For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
The title of this post is strongly associated with the character Ebenezer Scrooge from the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. It is the comment of a character that hates Christmas and everything associated with it. Why then, would I use it as the title of a post on a blog such as this, you may wonder. Please, hear me out on this, but quite frankly, I'm generally fed up with everything to do with "Christmas."
Supposedly, Christmas is a day on which we celebrate the birth of Christ, but is it really? Other than being on of two times a year that many people go to church (the other being Easter) and that many people take part in a traditional reading of the "Christmas Story," how often do people really turn their attentions to the birth of our Saviour on that day? I'm sad to say this, but even among professing Christians, my observations suggest that the answer is little to none.
How much time is spent on Santa Claus as compared to Jesus Christ? Even if your family doesn't do Santa Claus, how much time is spent on gift lists and events as compared to Jesus Christ? We frequently hear people complaining about how commercialized Christmas is, but many of those same people are guilty of participating in such.
The truth is, it's easy to simply go along with the crowd or get caught up in simply going through the motions. I think we all know what it's like to do both of those things. I'd be lying if I said I haven't done the same thing. Twice in recent years, I've lost a family member just two or three weeks before Christmas, and it was all too easy to focus on how disinterested it made me in "Christmas."A true celebration of the Saviour won't be marred by something like that in the same way that a mere holiday is. So, as much as I hate to admit it, I must plead guilty to my own charges.
Here's the thing: if we're truly focused on Jesus, none of the things I've mentioned above matter. Not Santa Claus, not presents, not traditions, not plans. Only He matters. That brings me to another "Bah! Humbug!" that I have: Why do we restrict the celebration on His birth to the month of December.
Let's get real for a moment. We can be pretty sure that December 25 wasn't the true date of the birth of Jesus. In fact, we have no idea what the date was, and can make nothing more than a semi-educated guess at best because the Bible doesn't tell us. Have you ever wondered why? I can't prove this, and I won't be dogmatic about it, but I suspect one very real reason is that God wants it to be a year-round celebration.
The birth of Jesus was a much bigger even than I think we tend to realize. This was no ordinary birth. We're talking about God in the flesh; the Creator of the universe took on the form of a helpless baby in order to redeem us from our sins. Why on earth do we think it's appropriate to limit the celebration of that to a few days, or at most a month? Why do we think it's only appropriate to sing Advent hymns in the month of December? Every day is a perfect day to celebrate the human incarnation of Deity, because it was an event that changed our forevers.
So, no, I'm not trying to be a Scrooge, but I do say "Bah! Humbug!" I say it to the overshadowing and limitation of our celebration of our Saviour. Let's make every day "Christmas," and let's keep the focus on the real reason for the celebration.
Isaiah 9:6
The title of this post is strongly associated with the character Ebenezer Scrooge from the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. It is the comment of a character that hates Christmas and everything associated with it. Why then, would I use it as the title of a post on a blog such as this, you may wonder. Please, hear me out on this, but quite frankly, I'm generally fed up with everything to do with "Christmas."
Supposedly, Christmas is a day on which we celebrate the birth of Christ, but is it really? Other than being on of two times a year that many people go to church (the other being Easter) and that many people take part in a traditional reading of the "Christmas Story," how often do people really turn their attentions to the birth of our Saviour on that day? I'm sad to say this, but even among professing Christians, my observations suggest that the answer is little to none.
How much time is spent on Santa Claus as compared to Jesus Christ? Even if your family doesn't do Santa Claus, how much time is spent on gift lists and events as compared to Jesus Christ? We frequently hear people complaining about how commercialized Christmas is, but many of those same people are guilty of participating in such.
The truth is, it's easy to simply go along with the crowd or get caught up in simply going through the motions. I think we all know what it's like to do both of those things. I'd be lying if I said I haven't done the same thing. Twice in recent years, I've lost a family member just two or three weeks before Christmas, and it was all too easy to focus on how disinterested it made me in "Christmas."A true celebration of the Saviour won't be marred by something like that in the same way that a mere holiday is. So, as much as I hate to admit it, I must plead guilty to my own charges.
Here's the thing: if we're truly focused on Jesus, none of the things I've mentioned above matter. Not Santa Claus, not presents, not traditions, not plans. Only He matters. That brings me to another "Bah! Humbug!" that I have: Why do we restrict the celebration on His birth to the month of December.
Let's get real for a moment. We can be pretty sure that December 25 wasn't the true date of the birth of Jesus. In fact, we have no idea what the date was, and can make nothing more than a semi-educated guess at best because the Bible doesn't tell us. Have you ever wondered why? I can't prove this, and I won't be dogmatic about it, but I suspect one very real reason is that God wants it to be a year-round celebration.
The birth of Jesus was a much bigger even than I think we tend to realize. This was no ordinary birth. We're talking about God in the flesh; the Creator of the universe took on the form of a helpless baby in order to redeem us from our sins. Why on earth do we think it's appropriate to limit the celebration of that to a few days, or at most a month? Why do we think it's only appropriate to sing Advent hymns in the month of December? Every day is a perfect day to celebrate the human incarnation of Deity, because it was an event that changed our forevers.
So, no, I'm not trying to be a Scrooge, but I do say "Bah! Humbug!" I say it to the overshadowing and limitation of our celebration of our Saviour. Let's make every day "Christmas," and let's keep the focus on the real reason for the celebration.
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