Focusing on the real Christmas gold
Colorado Springs — Focus on the Family is at it again, along with the miraculous resurrection of Ted Haggard, demanding that local businesses put Christ back up on the marquees and in the slogans and on the "for sale" signs. In a nation where money is most important — the current health-care system has always been about money, and profits, and little about health, or care — it makes perfect sense to demand that Christ be "reinserted" into a holiday that He never participated in, never commanded, and certainly never heard a word about. The same could be said for His Disciples, and their children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren, and so on.
For the third year in a row, Focus is taking retailers to task for using generic language like “season’s greetings” and “holiday sales” with no reference to “Christmas,” calling the omission an insult to the Christian faith. - The Gazette
As to the "insult to the Christian faith," Jesus very well might hold up a coin and ask about the engraving on that coin and again decidedly answer the question of a dividing line between church and state. Or He very well might chase the moneychangers out of the temple. But today the temple is the church, and the church is all about money, and Jesus would probably have more trouble chasing the moneychangers out of church than He did from the Temple of God. He would probably meet armed resistance.
Tragically, when Christianity attempts to force anything — doctrines, traditions, and especially man-made holidays — it is always more the spirit of Scrooge than the Spirit of Jesus that reigns. Can I get a Bah Humbug? Christianity is not about forcing issues, or people. Or about money. Even when considering how very little Christmas has to do with Christianity, neither Christmas nor Christianity should be used as a club. That is not Christian. But Christmas is not really Christian, either.
Does having the slogan "In God We Trust" make our money holy? Or does it in fact reveal the identity of the god in whom we place all that trust?
Does Christmas, the most expensive holiday of the year, become "more holy" if people say "Merry Christmas" as opposed to "Happy Holidays" or other nondescript knee-jerk slogans? Is Christmas even holy? Or is it really all about the Christmas gold, the money, and the power of money?
As a boy I learned about all the pagan practices and decorations and celebrations which a version of Christianity "borrowed" to lend Christmas its sacred appearance. But believe it or not, the word "holy" means "set apart," and clean, and from God. How could the Christmas holiday ever be considered any of these things when it included all the things it despises in its own creation. Its own man-made creation, based on other man-made religions and older, much older customs.
Christmas was never "set apart" by God, as was the seventh-day Biblical Sabbath, and yet popular Christian groups such as Focus on the Family have literally chosen to ignore God and His commandments, instead opting to battle in "The War Against Christmas" wherein imagined godless pagans seek to destroy Christmas. Christmas is a man-made holiday that has nothing to do with God, or the Bible.
“The eradication of Christmas is a politically correct idea that we can’t have sacred ideas in our culture,” said Carrie Gordon Earll, a spokeswoman for Focus Action, the political arm of the family group in north Colorado Springs.
Christmas is a delightful time of year, it is a magical time for children, as well as families. Some of my best memories glow about Christmas. Yes, pagan-rich, commercialized, Santa ho ho hoing, Rudolph's nose glowing, and all the wonderfully corny Christmas songs and music. Plus all the beautiful, inspiring old Christmas hymns.
But there was a lot more to Christmas. For instance, Mama and Dada, and Grandpa as well, always reminded the children that Christmas is not a holiday in the Bible, and that December 25th was certainly not the time of year that Jesus was born (which was more likely August or September), and that everything in the "Christmas tradition" was borrowed (or more likely stolen) from paganism. They would always seriously inform the children that it is fine to spend a day with family, lovingly exchanging gifts, and spend a large part of that time thinking about Jesus, and the gift God gave to the world in Jesus.
My family knew the truth about Christmas (it is not Christian), and yet we recognized that it could still be a wonderful holiday for the family when we — together, and personally — turned our thoughts to God, in a special, giving way. It is a wonderful time of the year. Perhaps the most wonderful time of the year. Individual families can and do focus on Jesus, every 25th of December, regardless of the fact that it is not truly the birthday of the Son of God (He was more likely born in September, or possibly August, though this cannot be proven, either).
Amusement parks are fun and wonderful places, for families and children. There is absolutely nothing sacred about amusement parks. Churches — especially church doctrines — are becoming more and more like amusement parks. There is nothing wrong with visiting an amusement park. Have fun, laugh, scream, and wave your hands in the air like you just don't care. In the same way Christmas is wonderful. Anyone who has visited the Focus on the Family headquarters knows what a fun place it is, a great place for Christians and non-Christians to visit.
When Papa was a little boy he often followed Grandpa, Dada, and Uncle Bob outside, to stand in the darkness. In those days Quartz Hill was hardly a town, let alone a city, and so the night skies were dark, and a billion stars twinkled just out of reach. And the menfolk would seriously do an extended search for the "star" that led to the manger. At the time Dougie thought they were serious, but today he has his doubts.
Just do not confuse these fun things with holiness.
In the same way, it is perfectly fine to go to church on Sunday, it is a perfectly acceptable practice, and yet do not make the crucial mistake of confusing it with God's Own Holy Day, the Biblical Sabbath, or anything close to the Biblical practices concerning the Fourth Commandment, "Remember the Sabbath."
Do not confuse these things with holiness, or Godliness, or the Bible, or Jesus. There is nothing wrong with fun. There is nothing wrong with holidays.
Christmas is a holiday, not a holy day (the two ideas may have begun as the same thing, but they are certainly not related today). Christmas is a man-made holiday very much the same way Easter is, and Valentine's Day, and yes that includes Halloween. None of these days have been blessed by God, set apart, and hallowed. In and of themselves, they are harmless, and fun, and tend to bring families and like-minded people together.
But the thing of it is, when Dougie grew up and thought back on the fine and fun Christmas shindigs, it was not the presents he remembered, but the gathering of the family, and the getting along of personalities that rarely got along very well. He remembered, clearly, how even though Christmas is not a Biblical holiday, and is definitely all the crassness it is advertised as being, still his family found a way to focus on God, and the Son of God, and found that loving each other really does fulfill the Law of God, regardless of pagan holidays and materialism, and Christmas was and is and will always be a very fine time of year.
The Little Papa Stories
It is time to stop attempting to force Christ into politics. Jesus said render unto Caeser what is Caeser's, and unto God what is God's. Jesus never demanded to be Caeser.
It is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ — Yahshua Mashiach — Joshua the Anointed, that He is above any Caeser or king or kingdom, or marketplace or merchant or store.
The current "antiwar" on those who supposedly war on Christmas is silly, and it trivializes everything about Christianity that is real, that is timeless, that is important, that is crucial, that, at the heart, is from God Himself.
Do not focus on the crass commercialism. Focus on the family — the family of God. Instead of focusing on changing people through force, and farce, focus on allowing Christ to shine out of you, like a beacon on a hill. Like a lighthouse. The golden light of Jesus shining out of you (not how loudly you can yell or stamp your feet, or intimidate store owners to say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays").
Christmas gold, Christmas money, Christmas merchants — instead of worrying about Jesus being in the stores, and on the money, and in the government, and in the silly, meaningless slogans of greeting, try inviting Him into your heart. That is where He wants to be.
That being said, "Merry Christmas! God bless us, every one."
And for those of you who would employ blackmail and coercion during this Christmas season, regardless of any so-called higher purpose, and in the "golden" spirit of Ebeneezer Scrooge: "Bah Humbug, and may you be boiled in your own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through your heart."
God bless you and your family!
Art et Amour Toujours
