Monday, December 10, 2018
Xmas
Luke 2:1,2
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
One of the things that tell us that we are well and truly in the Christmas season is music. In that regard, therefore, its beginning to look, and sound, a lot like Christmas. Christmas music is the soundtrack to the decidedly secular and commercial tumult that characterises the season in many of our parts of the world.
In the midst of all of these cultural practices and cacophony will come some Christian people who will rail against the secularism and the commercialism and unleash slogans like “keep Christ in Christmas” and “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
The aim of these and similar slogans is twofold. One to protest the non-Christian celebrations that are taking place and two to attempt to draw people back to a focus on Christ. People are usually surprised when I shrug off these slogans and protests and argue that you cannot keep Christ in Christmas because he was never in it in the first place. So yes, I am ok with Xmas, and I don’t think that anyone is trying to X out Christ.
Christmas, in fact, is of very recent vintage. When I tell people that Christmas has no roots in the Bible they are startled. When I teach that for hundreds of years Christians did not observe or celebrate the birth of Jesus at a particular time they are confused. That the birth of Jesus was never referenced by the early church or the Apostles is a shock to the modern mind.
Christian faith was taught and observed without 12 days or weeks being dedicated to cleaning, food, drink, gifts, and a worldwide entertainment and cultural phenomenon.
If you need proof that Christ is not in Christmas go to Google and type Christmas Characters and you’ll get Santa, Ebenezer Scrooge, Rudolph, The Ghost of Christmas past, Mrs Claus, Krampus, Jack Skellington, Frosty, the Grinch, Elves and more. However, notably missing from the Google list were the Little Drummer Boy and Kevin.
Christmas is more a part of the culture, especially in the West, than it is a sacred or religious festival, and Christians should stop pretending that it is. I believe that this pretence is actually harmful to the Christian message and the cause for which Christ came.
Now before you get all hot and bothered please stay with me to the end of this piece at least. I am not suggesting that we must sulk and pout and not participate in socio-cultural norms of our community. In Guyana, I would be very disturbed if we come to the end of the year and we aren’t refreshing our surroundings to welcome the new. I would be even more disturbed if the delicacies and special beverages are not available at every home I visit.
I am not trying to spoil the fun for children who enjoy the yearend and receive gifts. And certainly, I am not trying to dislodge the breath-taking decorations in the city and around the community. Where we are able to enjoy these things, we should.
However, what I am asking us to do is to recognise that this is not the Christian message. Jesus was born in very difficult political times, in challenging social circumstances, and into limited economic means, and in a time when the culture was in rapid metamorphosis forced on the occupied people by a foreign power.
God was at work, like He is today, harnessing the arrayed forces for the fulfilment of the word of His prophets. Ushering into the world, through the miracle of a virgin birth, a Child with all of the human vulnerabilities, who is the answer to the human condition. A Child would confront the political, social, economic, and cultural challenges of our world by addressing the underlying spiritual condition of men.
Doctor Luke, in compiling the narrative of Jesus we know as the Gospel according to Luke, captured for us the socio-political and the socio-cultural context into which Jesus was born. In our key verses today we see a Roman Emperor, given the title of exalted one, using his power to initiate a census that would ultimately fulfil the prophecy concerning the birth of Jesus, the truly exalted one.
The census ensured the fulfilment of Micah 5:2, “ But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Today people in countries and counties all over the word voting, placing an X for leaders and propositions that challenge, again, the political, social, and cultural order. We see the consequences around us. If we look harder, we’d also see the hand of God at work to bring about the fulfilment of the word of His prophets.
The context of the world today at Christmas is as challenging as the world into which Jesus was born. We have a compelling message to tell the world that, ironically, gets neglected in our Nativity play in church, put on by the children’s ministries department.
The real message at this difficult, confusing, and frightening time is this, “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.” Isaiah 9:6. Not on the shoulders of politicians of every stripe that fail us, or of activists who want tolerance of their agenda and theirs’ alone, or anyone else’s.
Think on these things:
- Do you consider Christmas to be a Christian religious festival or just a cultural festival with some Christian references?
- Do you think that there is room for the Christian message to be heard in the midst of the noise of popular entertainment and commercial activities?
- What could your church do to get your community to focus on the significance and consequence of the birth of Jesus?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that in our engagements during Christmas we find an opportunity to share with someone the significance and impact of the birth of Jesus.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
