Katie.  In everything else, I am led by the Holy Spirit.”

Katharina found time in all this activity to bear six children, three boys and three girls, born in a span of seven years.  The Luthers also adopted four children.  Their hearts were broken when their daughter Elizabeth died at age 8 months, and again when another daughter, Magdalena, died at age 13.  Martin seemed to take great joy in performing some of the ‘womanly’ tasks for his wife.  He reserved for himself, as often as he was home, the chore of washing diapers.

Katharina also made certain Martin’s personal priorities were in order.  Martin had, while single, seen the marriage covenant as somewhat of a broken institution and preached often on the responsibilities of husbands to take more of an active role in their marriage and domestic life.  ‘Lord Katie’ held him to this standard.  One story is related about Martin locking himself in his study, so enmeshed in his studies that he ignored his family for five days.  After five days, she removed the hinges from the door so the children could storm in.

They were married for 21 years before Martin Luther passed away in 1546.  His wife wrote, “For who would not be sad and afflicted at the loss of such a precious man as my dear lord was?  He did great things not just for a city or a single land, but for the whole world.  Therefore I am truly so deeply grieved that I cannot…eat or drink, nor can I sleep.  And if I had a principality or an empire and lost it, it would not have been as painful as it is now that the dear Lord God has taken from me this precious and beloved man, and not from me alone, but from the whole world.”

Christian History Magazine – two editions on the life of Martin Luther

https://www.visit-luther.com/reformation-heroes/katharina-von-bora/

https://lutheranreformation.org/history/katharina-von-bora-luther/

William Cowper

William Cowper

The poet William Cowper was born in 1731, the fourth child of a British pastor.  His poetry helped set the stage for the Romantic poetry of the following century – his works were admired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, for example.  He wrote about everyday situations.

William’s three siblings died, then his mother died when he was six years old while giving birth to a fifth child.  His mother’s death had a profound emotional impact on him for the rest of his life – over 50 years later someone sent him a picture of his mother and he wrote one of his more famous poems, “On the Receipt of My Mother’s Picture” – a very sad little poem:

                My mother!  When I learn’d that thou wast dead,

                Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?

                Hover’d thy spirit o’er thy sorrowing son,

                Wretch even then, life’s journey just begun?...

                I heard the bell toll’d on thy burial day,

                I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,

                And, turning from my nurs’ry window, drew

                A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu!

From ages 8-10, William’s father sent him to a boarding school where the young boy was mercilessly tormented by a bully.  From ages 10-18, he was sent to Westminster school where his experience was better, and developed a love for poetry and writing.  Through his education here, his father intended for him to pursue a legal career, but he developed severe anxiety when it came time to pursue his bar examination.  His anxiety was so severe, he attempted suicide at least three times and was institutionalized in an asylum run by Dr Nathaniel Cotton – both a poet and a faithful Christian.  At this asylum, William found the Lord while reading Romans 3:25: “…whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith…”

When he had recovered, he met a retired pastor named Morley Unwin and his wife Mary.  They offered to let him stay in their home for 2 weeks – and 2 weeks turned into 22 years.  They helped sharpen his focus on Christ, and he found that gardening in their home helped ward off his depression.

It was probably during his years with the Unwins that Cowper wrote the hymn, ‘There is a Fountain’:

                There is a fountain, filled with blood; Drawn from Immanuel’s veins

                And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.

When Morley died, Mary moved to the town of Olney, where John Newton was a pastor.  William and John became great friends, and John became a mentor to William.  William often helped him in visitations and in benevolence.  He also joined Newton in his anti-slavery campaigning, and composed many verses to that end.  His poem ‘Pity for Poor Africans’ was often quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr. during the American civil rights movement.  Depression and spiritual doubt was always at his door, and he fought constantly to keep it at bay.

At one point, Mary grew gravely ill, and William’s depression came back with a vengeance.  He prayed earnestly that God would heal her.  God did heal her, and it was during that time he wrote a hymn, #73 in The Baptist Hymnal, called ‘God Moves in a Mysterious Way’.  Through this hymn, Cowper is credited with the phrase ‘God moves in mysterious ways’ often used today.

                God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;

                He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

William Cowper’s depression and anxiety help show us that those afflicted in this way often have a more sensitive spirit to spiritual matters as well as to the needs of others.

When William lay on his deathbed in the year 1800, it is said that his face suddenly lit up and he exclaimed, “I am not shut out of Heaven after all!”

