Hi. I love reading this forum, although I don't post much (it is a little intimidating and I don't feel that I know my stuff well enough to hold my own), but I came across this article written by a pastor in Idaho and I was curious to hear what others thought about it.
"Maybe it's time to get Christ out of Christmas season by Loren Yadon
It´s that time of year -- when the pressure mounts to exclude any reference to Jesus from the Christmas celebration. In fact, several retail chains have decided remove the word, "Christmas" from their advertising. The sales staff in some establishments has been instructed to wish the customers a "Happy Holiday" or some generic holiday greeting rather than the traditional "Merry Christmas."
What used to be an undercurrent of complaint has now become an overt attempt to ban anything related to Jesus at Christmas time. The manger scene has been removed from public areas. Traditional carols that brought joy to so many in past generations have suddenly become offensive to a minority in the population. What are the "politically correct police" afraid of? It´s not like we have been so Christian in our celebration anyway!
The idea of a boycott of "politically correct" retailers who do not want to celebrate Christmas might be a good idea. The Christmas shopping season amounts to about 25 percent of their annual retail sales. The only voice these corporations hear is the voice of their profit margins. More than 70 percent of Americans claim to be Christian, and their Christmas shopping fuels a major portion of retail sales. When Christians quit patronizing these corporations, then perhaps CEOs will re-examine their policies.
We were told recently that retail sales preceding Halloween ranked second only to Christmas. Does that make sense? In one poll, 56 percent of Americans don´t even believe in the existence of such creatures as demons or Satan, but a celebration of the dark side is gaining in popularity, while Jesus is being shoved out of the Christmas celebration. How can the Thanksgiving holiday possibly survive in this atmosphere? Soon, it will be too religious to set aside a national day to sit down with friends and family and give thanks to God as did our pilgrim fathers.
Frankly, the leaders of our culture are not actually removing Jesus out of Christmas, because he really never belonged there in the first place. Christians have been trying to crash someone else´s birthday party for more than 16 centuries! The Christian church started celebrating Christ´s birth on Dec. 25 in the 5th century because the Romans already had a feast celebrating the birth of one of their gods.
Instead of letting pagans have all the fun, Christian leaders decided to hold a celebration (mass) for Christ, which eventually became dubbed, Christmas. The pagans have been trying to throw the Christians out of their party for centuries. It´s about time we left.
Christ called his followers to peace not confrontation; to be leaders rather than reactionaries! If the pagans don´t want us crashing their party, why don´t we show good manners: apologize for the intrusion and leave? We can sit back and curse the darkness, or light the candle of a new idea. We are under no biblical obligation to celebrate Christ´s birth at all, let alone on Dec. 25!
If we chose to commemorate, why not change the time and nature of the celebration of Jesus´ birth? Many historians believe Jesus was born sometime in the late spring to early fall. Although we have no exact date for his birth, there are several hints that lead us to a reasonable time frame. Knowing that John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus, historians have tried to calculate the festival at which Zacharias, John´s father, was officiating when his birth was announced. They also can calculate the time when the population was ordered to return to their native towns to register for a new taxation roll. Shepherds were living in the fields with their flocks at the time. Taking these and other factors into consideration, Jesus may have been born sometime in the summer or fall.
So, wouldn´t it be dynamic if Christians became leaders in the culture and abandoned the secular celebration in December for one later in the year? Then Rudolph, Frosty and the boys would not have to worry about shoving Jesus around. If we celebrated in the summer, then school would be out and the educators would not feel the pressure of trying to accommodate the Christian holiday.
Secondly, instead of celebrating Jesus´ birth with the greed of our present celebration, why not make it more consistent with his life? At present, Jesus is the only one who doesn´t get a present at his birthday celebration. Whoever heard of a birthday party where the guests brought presents for each other and nothing for the honored one? Instead of spending money we cannot afford to buy things we don´t need, why not think of gift giving in harmony with Christ´s life?
We could hold community wide worship services where Christians come together to celebrate his birth. He would love to see the family of believers united, for that was one of his last prayer requests. In that atmosphere, we could feed the poor; give out clothing to the needy and collect offerings for missions. That type of a birthday party would really make Jesus laugh with delight.
Come on, Christian. Aren´t you tired of carping about what´s wrong with Christmas? Let´s do something revolutionary, such as celebrate in a manner consistent with Jesus. If this idea would catch on, the boardrooms in America would tremble at Christ´s feet.
Loren A. Yadon is pastor of New Life Fellowship of Boise.
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