Looking back at my very sporadic blog postings I see the
holidays seem to be a dominate theme.
Which
Christmas do you Celebrate?Which Christmas to you Celebrate? Revisited
I find myself suddenly pulled back to this topic as I see
the first “Put Christ back in Christmas” posts and of course all the fuss about
Starbuck’s red cups and the “War on Christmas”.
You can read my past posts to get a feel for my general feelings on this
topic and how they have changed over time.
As a Christian I find myself terribly conflicted by my
reactions when these statements and controversies flare up. I’m conflicted because I want to yell back at
those folks. I want to tell them to get
over themselves. I want to tell them
that the Christmas they think they’re defending has precious little to do with
Christ. I want to tell them that
aggressively insisting people celebrate the holidays in a way that that doesn’t
impact their expectations isn’t terribly Christian.
Of course reacting like that is being guilty of the thing I’m
complaining about.
It also isn’t very Christian per my understanding of
Christianity. It certainly isn’t very
loving and is only being of service in a very aggressive interpretation of that
term.
So I’ll take a deep breath and try to find a better
response.
What is Christmas?
In this case I’m not interested in talking about the secular
holiday or the mercantile holiday. I am
talking about the religious celebration.
I will start with the negative.
Christmas is not:
1.
Presents under the tree
2.
Decorated trees, other borrowed pagan symbols,
or any other decoration
3.
Family gatherings
4.
Christmas Carols and other holiday music.
5.
TV Christmas specials
6.
Christmas pageants
7.
Christmas cards and letters
8.
A chance to celebrate backing the right horse
and winning a get out of hell free card.
I could go on, but I think the point is made. There are many things that delight us about
the holiday. There are many things that
put is in a joyous mood. I’m not saying
they aren’t important, but they have nothing to do with the religious holiday.
All too often those are things that are really bothering
people when they talk about the war on Christmas.
So what is at the core of this holiday? What do we need to keep our eye on to avoid
getting distracted when others go about this holiday in different fashion?
For me what’s central to Christmas is very simple.
Christmas is a promise. Not just a promise that something very
special happened 2000 years ago. It’s a
promise that something very special is still going on today.
Yes, there’s music that’s particularly meaningful to
me. Yes, there’s one particular
Christmas show I watch every year. Yes,
I’ll do everything I can to spend time with my family and friends. And yes, there will be some negative impact
on my mood if those things don’t happen.
But none of that changes the promise.
May the promise be in your heart through the whole season,
and may its presence heighten your joys and carry you through the lows.