Oh, Come All Ye Faithful and Chill Out

Photo borrowed from my other blog: The Practice House

It's that time of year again--when beautiful decorations go up, songs get played, families get together, gifts are bought and delicious food is eaten.

Oh, and some Christians get a little sensitive.

American Christianity amuses me sometimes. I'm not saying I think we're all idiots and all totally failing and I'm embarrassed for us. In fact, I think the majority of believers are not obnoxious about stuff, because the Holy Spirit stays busy and keeps working on us. It's just that the "stereotypical" viewpoints are often the loud ones that get noticed.

I love November and December holidays. I love honoring old traditions and making new ones. I love decorating, cooking, doing special activities and spending time with my family. It's totally awesome.

But, I don't think it's part of my faith.

I believe Jesus' birth was foretold to prophets. I believe an angel appeared to Mary and she, though a virgin, conceived. I believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem and wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. I believe shepherds received the news from angels and came and found him and worshiped. I believe that Jesus being born in human flesh is one of the highlights of the most beautiful and amazing segments of human history. I am thankful for that day and I love to read about it, sing about it and celebrate it.

However, I don't believe Jesus was born on December 25th, nor do I think he cares if we celebrate his birthday.

Christmas day as we know it is like a melting pot of traditions, stories and ideas from all different cultures. But when I hear about people getting so wrapped up in "honoring" a single day on our calendar and getting bent out of shape about the parts of our culture's traditions that they don't think honor their faith enough, I usually think "dude, relax".

Christmas is not just for Christians.

If it were, it would be like communion or spreading the gospel. There would be a command somewhere in the pages of our Bibles telling us to honor this day and keep it special. But in reality, Jesus cares much less about your holiday traditions and much more about your entire life being consumed with him every day of the year.

And it's so biased that we think Christmas is the only legitimate winter holiday in town. Be fair, people. Jews can celebrate Hanukkah and African Americans can celebrate Kwanzaa and it doesn't bother me at all. Unbelievers are allowed to have their holiday traditions as well. Then, at the end of the month, we can all celebrate the New Year together. Stores, in order to be profitable, must market to all of us. I'm cool with that. And "X" is the Greek translation for Christ, so even saying X-mas doesn't really get my garland in a tangle. I'm not offended when someone says "Happy holidays" to me. If you are, you have what my pastor would call "a high O.I." (Offendability Index). You're letting petty things cloud your thinking.

Christmas to me is about Christ just like every day is about Christ. We should be marveling at the beautiful tale of the Creator becoming the Creature so he can save us all every single day. And when our hearts are focused on that, we are free to celebrate holidays as we wish. Jesus doesn't mind our Christmas trees even though they have nothing to do with our faith, just as he doesn't mind our birthday cakes and Thanksgiving turkeys and fireworks on the Fourth of July. Just about any holiday can honor Christ. Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with your family and create awesome memories for your kids. It's a time to think about those who aren't as fortunate as we are and give, give, give. It's a time that we can proclaim the gospel a little more freely perhaps to ears that are usually deaf to anything Bible related. And yes, you can even have a little fun with Santa Claus if you wish.

Enjoy this time of year and take advantage of opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ, not the mouthpiece of religiosity.