I went to the mall this week to buy a last minute gift for my wife and I saw this incredibly long line weaving through the mall. I began to wonder what they where waiting in line to see. As I finally got to the front of the line I saw an overweight man with with white hair and a white beard dressed in red and white sitting on what appeared to be a throne of some sort. I watched as child after child approached this stranger with great fear and trepidation. The parents of these children encouraged them to sit on the strangers lap for a picture. After great struggle by the parents and insanity by the camera lady to get the children to smile against their will, the picture was taken and the parents were happy.
Had I been an alien from another planet I would have thought this ritual was quite strange! Who is this odd man and why are parents making their kids sit on his lap? Why do they go to great lengths to try to maintain this myth in their children's minds? Why do they spent so much money on presents then tell their children that they are from this imaginary man?
Before you accuse me of being one of those crazy Christians that thinks that Santa is equal to Satan, I want to bring a different perspective. I don't think that Santa is the major source of the Christmas confusion. Neither do I think that people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is a battle worth fighting either. In the past well-intentioned Christians have boycotted stores because of their refusal to say "Merry Christmas." Well this year many of the stores caved to the pressure and started saying "Merry Christmas" instead.
My question is, how many people's eternal destiny was changed from heaven to hell because Wal-Mart cashiers are now saying "Merry Christmas?" Don't get me wrong I still say "Merry Christmas." I am just wondering if God really cares about what we call Christmas at all.
Lets face it, we as Christians celebrate basically the same way non-Christians do. We fill our time with shopping, holiday parties, wrapping gifts, decorating our homes, over-eating, and spending time with family. None of which is wrong of course, but it all tends to be quite self-centered. But do we really stop to think about how God would want us to celebrate the birth of his son?
To me the way we celebrate Christmas is the like the way we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday. We give kids a day off from school to celebrate his memory. Looking at all of what he stood for is that the way he would want to be remembered?
Look at the first Christmas. No one who was invited to the first nativity was their for self-centered reasons. Joseph took Mary as his wife even though she became pregnant before their marriage. Mary agreed to what the Angel told her even though she knew the social stigma that would be attached to her. The Shepherds came to worship Jesus and the Wise men travelled for months to bring their gifts to a newborn baby. That scene was about any of them, it was all about Jesus.
Now over 2,000 years later we still celebrate Jesus' birth but it seems to be all about us and very little about him. I don't claim to have all the answers or solutions to this problem. Neither do I claim to celebrate Christmas exactly the way God would like.
I also realize that you may think of several ways that you celebrate Christmas that may honor Christ, but if we were to weigh that against our expressions of self-centeredness which would win?
I know this doesn't feel like a real cheery blog, but after all it is Christ's birthday in the first place maybe we should take the time to ask these sobering questions: "How would Christ want me to honor him on his birthday?" "Is the way I celebrate Christmas really all about me or about others?"
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