It’s that time of year again. Time to hang the stockings, decorate the tree, and wrap the gifts. It is the Christmas season. This time of year is very significant in our culture. Many people celebrate Christmas, not because of their devotion to Christ, but because of its imprint on the American culture. For some, it is a time to reconnect with family. For others, it is a time of desperate loneliness. This is also the largest retail season of the year. Today I’d like to talk about three things regarding our Christmas season in America for Christians. The first is the original Heart of Christmas. The second is the Cultural War around Christmas. Third is experiencing a Rebirth of Christmas.
The Heart of Christmas
Most of us have an elementary knowledge of the meaning of Christmas. We sing Christmas songs such as “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night,” “Joy to the World,” and many others. We know that it is the season of the birth of Baby Jesus to the Virgin Mary. We know about the three wisemen, the angelic proclamation, and the Christmas narrative in the beginning of Luke. But the heart of Christmas is much deeper than the traditional symbols of Christmas. That is because symbols represent a deeper reality.
The heart of Christmas is profound for all mankind. The birth of Jesus had been the anticipated event of human history. “Veni, Veni, Emanuel” talks of Israel yearning for a deliverer–a deliverer from oppression, from sin, from Satan.” We commemorate the birth of Jesus by setting up nativity scenes, buying gifts, and attending services. That is the cultural norm in American households. What if we took a few minutes to reflect on the reason for these practices.
We give gifts and a means of expressing love, selflessness, and goodwill. We buy gifts for families we love. We sacrifice time and money (mostly money) to make sure they get a good and valuable gift worth having. We give as an expression of goodwill. We wish our loved ones well and show it with our gifts.
Nativity scenes give us a snapshot of the narrative in the beginning of the Gospel of Luke. Mary and Joseph were forced by the government to register in their ancestral birth town, which was Bethlehem. They had to make the long trek on camels. Mary was pregnant with a child from God. Since everyone else had to to register as well, they found that the local inns were packed and there was no room. Since their situation was a bit dire, they were allowed to sleep in an animal stall. Everything we see displayed is a symbol of something greater in reality. The miracle of the Virgin Birth, Joseph’s willingness to listen to the angel and stay with Mary, the angelic announcement to the shepherds, the star of Bethlehem. It all represents true facts connected to the most pivotal point in history. The heart of Christmas is God the Son coming in the flesh to teach and bring redemption to all mankind-to all who will listen. This is the heart of Christmas. It is a time to remember the profound coming of Jesus to bring us out of our sins and into holy life.
Culture War
Over the years, the growing war over whether saying “Happy Holidays” is an affront to Christian tradition in the American culture is pronounced. It has even lent itself to parodies and satire articles. The danger in our cultural war for Christmas may be related to an unfortunate event in Christian culture itself–a lack of reverence for what Christmas really is. It has frequently been said that we should be living like it is Christmas all year around. This is said because the practices of generosity, of good will, and peaceful care for others is something we are supposed to internalize into our everyday character.
As a Christian Culture, it has come to a point where our lifestyles are far more self-centered than other-centered. Our acts of goodwill do not come into effect as much when we are in May, June, July, or other months. Since it is becoming less and less of a daily embodiment of Jesus’ purpose for coming, we are relegating it to the season of Christmas. When we contribute to a self-focused culture throughout the year, we essentially lose site of the transformative nature of Jesus’ coming. By extension, over time, we lose a significant part of the reason for celebrating Christmas. The meaning of the symbols begin to dry up in our hearts until we are left with a less eternal practice of tradition.
When a culture loses site of the true purpose for the tradition, the tradition loses its power and becomes an empty observance that we adhere to as a staple of culture and less as a remembrance of the transformation God brings through Jesus’ birth. By the time “Happy Holidays” become a threat to eradicating the biggest Christian Holiday, our culture has already betrayed its shallow grasp of what it is. Posts to social media and very awkward and concerted efforts to tell everybody “Merry Christmas” will eventually prove ineffective in saving Christmas from being sucked into a commercialized secularism known as “Happy Holidays.” So what can we do? We need to experience a rebirth of the meaning of Christmas in our hearts.
Rebirth of Christmas in our Hearts
If we want to recapture Christian influence in our culture around Christmas, we will need a rebirthing experience of the depth and true meaning of Christmas. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. The coming of Jesus marks the opportunity for a transformed life. A life geared toward a holy relationship with God. Jesus’ teachings are clearly at odds with the world’s value systems and human nature’s bent. To re-infuse the power of Christ in our Christmas season, the power of Christ has to be infused in our everyday lives. We live from a place of deep-rooted peace in our hearts, where the Holy Spirit dwells. We live our daily lives filled with goodwill and peace toward men. We forge our character with love, forgiveness, and a serving heart. We begin to pave the road of respect to others. Jesus accepts us for who we are. We are to accept others for who they are. It is not our job to change or control people. We can’t make them do what we want or conform to them. The only person we can control is ourselves, and only through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the American culture, Christianity doesn’t have the same respect it had in the past. The reason is connected to those representing Christianity not bearing the fruits of a respectable way of life. It isn’t Christianity’s divine right to have the greatest influence in a given culture. That influence comes by bringing positive change in a culture–change that is initiated by respectful relationships.
What if we allowed the true power of the Gospel of Jesus to internally change our nature. What if we gave ourselves to goodwill, peace, love, and acceptance? What if we aimed to bring the love and peace of heaven into our spheres of influence before we brought our doctrines and theological bents? What if we cared less about whether to say “Merry Christmas” and not “Happy Holidays” to people and more about finding ways to love people where they are? What if we asked to pray for those around us and use our actions to show we care?
That would begin to cause a rebirth of Christmas in our hearts. It isn’t a victory in our culture if we did away with “Happy Holidays” when no more people are populating heaven. The rebirth of the power of Christmas in us may not influence the culture as fast as we would like. But then again, it took centuries for Christianity to exert the type of influence it has enjoyed. Remember, the kingdom of heaven is a long game. Immediate payoffs aren’t the highest priorities. How about we settle down and become as solid as the rock we are built on. When people see us being stable in a shifting world, they will be more interested in what we have to offer, namely Jesus, who was born on Christmas day.