It's the same every year. I've already seen it in several places this year as well--in passing conversations, in suggestions for what we should talk about on the weekends at church for the Christmas series, and among Christian pundits on TV:
"Let's keep Christ in Christmas."
People:
Christ is already in Christmas. He's all over it. He's in every act of service, every ringing bell outside of Wal-Mart, every soup kitchen overflowing with volunteers, every can and food drive, every spirit of joy and thankfulness, and every beautiful Christmas decoration.
And he doesn't need our help to keep him there.
What he does need is for us to keep him close to our heart--to live with him richly from the absolute deepest part of who we are.
And if we do that, those around us will see that Christ is indeed in Christmas... without us having to convince them that he is, and without us feeling like we have to judge the materialist, the secularist, or those who wish to be politically correct.
Call it what you want--the Holidays, X-Mas, or even Super-Jesus-In-The-Manger-mas. But live in Christ before you claim the holidays in his name. My guess is that as you do, you'll find the most effective campaign for keeping Christ in Christmas is loving and being loved by him.
That's the message of Christmas after all, isn't it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
wow.
good rant, Jesse
yes.
it's disappointing when the people defending Christ [as if he needs defending] don't take the time to demonstrate the quality of life Christ offered.
I recently figured out that Xmas has a cross in it. So many Christmas programs at so many churches have no cross in it. Viva Xmas! It is all about the cross, isn't it Brother.
Thanks, as always, for the encouragement, A.J.
Willo--one of the things that I picked up in Greek class was that Christ name, as it appears in Greek, is Xpristos, with "X" being the Greek letter "Chi" (pronounced "Kai"). And actually, the abbreviation "Xmas" has been around for a long time, since "X" is the first letter in Jesus' role: that of Christ, the messiah.
Post a Comment