As Christ followers who love to celebrate Christmas, my family and I feel as if we are living between two extremes this Christmas season. At one end of the spectrum lies the no-holds-barred, full-on embracing of all things Christmas-related, sacred and secular all rolled together into one big yule log. Santa makes appearances at church celebrations, Christmas trees adorn the platforms, and Christians in all 50 states who campaign to "Keep the Christ in Christmas", see an antichrist conspiracy in every generic "Happy Holidays" uttered or written.
In contrast, I have heard and read several pastors all but deny the existence of Christmas in an effort to keep out the commercial influence and historically pagan origins or overtones from influencing the faithful. One pastor in particular seemed to think the portrayal of Jesus as a baby in a manger reduced Him to a caricature void of His power. For him, Bethlehem cannot be emphasized without minimizing Golgotha. Funny, yet sadly reactionary. Some evengelical churches will see Christmas come and go with nary a change in decor, song list or sermon theme. As if ignoring Christmas will somehow get it changed to the real date of.... well, there is no definitive date, right? But for some, I get the idea that celebrating the birth of Christ on an arbitrary date in March would just, well,feel better than celebrating it on the arbitrary date of December 25th. The effort to not resemble a Carnegie Hall Christmas ends up looking instead like a Kingdom Hall Xmas - kind of sad and hollow.
There you have it - two camps, each just as saved and sincere as the other. Yet one tries to deny Christmas as truly Christian at all, while the other claims the church to be the real owner and last true guardian of the holiday.
I, for one, feel a bit confused by the debate. I would aim for balance in the middle of the fray. I think the Goods are just going to keep on doing what we have always done, and that is to retain, as well as add, as many meaningful memory making traditions we can pack into one month, and enjoy and celebrate them to the fullest with as many believers and non-believers as we can get to join us. While doing so, we plan to be as careful as always to make Christ the focal point of it all and make the Greatest who ever lived be seen and glorified in every facet of the celebration possible. And yet, every year always requires an effort to not let the spirit of the world, manifested by hurriedness, greed, and materialism, encroach into the spirit of the celebration we hold dear.
Don't get me wrong. Santa gets no air-time at our house, You won't find Father Christmas, Pere Noel or Kris Kringle mixing it up with the angels here. But neither do we demonize the poor fella, his reindeer or even the often slighted "pagan" Christmas tree. In the years of practicing to walk the line between Christmas hymns and Christmas hype. I think we get a bit better at it with every passing gingerbread house decorated. But in the end, my Jesus gets a bit more honor, focus, and attention in December than any other month out of my year. And for that, I am grateful for Christmas, mistletoe and all.
