The Parts Have Arrived

...for this year's 'Wagon of Christmas Cheer'. When I was a young boy, I used to cart my favorite chicken around in a red wagon with wood sides. His name was Moses, and he was crippled for the last few years of his life.

This year, I will resurrect the old tradition with virtually the same type of wagon, and I 'll decorate it in accordance with the description found in my late Mother's 'Legend of Moses Claus' story.

Moses shouted, "Herbit, for the second time, go into the chicken house and bring out all who will be pulling the wagon of Christmas cheer."

The wagon should be assembled, decorated, and ready to go by mid-December.

All Souls Day: apokatastasis style

Today, I pay tribute to All Souls Day in the context of Christian/Trinitarian Universalism. The Greek word, apokatastasis, means restoration to the original (good) condition. In modern English, the terms 'universal salvation' or 'universalism' are more commonly used to describe this particular theology. Basically, it is the belief that all rational beings, namely human beings, will eventually get into heaven because of Christ's all-merciful death and all-powerful resurrection.

While only a small percentage of modern-day Christians hold to this position, it was actually a widely held view during the first 400 years of Christianity, as documented by St. Basil, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome. Big names in early Christianity, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Macrina the Blessed, Titus of Bostra, and Gregory of Nyssa, to name a few, taught this doctrine.

Generally speaking, modern-day adherents of Christian/Trinitarian Universalism believe the following:

- The Bible is divinely inspired
- The Trinity is the one true God
-  Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary
-  Jesus was God in human flesh
-  Jesus performed miracles
-  Jesus died for the sins of all mankind
-  Jesus physically rose from the dead
-  Salvation is a gift from God
-  Jesus is mankind's only Savior
-  Hell is real and terrible, but limited in duration and disciplinary/reformative in nature
-  All mankind, including atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews, will eventually come to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, of their own free will

While this is not an exhaustive list, here are some scholarly resources worth exploring on the topic:

Universalism the prevailing doctrine of the Christian church during its first 500 years

Tracing Universalist thought through church history

The Evangelical Universalist: second edition

The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: Christ the Conqueror of Hell

The Congress Catches Fire- Divine Mercy

The Harrowing of Hell: Salvation for the dead in early Christianity

In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and conservative Anglican traditions, All Souls Day is a prayerful remembrance of only the 'faithful departed'. In the context of Christian Universalism, however, All Souls Day would be celebrated as a prayerful remembrance of all departed human souls, due to the belief that Christ died to redeem all of humanity.

That being said, without further adieu, here's the display:

All Saints Day

Wishing all my fellow Western Christian brothers and sisters a blessed All Saints Day, whose official commemoration likely dates back to the 4th century.

"...we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..." Hebrews 12:1