Tuesday, December 16, 2025

It is the 16th of December 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Listen- I don’t make the rules, but if I did, I’d make a few- including: on December 16th, you buy yarn stuff from my sister at www.oldorcuttyarnery.com/- because it’s good yarn, I’m told- and it’s her birthday. Happy Birthday, Lisa!

AND, let’s give some more love- especially some Advent love to the Minor Prophets.

If I may, if there are any characters in the broad scope of church history that we can celebrate together, it would be the named prophets and apostles. It used to be the case that the Western Latin church had individual days for each of them, but as the calendar got overcrowded and needed paring down, it was many of the prophets- especially the so-called “Minor” Prophets whose days were ditched.

And of all the minor prophets (they are called minor because their books are shorter- like Malachi and not Isaiah) their might not be any more appropriate to the season of Advent than the 10th of the 12 (that’s right- the Bible loves “12s)- the 10th being Haggai- a name that means something like “festival” or “holy day”- but it’s not just the name- it’s the content of the book of the prophet Haggai which makes for a great advent read. Also, you can say you read a whole book in a day (it’s only four short chapters).

Let me give you the rundown and then some fun historical bits- we know almost nothing about Haggai- he shows up on the scene after the first exile- Jews are back in Jerusalem, and King Darius gives them the right to rebuild their old temple. According to Jewish tradition, Haggai made a name for himself in Babylon amongst the exiles, but outside of a mention in the book of Ezra, we are told very little.

He shows up on the scene, with a word, in the fall of 520BC- his book is. Record of his four different prophesies- given between Fall and Winter of 520 BC, only to disappear and not show up in the record again.

So- 520 BC- the exiles had come back in the 530s and were initially pumped to get the old system back up and running- but, as we know from the book of Ezra, the people grew cold. The pesky Samaritans are getting in their way, and so by the 520s, the project to build a second temple is getting cobwebs. After all, the people reasoned, we could make some pretty sweet homes for ourselves with this space and materials. Enter Haggai.

Haggai prophesies to Zerubabbel and Joshua- two key post-exilic priests- and he tells them that this temple, which had lain in ruins for some 70 years prior, was to be rebuilt.

As he visits and revisits Zerubbabel and the other Jewish people, his tone- while prophetic- seems to soften. All prophets deal in condemnation and promise, but for good reason, a number of the prophets in and around the exile lean in on condemnation. But there’s a softness with Haggai as he talks to a people who were jazzed to rebuild, frustrated, and now eager again… except… it just doesn’t seem to be everything they thought it would be. They are disappointed, seemingly, because the temple doesn’t seem so glorious. And this is where Haggai becomes the great Advent minor Prophet- Zerubabbel is told that the point of the temple is a coming day when ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.  I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory."

Both O Come O Come Emmanuel and Come Thou Long Expected Jesus quote the very small book by the minor prophet- seeing Advent language- and then playing, poetically, with the “desire of the nations” language we get this time of year.

Advent aside, it should be noted that St. Jerome was a little curious about Haggai- he translated the text, as with the others, for his Vulgate- but thought it was strange that Haggai would be called “the Messenger of Yahweh,” which is the language used for angels. For this reason, the prophet is sometimes conflated with an Angel and has been associated with the angel who protects Daniel. Also, the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) attributed Psalm 146-148 to Haggai, although he is not mentioned in the Hebrew text.

He is a prophet for Advent- for the kind of holidays after which he, Haggai, seems to be named. The Byzantine church has kept up the tradition of remembering him, and keenly, within Advent on this, the 16th of December.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and speaking of shorter, more obscure texts- from Jude

20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 16th of December 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who was telling me it’s all about the Old Orcutt Private label yarn- he likes sugar beet and berry stand…  he is Christopher Gillespie. 

The show is written and read by a man who neither knits, sews, needles, darns, mends, or stitches…but my wife makes a lot of scarves… I’m  Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.