Keeping Christ In Christmas At Our House

by Kevin Burton

   Only one snack company has permission to send me e-mails; Herr’s chips, based in Nottingham, Pennsylvania.

   I love their red-hot chips.

   Herr’s sent me an e-mail Wednesday with the subject “Merry Chip-mas!”

   And I just sighed.

   It didn’t make me angry, but it also didn’t make me hungry for their chips or their $35 shipping charge.

   My thought was let’s keep Christ in Christmas and what a lost cause that message is.  Then I thought, hello, it’s Christmas, Jesus coming to earth to save lost causes, like me.

   I mentioned seeing Christmas displays in Lowes when I was in there in October. I wondered at the time if the trees would be up. I would have been shocked if they had not been.

   So this humble blog is not going to move that needle. The larger public Christmas has long since been taken over by merchants.

   If Herr’s had written “Season’s Snacking,” or something like that, the merchandising message would be the same. 

   I’m only in charge of my house and my personal Christmas celebration. The way to keep Christ in Christmas is to keep Christ the center of everything. That way Christmas, however you look at it, stays based in Christ.

   Here are some thoughts on the subject from pastor David Jeremiah, speaker on the Turning Point radio and television ministry:

   “Christmas has become one of the most complicated seasons of the year. It plays a huge part in the economic success of many businesses. Indeed, the entire economy anticipates the jolt and boost provided by Christmas shopping and other seasonal activity. So much so that Jesus has, in large part, been removed from much of the season,” Jeremiah wrote.

   “In our post-Christian culture overall, Jesus is no longer the reason for Christmas. Instead, the reasons have become family, food, fun, and festivity. There’s nothing wrong with those, of course. But those aren’t the reasons for the season.”

   “There is only one primary reason for the season. As Christians, we have to fight against the temptation to lose sight of Christ during Christmas. We have to make sure, at least in our personal and family life, that He remains the reason for the season.”

   Simply put, without the birth of Jesus there would be no Christmas celebration. Granted, no one knows the exact date of Jesus’ birth, but Dec. 25 was settled on as the celebration day in the Roman church by the fourth century A.D. (Some Eastern and Armenian churches settled on January 6 or 7 based on their calendar system.)”

   “The ambiguity of the date raises an important point: Christmas Day is not the reason for the season. Jesus is the reason for the season,” Jeremiah wrote. “Christmas is not about celebrating a particular day on the calendar; it is about celebrating the Incarnation—the fact that ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14).”

   “For three years in the first century, people in Israel ‘beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14). We cannot behold His glory in person today, but we can celebrate His glory at Christmas when we celebrate His birth. Remove Jesus Christ from Christmas and you have nothing but a secular celebration.”

   I have my Christmas traditions – Christmas tree, stockings and other decorations, Christmas music. As Jeremiah wrote, there is nothing wrong with them. His thoughts have made me more positive about taking care of my own heart, not worrying so much about what the world does about Christmas.

   “Let’s not be frustrated or cynical about how the world views Christmas. Instead, let’s be the Christmas we would want the world to share” Jeremiah wrote.

   “When our Christmas season is filled with celebrations of His birth and life, others will take note and see something different. If they see in our life the Jesus whose birth we celebrate, this Christmas may be a new beginning for them.”