Tag: st. nicholas

My memory is fresh about the second Sunday of Advent, 1969. A young pastor, I was serving my first solo church appointment. Our congregation had decorated the sanctuary for Advent and Christmas, including a Christmas tree standing between the pulpit and the first row of pews.

It would be difficult to substantiate the origin and tradition of the Santa’s bag; however, one I could suspect it had to do with the bags of gold and the symbolism of giving something of great value, that is the compassion and love we should all have for one another.  

According to an announcement, "The jolly magical Christmas figure we know as Santa Claus has a basis in the life of a real saint carried down through history."