I was watching the news and drinking my coffee this morning when the anchors began showing, and talking about, pictures of children sitting on Santa's lap. It was pretty funny, because they were all pictures of children crying, and the anchors were talking about children's fear of Santa. It would have been another fluff piece until one of the anchors made the offhand comment, "Well at least they're learning the true meaning of Christmas". Huh?
Now, I know I often comment about the culture's values being different from the Christian values. I talk about our need to be "subversive witnesses against the dominant culture". But even this was a shock to me! But I also think it is indicative of what our culture believes. For many, Christmas is about Santa, the temple of the mall, and the priesthood of all shoppers.
I'm not going to bash the culture, or that anchor, or people who celebrate Christmas differently that I do. I am, however, going to say that we need to be better witnesses of what Christmas is all about: the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. I hope you'll join me.
4 comments:
I agree there is no need to bash the way others celebrate, but I am glad you pointed this out to us. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by aspects of this season that are utterly unnecessary. A miracle has taken place – a virgin birth, prophesized hundreds of years before it actually occurred by Isaiah.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
There are other verses that validate the coming of the incarnate God, Christ. Immanuel – God with Us! May we all remember and reflect on our Redeemer during this season!
God Bless!
Bridget Doss
I aggree Jim, we must bear witness particulary when it comes to our church and our beliefs.
Yesterday I read an article on-line from the The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams ( this is the head of the Anglican Church mind you) and he said that not all Christians need believe in the virgin birth! He has also described the story of the Three Wise Men as nothing but a legend, claiming the were nothing more than a couple of astrologers!?!
He wnet on to say, "I don't want to set it as a kind of hurdle people have to get over before they can, you know, be signed up."
So what a minute here, we have allowed one of the most sacred of holidays to become commercialized, and now we are to do that to our religion too?!?! Why, to make it more marketable?!?!
I say no! Look at the name folks...it Christ-mas. As it originated, "Christ-mass". I like to borrow a translation from our Spanish speaking friends. "Mas" is Spanish means "more", so the holiday translates roughly to "more Christ" as in we need more of Christ in our lives (more so now more than ever it seems) and we need to try to be more Christ-like.
Merry Christmas to all!
Gordon Meyer
What more can be said except,,,,
God grant me the serenty to change the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to KNOW the difference.
Wow! How sad that the real meaning of Christmas seems to be a faint memory in some cases. My six year old come to me a few Sunday mornings ago and asked what the plan for the day was. I told her we were going to church and then to see Santa. She chimed in with "can we see Santa first" I told her that Jesus was the reason we celebrate Christmas so we were going to his house first! She agreed (thank you Beginning Believers!). Then she asked what she could give Jesus for his birthday. I tried to think like a 6 year old and went in to a discussion about how showing the kindness in our hearts to others is the best gift for Jesus because he wants us to share his love with other people. She went deep in thought... I patted myself on the back for being an incredible parent... then she said, "yeah but if I were going to give him a present what could I get him?" Now we try to point out times when we show kindness and recognize that that makes Jesus very happy. We have to remember that our children are bombarded with the same media we are (hopefully to a lesser degree) and we have to be prepared to help them sort truth from fiction. They are the future of the Christian faith.
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