Countdown
Thanksgiving is over. Now the countdown to Christmas can begin! Yes, I know that the stores all began their countdowns weeks ago. The holiday merchandise has been out since Halloween (or even earlier) and the stores have been playing Christmas carols for just as long. (It's a little ironic that so many retail chains insist that their customers be greeted with "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas," but that traditional Christmas carols, both secular and Christian, are the predominant background music this time of year.) As far as the retailers are concerned, Black Friday was bigger than Christmas itself, effectively kicking off a whole frenzied season of buying and selling.
We've had Christmas parades already, too, on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Santa Claus has officially arrived to greet excited children who are ready to recite laundry lists of longed-for Christmas presents. The neighbors have put up their outside lights. The TV Christmas specials have begun, too, so we can all enjoy old favorites like the Grinch and Rudolph.
Some of us really celebrate two Christmas holidays in December: the first, most obvious holiday is the secular Christmas, which has evolved into a weeks-long ordeal of shopping, decorating, programs and concerts, parties at school and work, family gatherings. Nearly everyone in our country celebrates this Christmas in some way. It's definitely commercialized, but it isn't all bad. Some of the activities are worthwhile and even enjoyable, if we can avoid becoming overwhelmed with the busyness of the season. In my mind, though, this secular celebration isn't really Christmas at all, but a celebration of family and the beginning of winter.
The other Christmas is the more important, but sometimes overlooked, holiday: the celebration of Jesus' birth. We don't know His actual birth date; in fact, Biblical scholars are quite certain that He was not born in December. Ironically, the holiday we call "Christmas" began as a celebration of the winter equinox, the beginning of winter. Hundreds of years ago, Christians decided to usurp the raucous holiday, turning it into a religious celebration of Jesus' birthday. Many of our common Christmas traditions, such as Christmas trees and caroling, are rooted in the original winter equinox celebrations. So it shouldn't be too surprising to find that our two ways of celebrating Christmas are so intermingled that they are nearly impossible to separate.
The important thing is that we remember what God did for us when he sent Jesus to be born a baby, with Mary as His human mother, and God as His Father. Christmas should focus our attention on Jesus, who loved us so much that He willingly became the sacrifice for our sins.
The countdown has begun. Once again, we are getting ready for Christmas. For some, these few weeks before Christmas are known as Advent; others just call it the Christmas season. Whatever you call this time of preparation, you get to choose how you will celebrate Jesus' birth. Will you sing along with the radio versions of Silent Night and Joy to the World? Will you take Christmas cookies to your neighbors? Will you send Christmas cards to your friends and relatives? Will you gather together with family to exchange gifts as a reminder that Jesus was the best gift ever given? Will you bake a birthday cake for Jesus, complete with candles? Will you attend a candlelight Christmas service, to join fellow Christians in praise of Jesus, who came to bring us light and salvation? Will you read the Christmas story together with your family, one more time?
10, 9, 8, 7...
We've had Christmas parades already, too, on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Santa Claus has officially arrived to greet excited children who are ready to recite laundry lists of longed-for Christmas presents. The neighbors have put up their outside lights. The TV Christmas specials have begun, too, so we can all enjoy old favorites like the Grinch and Rudolph.
Some of us really celebrate two Christmas holidays in December: the first, most obvious holiday is the secular Christmas, which has evolved into a weeks-long ordeal of shopping, decorating, programs and concerts, parties at school and work, family gatherings. Nearly everyone in our country celebrates this Christmas in some way. It's definitely commercialized, but it isn't all bad. Some of the activities are worthwhile and even enjoyable, if we can avoid becoming overwhelmed with the busyness of the season. In my mind, though, this secular celebration isn't really Christmas at all, but a celebration of family and the beginning of winter.
The other Christmas is the more important, but sometimes overlooked, holiday: the celebration of Jesus' birth. We don't know His actual birth date; in fact, Biblical scholars are quite certain that He was not born in December. Ironically, the holiday we call "Christmas" began as a celebration of the winter equinox, the beginning of winter. Hundreds of years ago, Christians decided to usurp the raucous holiday, turning it into a religious celebration of Jesus' birthday. Many of our common Christmas traditions, such as Christmas trees and caroling, are rooted in the original winter equinox celebrations. So it shouldn't be too surprising to find that our two ways of celebrating Christmas are so intermingled that they are nearly impossible to separate.
The important thing is that we remember what God did for us when he sent Jesus to be born a baby, with Mary as His human mother, and God as His Father. Christmas should focus our attention on Jesus, who loved us so much that He willingly became the sacrifice for our sins.
10, 9, 8, 7...
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