Morgan, Robert J.  Then Sings My Soul, Nelson Publishers, 2003.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cowper

John Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, had a profound impact on the church in the 18^th century.  Born in 1703, John was the fifteenth of nineteen children of Samuel and Susanna Wesley.  Susanna, herself the youngest of twenty-fife children, conducted the formal education of each child and supervised the household during the frequent absences of her husband.  Beginning on their fifth birthday, Susanna instructed each child in the classical education typical of the day – ensuring each child, including the girls, were thoroughly educated in the Greek and Latin languages, as well as in studies of the Bible – requiring them to memorize large portions of the Bible’s text.  Running the home by necessity in a very structured way, she ensured the good order of the home and made certain an allotment of time was spent with each child every week to review their studies and their spiritual condition.

One of John’s earliest memories was at age five, when he was trapped in his home on the second floor as a fire consumed it.  Just before the roof collapsed, John was rescued by a man standing on another man’s shoulders.  Susanna commented that it was as if “a brand was plucked from the fire” (quoting Zechariah 3:2).  John often used this in his preaching as a metaphor for salvation.

During John’s time at Oxford university, he joined a club founded by his younger brother Charles which was derisively called “The Holy Club.”  John was soon named the leader of this club.  In their study of what a truly devout and holy life meant, John led them in rigorous spiritual discipline: meeting daily from six to nine for prayer, psalms, and reading of the New Testament (in Greek); they made a point to pray several minutes per hour for a specific virtue; they took of Holy Communion weekly; they fasted until 3:00 PM every Wednesday and Friday, as they understood was the habit of the early church; they made frequent visits to prisons, and raised funds for the relief of those in debtor’s prison.

For all his outward piety, John tried more and more discipline to validate his salvation.  He developed an elaborate grid where he recorded his daily activities hour-by-hour, resolutions he had kept or broken, and ranked his ‘temper of devotion’ on a scale of 1 to 9, for every hour of his day.

As an Anglican, John felt called in 1735 to the British colony of Georgia, in the new town of Savannah (then less than 2 years old) to be the Anglican pastor of the town.  On the voyage to the colony, John came into contact with Moravian settlers.  Even with all his self-discipline, John was impressed by their piety and calm, deep faith.  While en route, a violent storm arose and snapped the mast of the ship.  The English panicked, the Moravians gathered together to sing and pray.  John saw this and realized these simple people had an inner strength he did not have.

After the story, John approached the pastor of the Moravians to ask about his serenity during the storm.  The pastor replied to his question with a question: Did he, Wesley, have faith in Christ?  Wesley replied in the affirmative, but later reconsidered, writing in his journal, “I fear they were vain words.”

John’s ministry in Georgia was mostly a failure, partly because he tried to instill the same sense of spiritual discipline on his congregation, and partly because he was facing his own internal spiritual struggle.  Wesley returned to England after less than two years, depressed and bitter.  On the return voyage he wrote in his diary, “I went to America to convert the Indians but, oh, who shall convert me?  Who, what, is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief?”

Upon returning to England, he turned to some Moravians in London for guidance and advice.  He reluctantly attended a meeting at Aldersgate Street in London on May 24^th, 1738.  He described it thus:

"In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

John, still an Anglican preacher, began preaching as Luther did before him – that Salvation was by grace alone, though faith in Christ.  This, along with the strict methodical lifestyle he still practiced and advocated, brought him into conflict with Anglican clergy.  Wesley felt called to the reformation of the Anglican Church, of which he remained a member his entire life.  John felt the church failed in its duty to call sinners to repentance, and were thus guilty of allowing people to die in a lost condition.  John disregarded many of the Anglican rules which he felt constricted him in his calling: ignoring established parish boundaries and self-commissioning lay preachers.  John had an incredible gift for organization and the “Methodist” movement quickly spread.

As many Anglican churches closed to him, John Wesley began open-air preaching, often in graveyards, giving him a means to bypass the restrictions the local Anglicans would place on him and allowing him to preach to many who would have never otherwise entered a church building.  Traveling around England on horseback, he would preach wherever he could assemble a crowd.  More than once, when preaching in the town of Epsworth, he would use his own father’s gravestone to stand on to preach to the crowds.  Over the course of his life, it is estimated that John traveled over 250,000 miles and preached around 40,000 sermons.

The Methodist Church moved out of England and into America via evangelists George Whitfield and Thomas Coke, among others, and thrived during and in the aftermath of the American Revolution.

John was married at age 48 to a widow with four children.  They had no children of their own.  Fifteen years later she left him, stating that she could no longer compete for his attention with his devotion to the Methodist movement.  John wrote in his journal, “I did not forsake her, I did not dismiss her, I will not recall her.”

John Wesley, with his organizational genius, recorded the exact numbers of followers he had when he died: 294 preachers, 71,668 British members, 19 missionaries, and 43,265 American members with 198 preachers.

John died at age 87, leaving behind a fantastic legacy of commitment to the Gospel and a tremendous example of personal devotion.  He left numerous volumes of sermons and theology, and discourses of many issues of the day.  He was a mentor to British abolitionist leaders John Newton and William Wilberforce.

