Christmas
Several years ago we started to make some changes in our Christmas traditions. We allowed a philosophy of ministry that includes asking questions and finding answers from the scriptures to filter into our everyday lives. Nothing was considered “off limits”. It has been very liberating to come to our own convictions and not those of people around us. Now, please don’t misunderstand, we haven’t thrown everything out that we have believed in. In fact, many of our standards and beliefs are even more entrenched than they used to be, but it’s because we have studied and examined these things in the scriptures.
I’d like to share a couple of thoughts about our viewpoint on Christmas.
Christmas has become so commercialised and materialistic that it can hardly be considered a Christian holiday – at least, not in the sense of what most disciples of Jesus would consider to be Christian. I think this is a point that most would concede. As we thought about this fact, it caused us concern. Were we just promoting materialism (a false god) and tacking on a semi-spiritual reason for celebrating?
As we considered the scriptures to try and decipher how the New Testament Church celebrated, would you believe it? There is not even a mention of Christmas! Were they just a bunch of scrooges or did they have something else in mind when they celebrated Jesus? It turns out that there is only one thing we are told to celebrate on a regular basis in the New Testament. Jesus Himself gave us the command to remember HIM. Specifically, the death, resurrection and return of the Lord are what we celebrate. (1 Cor. 11:23-26.) We celebrate the Lord’s resurrection every week on the day He arose. But precious little is mentioned about the birth of the Lord. Even in 1 Corinthians 15 when Paul gives us a brief synopsis of the gospel, the birth is absent. The resurrection is the focus.
So, where and when did this emphasis on the Lord’s birth come about? In actual fact, it came about through the Roman Catholic Church. And why? Because it is one of the few places where Mary is prominent.
So, not only is there no New Testament evidence that we should celebrate the birth of Christ, but if we are honest, there is quite a bit of what passes as Christmas, that is not about Christ at all.
To turn a corner like this and examine what we do and why we do it starts to unravel a lot of possibilities. What about presents? What about Christmas dinner? What about get-togethers? Gulp! What about Christmas trees?
Are presents wrong? Of the 7 major feasts celebrated in the Old Testament only the feast of Weeks (remembering the giving of the law to Moses) includes the giving of gifts. This does not mean that giving gifts is wrong or required. Certainly giving gifts is a means of showing love, and love is required of all Christians. In fact, love is a distinguishing mark of true disciples. God is the giver of all good gifts (Js. 1:17) and we should reflect that in our daily practical lives. This should be balanced with not creating an atmosphere of materialism that God has forbidden. Presents aren’t wrong, but do they belong in such close proximity to the real reason for Christmas? No matter how hard we try, it is nearly impossible to separate Christmas from presents; especially in the ever-so impressionable minds of youngsters.
Let me tell you what we have done to attempt to distinguish celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour from the over the top materialism that seems to permeate Christmas. We, as a family, do something different each year as far as gift-giving. Sometimes we pick out a person or family we know and get a gift for them. Sometimes we draw names within the family and set a small budget to buy one or two presents for that person. Sometimes we each pick out a present that would be beneficial for the whole family. In gift giving, we try to keep things “low-key.” At the same time, we also plan a shopping trip for the whole family. This becomes something special. As a family, we will take a few days and go somewhere. We spend a couple of nights in a motel that is near a shopping mall. The days are filled with family time, shopping, eating, seeing friends and places. The majority of our Christmas spending money is divided up amongst the family and everyone buys what they want.
You may be thinking that this would take away the anticipation and the “surprise” factor. But, think for just a minute about that. Is giving gifts about YOU or the person you are trying to make happy? How many times do we make more out of the presents we give simply because it makes US feel good to see them opening the present? Shouldn’t the presents be more about THEM?
We have made the shopping trip the week after Christmas. First of all, the sales are amazing! Second, it makes Christmas day not about presents.
Feasts and Family. With presents taking a back seat something else becomes more important. Again, in the Old Testament we see a theme. Every feast was exactly that – a FEAST! Feasting is a way of celebrating God’s provision, God’s goodness, God’s grace. Feasting finds it’s way into the New Testament as well. The first disciples gathered together and ate together (Acts 2:42.) Eating together is essential to build fellowship. Eating together as a family is nearly the sweetest thing there is to do in this fallen world. One of the things we’ll do in Heaven is participate in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Family and Feasting!
We celebrate the giving of the Son of God at this time of year, what better way to remember the grace of God than enjoying the bounty of God with the greatest gift He gives, namely, our family? Certainly family and food should be a part of our Christmas celebration.
As a family, we have our big meal on Christmas Eve. In fact, Christmas Eve has become a big day for us. We get up early, and enjoy time together as a family. The day is filled with the smells of a lovely dinner that we finally enjoy together in the early evening. One of the reasons we do this is so that Mom can enjoy the next day with the rest of us, resting and relaxing.
And then there’s that white elephant in the room that nobody wants to address. That’s right, the Christmas tree. Some very-well meaning Christians have tried to excuse the tree as representative of different facets of Christianity, but the fact is, that it is THE symbol of paganism. When we lived in America, we weren’t really in much contact with paganism. Here in Great Britain we see it all around us. The evergreen tree is the symbol that is used by all pagans to represent the circle of life, the mother of us all – earth.
Think about what we do to a tree…we put lights on it, we put pretty things all over it, and why? To draw attention to Jesus? No, to draw our attention to A TREE! Then, to make it look even prettier, we put presents underneath it. So, now we are decorating the ultimate symbol of paganism and adding a little materialism to it. Hmm!
It seems to me that anything that draws attention to itself is drawing attention away from our Lord, unless it is the Lord, Himself. Look around your living room on any given Christmas and compare the size of the Christmas Tree and presents to the size of the nativity scene.
We have done away with the tree in our house. We still decorate, we put up things in the house that remind us that this is a time of celebration and a time to be thankful and a time to rejoice. But, we leave out the distractions…and the tree is the most disctractive part of Christmas.
I write this little article to give you something to think about. I am not attempting to be argumentative nor judgemental. I just want to give you a little glimpse into the journey that God is taking us on. Not all of us in the family have accepted so willingly some of these changes! And the point of this little exercise is not to change any of your beliefs. But, give it some thought…why do you do what you do, especially at this time of year?
Is Christmas REALLY about Christ? About your Lord and Saviour? Would Jesus enjoy your celebration of His birth or would He find it hard to see Himself in your traditions?
Don’t be afraid to change, change is good. Don’t change to make anyone happy, change to become more like Christ!
Have a VERY HAPPY Christmas!
