Why Christmas?

I officially admit to listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving and neglecting my blog. Actually, I listened to Christmas music on the way to my Aunt’s house on Thanksgiving Day, but I figured you wouldn’t “virtually” stone me for being a hypocrite. After all, my last post did say that I wasn’t going to be listening to Christmas music until after I ate some turkey. I also got to spend some time in Kentucky helping my sister with a video project for her non-profit, Hopeful Farm. Unfortunately, I doubt I will be blogging much until after the New Year.

It does feel like the holiday season now with over a foot of snow on the ground. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to stick around for a “White Christmas.” As it gets closer to the actual day, at few of my readers may be expecting me to deliver some hard hitting posts about the sinfulness of celebrating holiday traditions and how we should only focus on Christ’s birthday and forget about giving and getting presents. But being legalistic about Christmas really ruins the whole point. People can talk until they are blue in the face about the holiday’s origins and it doesn’t do anyone any good. Instead, I’m going to divide Christmas into three categories so that we can better understand the purpose behind this yearly and universal event.

1). The meaning of Christmas: God sending his Son to earth to redeem sinful mankind.
2). The spirit of Christmas: The way in which we remember His birth.
3). The celebration of Christmas: Festivities and traditions fostering the anticipation of Christmas Day, and the joy we experience celebrating with family and friends.

Each category listed above is essential to the way we celebrate Christmas as a whole. After participating in Thanksgiving Day, a holiday in which we contemplate our blessings, our thoughts turn to celebrating Christmas. When choosing to participate in this yearly festival with its many seasonal and ethnic traditions, we bring into remembrance the birth of our Lord and Savior, reminding others that He came to earth to save mankind. At this time of year, many people find themselves in a new frame of mind – a feeling of peace and goodwill pervades their heart. They drop money into the Salvation Army kettle, look forward to celebrating with family and friends, and anticipate exchanging gifts on Christmas day.

Still, you may be wondering what these three categories have to do with Christ’s birth. Shouldn’t Christians focus on that alone? Shouldn’t we forget the holiday hoopla and ignore the so-called manmade traditions? Well, instead of building a case against celebrating Christmas, maybe encouraging each other to stay balanced at this time of year would be more worth our efforts. After all – in this darkened time we live in, it is a privilege to commemorate the birth of the Savior of the world!

The three aspects of Christmas should be of equal importance to our thinking, but sometimes one area will receive more attention than another. Obviously the most important aspect of Christmas is in its meaning. After all, the whole point behind any celebration is the meaning it brings to our lives.

The second aspect of Christmas is the spirit in which it is brought to remembrance. Through written and oral accounts we keep the story alive from one generation to the next. We repeat the events leading up to the birth of Jesus and imagine the wonder Mary and Joseph and the shepherds felt as they beheld the fulfillment of prophecy on that most “Holy” of nights.

Finally, the celebration of Christmas Day causes us to anticipate the coming of our Lord and Savior. 2000 years ago, mankind anticipated the Messiah’s birth, and now, we anticipate his return. In exchanging gifts with one another, we experience the joy of receiving the greatest gift ever given – the propitiation for our sin.

If there was no meaning to Christmas, we wouldn’t need to observe it. If there was no spirit of Christmas, we wouldn’t want to observe it. And if we focus only on the “celebration” of Christmas, it becomes cheap and commercialized and all about a little old man in a red suit.

By participating in Christmas, we tell the world that Jesus merits our attention – that He is worthy to be worshiped and adored. It gives us the platform to say to the world, “Today in the city of David a Savior is born, Christ the Lord,” and He is my Lord and Savior, too!

Footnotes:

I’ve been contemplating this topic for over a month now and this post really expresses my feelings about celebrating Christmas. Lately, the hardest thing for me is actually getting the posts on my blog. I have several written that I just need go over again. Well, in the New Year my friends! Have a Merry Christmas!