John Wesley quotes:

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn.

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.

Money never stays with me.  I would burn it if it did.  I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart.

The best thing of all is God is with us. (John Wesley’s final words)

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/john-wesley.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley

John Wesley’s Journal – As Abridged by Nehemiah Curnock, Philosophical Library, 1951.

Messiah

Messiah

The classic oratorio written by George Frederick Handel is perhaps the most recognized piece of classical music in existence.  Handel was born in Germany toward the end of the 17^th century – in 1685.  His father desired he enter the practice of law, but his early death freed his son to pursue music.  He moved to Italy to compose opera, but a prohibition of opera from the pope at the time caused him to compose less dramatic pieces and focus on music more spiritually uplifting.  There was a debate even over this at the time, with some considering it blasphemous that an oratorio dealing with spiritual matters could be performed in the same theater as a racy comedy the night prior.

Handel had some level of success in Italy, but eventually moved to England in 1712, becoming an English citizen in 1727.  He achieved some further level of success in England, but his star began to fade by 1841 at age 56 following a minor stroke, poor health, failing vision, and poor investments that threatened to put him in debtor’s prison.

In July of 1741, Charles Jennens, a Shakespearian scholar and friend of Handel’s, wrote him a lengthy letter full of Scripture he had been studying – prophecies of Christ as found mostly in the Old Testament, and some in the New Testament, mainly from the book of Revelation.

Handel spent a great deal of time reading and re-reading this letter, and in prayer.  In mid-August, he picked up pen and began to write.  He organized the verses into sections: Part I on the birth of Christ, Part II on the death of Christ, and Part III on the resurrection and coming reign of Christ.  He completed the entire 269-page oratorio in an astonishing 3 weeks!

One musical scholar has estimated there are a quarter million notes in Handel’s Messiah.  If we presume 21 days and 10 hours of composition per day, Handel would have written down an average of 15 notes per minute!

The first performance of his now-famous oratorio was in Dublin.  The public was invited to the rehearsal performance on April 8^th, 1842, intending an opening on April 13^th.  Word of how the rehearsal moved those in attendance spread rapidly – so much so that local promoters had to publish the request that ladies not wear ‘hoop’ dresses and that men leave their swords at home so as to accommodate the expected crowd.  The theater, with a capacity of 600, crammed 700 people inside before the doors were closed.

John Wesley was in one of the early performances of Messiah (not ‘The’ Messiah!) and wrote of it in his diary, “there were some parts that were affecting, but I doubt it has staying power.”  His brother, composer Charles Wesley (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”) was more sympathetic and ended up developing somewhat of a friendship with Handel.

Messiah was originally intended as an Easter performance.  Over the years, the relative dearth of classical music related to Christmas pushed Messiah into the tradition of being a Christmas staple.

One of Handel’s early patrons was George “The Elector of Hanover” prior to his becoming King of England – the same King of England that gave the British colonists of America so much trouble later.  As King, George attended a performance of Messiah and was so moved during the Hallelujah chorus that he spontaneously rose to his feet.  Protocol dictated that when the king stands, everyone stands – leading to the establishment of the tradition of rising during that fantastic chorus.

Handel lived another 17 years, enjoying the fantastic success that Messiah brought him.  In gratitude, he donated many of the royalties from the composition to orphanages, debtor’s prison relief, and other charities.  He attended a performance just a few days before his death.  On his deathbed, his final words were, “I want to die in the sweet hope of rejoining my good God, my sweet Lord and Savior on the day of His resurrection.”

https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-handels-messiah.aspx

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/the-story-behind-the-triumphant-premiere-of-handels-messiah

Christmas Trivia

Christmas trivia

The Puritans in the 17^th Century banned Christmas, considering it ‘Popish’ (Catholic), and fined people five shillings for celebrating the holiday.  Christmas was not a popular holiday in New England until the mid-1800s.

In the East, Christmas is celebrated on January 6^th (end of the ’12 Days of Christmas’)

NORAD has been tracking Santa Claus since 1955, when a Colorado Springs newspaper ad for Sears misprinted the store’s “Santa” number and inadvertently gave children the number to the NORAD Operations Center.  The O-6 on duty that night answered the first call and instructed his staff to give a Santa status report to every child who called that evening.

‘Do You Hear What I Hear’ was written by Gloria Shayne Baker and her husband Noel Regney during the Cuban Missile Crisis and was intended as a plea for peace.  “…pray for peace, people everywhere…”

The ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ has had a number of variations to its elements over the years, including: “Four Canary Birds,” “Four Ducks Quacking,” “Eight Hares a Running,” “Eight Hounds a Running,” “Nine Bulls a Roaring,” “Ten Men a Mowing,” “Ten Ships a Sailing,” “Eleven Ladies Spinning,” “Eleven Badgers Baiting,” “Twelve Bells Ringing.”

