Celebrating Christmas

When I was a boy (surprise! I can remember that. . .at least some of it) we didn’t celebrate Christmas like most folks. Sometimes we had a tree, sometimes not. Gifts were few and far between because money was always tight. I didn’t think much about it. Dad always explained that Christ was not born in December, and the real celebrations were about His death and resurrection, and not particularly about His birth.

After I had a family of my own, we celebrated just like most folks. . .a tree, lots of decorations, presents, family gatherings, special foods, and lots of good times. Now that I am older, my family has families of their own, I am becoming more ambivalent than I have ever been. Please don’t think that I am concerned about Christmas, I’m not. I am concerned that we, as the Church, might not be standing up for, talking about, and celebrating the reality of what Christmas “ought to be.”

Some would say it is just a pagan celebration. OK. Some would say it is a Winter Holiday and nothing more. OK. Some would acknowledge it is “Christ’s birthday,” but are not clearly focused on what that ought to mean in the life of Believers. Therein lies the dilemma, or perhaps, conundrum.

What if you were having a birthday celebration for your adult brother or sister whom you llove more than life itself and vice-versa. Where would your attention be focused? To whom would you give gifts? Would you invite in his/her friends? Would you mention how wonderful he/she is? Would you point out his/her outstanding accomplishments? Would you praise him/her for commitment to family, for caring, for lloving, for all the help and comfort he/she brings to life?

Well, maybe we ought to do just that. Collectively? Yes!  At Church? Yes! Individually? Yes! At home? Yes! In the community? YES!!

Perhaps you do that. Good for you. Thank you! Thank you!! The reality, however, is often far from the actual practices of many. . .perhaps I would not be wrong saying “most”. . . folk.

Unexpressed and unvoiced allegiance to the “activities” that ought to dominate the Christmas season, assuming of course that we are celebrating the birth of our Savior, is a tragedy the Church (God’s people) can ill afford.