IS CHRISTMAS EXTINCT?

Date: Mon Dec 8 21:23:34 2008

I get quite a few emails asking me to write to retailers who have decided that Christmas is not worthy of a mention. I have written a few, but there is doubtless not enough time to address all of them.

It is like the purge of the word "God" after the Russian Revolution. Every instance has to be blotted out. Sort of like some groups are doing today, seeking to remove all images or words relating to God from the public square. I mean, "Holiday Tree"? Get real. At least Wal-Mart is saying, "Christmas", "Christmas", "Christmas", throughout their advertising. Guess whose sales are UP and not tanking this year?

Actually, you might be surprised to know that for centuries Christmas wasn't celebrated at all. And that was not just in the beginning. Among Christians, the resurrection of Christ was more important than the birthday. Starting in 98 AD, there was an acknowledgment of the date. In 375 AD, Christmas was declared to be December 25th. This coincidentally was the day of the "Birth of the Unconquerable Sun" after the winter solstice, which had been a celebration for at least 2,000 years prior. Saturnalia was a ribald festival, and some Christians were caught up in it. Greenery, gifts, and lights were part of the pagan celebrations, and despite initial prohibitions, these ported over to Christian celebrations. The day is obviously wrong, as there would be no shepherds in the fields at night that time of year, but it is the thought that counts. Egyptian Christians had thought it to be May 20th. There are several reasons I believe it to be in September, with Christ conceived around December 25th, the darkest time of the year, but we will have to simply ask the Lord when he see him.

Christians were encouraged not to celebrate Christmas the same way the Pagans had their festival, but it inevitably happened. Through the years, many practices such as putting apples on trees in Scandinavia to show faith that even though there was no light then, life would begin again would persist.

In the 1600's, the use of "X-Mas" began, as a shortcut and not as disrespect. The Greek word for Christ was Xristos. Surprising to some, Christmas was controversial in the United States. Connecticut had laws against celebrating it or even baking mince-meat pies! In fact, leading up to the civil war, the North was generally anti-Christmas and the south pro-Christmas. The first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday was Alabama in 1836, which was followed two years later by Louisiana and Arkansas. Celebrations increased greatly after the civil war, with credit being given to newly published women's magazines that detailed food and decorations.

The colors of Christmas all had meaning - green for everlasting life, red the bloodline of Jesus, blue the sky from which the angels appeared, white the purity of the virgin birth, and silver and gold for the richness of God's blessings.

So you see, the history of Christmas as a holiday does NOT go back to the beginning, and in fact is relatively recent in terms of its importance in this country. I believe that despite the mixture of pagan customs in many Christian celebrations, we are the richer for celebrating in extravagant fashion the birth of Christ. Given the fact that greenery, lights, and gift-giving predates Christmas, perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on those who simply want a holiday tree, holiday lights, and holiday gifts. After all, when I was younger, all the parties this time of year were called Christmas parties, and most of them were excuses to drink too much and to be too friendly with the opposite sex.

Nonetheless, Christmas seems to be going extinct in a lot of quarters. We used to carol from house to house, and that is rare. Few churches would dare have a service on Christmas Day. Perhaps Christmas Eve if it is early enough not to interfere with other activities, but not Christmas. In fact, when Christmas fell on a Sunday a few years ago, churches CANCELLED their Sunday services! We really can't blame the world when our priorities are upside-down!

Christians love to talk about the commercialization of Christmas, with store displays going up just when Halloween paraphernalia is put on 50% off. Yet, if the average Christian would chronicle his or her time during the season, would not presents, food, and related activities absolutely DWARF the time spent on adoration of Christ and sharing the good news of his birth to the world?

Christmas as the pure celebration of Christ is becoming extinct in the church, so the world is in the same boat. We can't expect the world to put Christ back into Christmas if much of the church doesn't. I challenge you this year to put CHRIST FIRST this Christmas. Spend the preponderance of your time blessing people and sharing the good news of Christ. Spend as much money spreading the gospel as spreading gifts that will soon be forgotten. A saved soul will never forget God's blessing in having Christ come into his or her life.

Most of all, thank God from the deepest recesses of your heart for sending the God-man to earth to show us what God is truly like, to let men and woman touch him and be touched by his love and to let himself be a sacrifice for sin so we can live with God forever. It is much more than a baby we are celebrating. We are celebrating God in the flesh - Jesus the Son of God, to whom we will be married and dwell with in intimate bliss forever.