80’s Metal band Twisted Sister took the tune of their hit song ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ from the Christmas Carol ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’  Listen to the two songs side-by-side.  Your head will explode.

Santa Claus has his own zip code in Canada, H0H 0H0.  Every letter received for Santa at this zip code is personally answered in the language in which it was received, regardless of where in the world it comes from.

All the gifts in the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ total 364 gifts.

Per Facebook data analysis, two weeks before Christmas is one of the two most popular times for couples to break up.  Christmas Day is the least popular day.

Santa’s reindeer are all female, despite having male names.  Male reindeer grow antlers but shed them yearly before Christmas.  Female reindeer uniquely grow antlers and keep them year-round.

The best-selling song of all time is Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’ – over 100 million copies sold.  That song reached #1 on the billboard charts on three separate occasions.

In WW2, Germany allowed Christmas care packages to be sent to American POWs.  These packages included playing cards manufactured by the Bicycle Playing Card Company which, when soaked in water, revealed escape routes.  The Nazis never caught on to this.

An artificial Christmas tree would have to be re-used for about 20 years to be ‘greener’ than a fresh-cut tree.

A very popular Christmas dinner in Japan, apparently, is KFC.  Customers must place their Christmas dinner orders 2 months in advance.

Seven out of ten dogs in England get a Christmas present from their owners.  The number is five out of ten in the United States.

The image of Santa flying in his sleigh first appeared in 1819, created by Washington Irving – creator of the Headless Horseman.

During Christmas, 2010, the Colombian government decorated trees in the jungle with lights and motion sensors.  When guerrillas would walk by, the trees would light up and banners would appear asking them to surrender their arms.  The campaign was successful in convincing 331 people to surrender and re-enter society.  They also won an award for strategic advertising excellence.

During the Christmas season, 28 Lego sets are sold very second.

The largest Christmas gift ever was the Statue of Liberty.  At 255 tons, it was gifted to the US by the French on Christmas Day, 1886.

Saint Nicholas of Myra, the namesake “Saint Nicholas,” was at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.  During the back-and-forth, at one point he literally punched his debate opponent in the face!  So much for ‘jolly’…

‘Jingle Bells’ was the first song broadcast from space.  On December 16^th, 1965, the Gemini 6 crew serenaded Mission Control after reporting seeing a “red-suited astronaut in a low polar orbit."

Some consider the worst Christmas song ever to be Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime”.  The song nets him nearly a half million dollars in royalties every year.

The famous "Christmas Truce" of World War 1 occurred in 1914, only about 5 months after the outbreak of war.  Soldiers on each side emerged from the tranches in various places, shook hands, retrieved and buried their dead, sang Christmas carols together, exchanged souvenirs, and even played soccer together.  In most cases, contact was initiated by the Germans.  Upon hearing of this Sir John French, one of the British Senior Officers, issued a general order stating that, "such unwarlike behavior must cease."  The Christmas Truce was never repeated during that war.
There are differing reasons for the tradition of putting oranges in Christmas stockings: 1) A representation of the gold the original St Nicholas (of Myra) left for the families he ministered to; 2) during the Great Depression, oranges were considered a luxury, one per year at Christmas; 3) a reminder to share what you have with others; or 4) a treat for children in northern climates, from a time when citrus fruits like oranges were difficult to get.
The Continental Army under General George Washington scored its first significant victory in Trenton, New Jersey, on December 26th, 1776 - many of the Hessian defenders still nursing hangovers from their celebrations on Christmas Day.
The movie 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' is cited as the event that killed aluminum Christmas tree sales in the 1970s.
The movie 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' was produced with a budget of $76,000.  The next year, the animated movie 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' was produced with a $300,000 budget.
The French word 'Noel' originally comes from the Latin.  It means 'birth'.
"X-Mas" was an abbreviation for Christmas first used in the 1600s.  The 'X' comes from the Greek letter 'Chi' which is shaped like the letter 'X'.  Chi, in the Greek, is a common shorthand for writing 'Christ'.
Coca-Cola originally began using the image of Santa Claus in its commercials in the 1920s.
The world record for the largest snowman is held by the town of Bethel, Maine.  The town worked together in 2008 to build a 122' 1" snowman, actually, snow-woman, they named 'Olympia.'  The snow-woman was nearly 11 stories tall!
Placing a candle in the window is a Christmas tradition of showing the world that the home is a Christian home, and inviting other Christians to come in and celebrate.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was created in 1939 for a holiday promotion for the store Montgomery Ward.  Years later, facing bankruptcy due to medical bills from his wife's terminal illness, as a gift to employee Robert May, the author, they gifted him the copyright to the story.
In some places in Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Years' Eve is said to bring love during the coming year.