This year I found that I was struggling with Christmas. The "spirit"
just wasn't there. I didn't want to decorate or give gifts or anything
along those lines. Growing up, Christmas was always about the tree and
gifts and being told to stop singing all those silly songs (when you
have a mom who works at a Christmas themed market, I can now see why it
would be a bit much to continue hearing Christmas carols after suffering
through them for 4 days would be a bit much) and I remember once
wondering why people sang songs about Bethlehem and Jesus as we didn't
celebrate that part. I also dimly recall wondering if we were allowed to
celebrate Christmas if we didn't believe in Christ. This year it seemed
as though I was trying to reconcile the secular holiday with my faith
and it just wasn't working.
Eventually I got involved
in conversations about secular christmas (which I call "little 'c'
christmas" which annoys the spell checker) which is all about the gift
giving. I also caught a segment on one of the Christian based radio
stations about how when Martin Luther declared that Saints were idols
and their feasts shouldn't be celebrated any more, people decided to
hang up stockings so "baby Jesus will fill them with presents" for their
kids (I haven't tried to dig up the information about this but I do
remember hearing it) because that was one feast day everyone seemed to
enjoy. I also read this article written by an alum from my college.
I
started to realize that there really are two celebrations in this
country. There is the Christian celebration recognizing the birth of
Jesus and the far more secular one celebrated by lots of people that
involve gift giving and often involve a man in a red suit. It really hit
me when I was listening to the radio while driving to church to serve
for the Christmas services and I heard this program.
The first part is really interesting about the Christmas truce of 1914.
It then gets into gift giving and then further into raising kids around
the culture of Christmas when you aren't Christian. That's what really
got my attention. And it turns out a lot of people of other faiths (or
non-faiths) celebrate secular christmas.
At some point
during all of this, I realized that I was doing the same. I was
celebrating my faith by serving at 6 Christmas services. If I hadn't
served, I still would have gone to at least the 11pm service, which was
scripture readings and carols. We as a family also celebrated christmas
on the 25th with opening gifts and time spent together. We don't do
Santa which is primarily about the kids knowing who is giving them their
gifts. One friend doesn't do Santa for her kids because she doesn't
want them to question their faith in Jesus when they get older and
realize that Santa isn't real.
I know that a lot of the
"traditions" around Christmas aren't Christian in their origin. I'm
aware that December 25th isn't really the day Jesus was born but it's
the day that was chosen long ago to celebrate His birth. I do like that
we celebrate in the middle of winter as it is a reminder of our Hope
that God has given us.
I feel much less conflicted now
than I did before the holidays. Both have a place in my life though
celebrating the birth of Jesus will always be more important to me than
exchanging gifts and decorating the house. Those are great moments to
share but they aren't my hope or salvation.
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