Renaming Christmas

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet and the Christmas setups have already arrived.  In fact, I think I even saw a few before Halloween. That actually bugs me a little but I know there’s a lot of money wrapped up in Christmas sales so it’s understandable that businesses are anxious to get the season started. Out of curiosity I always like to look at displays, writings, and anything else pertaining to Christmas and see if Christ or a depiction of a cross is present. Sadly, it’s seldom the case and a surprise when I do see any reference at all to Christ. There has been much controversy over the years about whether the title “Christmas” is politically correct or appropriate in broad settings amongst mixed cultures during this once obvious Christian holiday. Many Christian groups have gone so far as to boycot companies like Lowes for advertising that they are selling “holiday trees” or Gap for advertising for the holidays to the max but with no mention of the word “Christmas.”

So rather than predictably and critically writing about how Americans in a general sense or for that matter most people around the world have lost touch with the true meaning of  Christmas, I have a less common idea from a Christian perspective. Let’s rename Christmas. Let’s call it Winterfest, Gift Day, Family Season, Santa Day, or anything else along those lines that more accurately represents what it has become. If you surveyed people and asked them how they celebrated Christmas you’d hear the following things mentioned:

• Time with family
• Big meals
• Giving and receiving gifts
• Getting kids excited about Santa
• Setting up decorations and Christmas I mean, holiday trees ; )
• Singing songs about Santa, reindeers, and bells
• Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”

And the list would go on. Some might list going to a Christmas Eve service at a local church, but I think it’s safe to say that such a practice wouldn’t make the top of the list for what most people think of when they think of Christmas.

Where am I going with all of this? I simply think it would be a more accurate reflection of the holiday to call it what it really is to people. When I was in Iraq, I was in disbelief when I first saw a big Christmas tree in a public building of this Muslim country. I later learned that many Iraqi Muslims celebrate Christmas much the same way as Americans do and see no conflict with their religion which denies Jesus as Lord and Savior. It’s become an irresistible holiday around the world in non Christian countries that others want to participate in based on how they see it depicted in the movies (see list above).

Some might ask, what about Christmas for Christians who actually make a practice of following Jesus and want to celebrate the incarnation of their Lord and Savior? I propose we change the name here too. The term “Christmas” has become so watered down, it’s celebrated by all other world religions and even atheists and with no conflict at all. What if we renamed it something that spoke more clearly in today’s language of what it really is about. What about referring to it as celebrating: Jesus’ Birthday, Lord and Savior Day, Sinner’s Rejoice Day, A Savior is Born Day, etc. These titles would clearly draw a nice distinction between those that are interested in celebrating for the sake of celebrating and those that are interested in praising and rejoicing in their Lord and Savior’s birth.

One other concern might be, Christian’s shouldn’t give up this holiday to worldly practice, we need to reclaim Christmas for everyone. Well, let’s be honest, this isn’t going to happen, those that are uninterested in Jesus are just going to be further upset if Christians try to make the holiday more spiritual and Christ centered. In short, Christ is offensive to those that don’t know Him and His gospel is foolishness to those that are perishing (1 Cor 1:18, 1:23). If that’s not enough of a reason, don’t forget that God’s Word tells us repeatedly not to look like the world (1 John 2:15-17), be conformed by the world (Rom 12:2), and that the ruler of the world is Satan (Eph 2:1-2). So why would we spend so much effort trying to make this a true Christian holiday for everyone or make our nation a Christian nation? Note that never once in Jesus’ ministry did He try to force His teachings on the nation or world (Matt 22:20-21). He allowed Judas to betray Him (Luke 22:48), the rich young ruler to walk away (Mark 10:17-22), rulers who would eventually kill Him to continue in disbelief (John 18:33-40; Luke 23:8-9), and religious leaders to continue in hypocrisy (Matt 23:1-39). Jesus simply spoke the truth of His message of salvation for those that would receive it (Matt 10:40, 14) and commanded true followers to go out and share it (Matt 28:19-20).