Taking Christ out of Christmas, or Putting Him Back In?

It is that time of year again. The air is cold and crisp. The hustle and bustle of the holidays is all around. And those little slogans are appearing on signs and on the lips of people. No, I am not referring to “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas.” I am referring to the “Keep Christ in Christmas” chant that usually begins shortly after Thanksgiving. Many vocal, and probably for the most part well-intentioned, people have made it their duty to decry what they see as the removal of Christ from the holiday that so prominently bears his name. Against the secular tide of holiday cheer they stand their ground, protesting anytime a Christmas tree is taken out of a public place or a simple “Happy Holidays” in muttered instead the proper “Merry Christmas.” Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Christmas season. I think it is a beautiful time for Christians everywhere to celebrate this beautiful and radical and mysterious idea that the God of the universe came down as a little baby, and entered into our human existence. While we are not supposed to just celebrate this a one time of year, I love that at the Christmas season we can come together and remember what God has done through the powerful act of incarnation. However, I have a few problems with the effort that has been put into the “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign.

First, can anyone really take Christ out of Christmas? If this is a time of year for Christians to celebrate the incarnation and the work of God that has come through that, can people simply take that away? People can choose not to celebrate Christmas, choose to make fun of it, or even choose to fight having anything resembling it in any public place. But again, can they take Christ out Christmas? If your Christ is so easily taken out of Christmas by a few people who have every right not to think about Christmas the same as we do, what Christ are you serving? I believe that this idea of incarnation that we celebrate at the Christmas season, that God radically and decisively broke into our human existence so that humanity, and indeed all of creation, might be redeemed, is powerful enough to be true no matter how we keep Christmas. Also, can we as Christians really expect those who are not a part of our faith to keep the Christmas holiday the same as we do? Yes, the holiday began as a Christian holiday and is still considered one. But if others don’t want to celebrate it like that, who cares? I am serious, why must we make a big stink when those who are not Christian fail to celebrate Christmas like Christians? If we want to keep Christ in Christmas, how about we do our best to follow him this season, and remember what he did, and do our best to live as followers of him. This would involve less talking and more doing, which is usually better when it comes to showing the world our faith.

This leads to my second problem with the fight to “Keep Christ in Christmas,” which is, we would probably do better if we did our best to live in a way that kept Christ in Christmas rather than going out of our way to point out how people outside the faith are failing to do so. This is the season which we so beautifully celebrate the incarnation, so might we try to live a little more incarnationally? What if, instead of putting money and effort into signs and slogans, we put that same money and effort into making sure people around us had food for the holiday season? Or better yet, what if we said no to the soul-killing materialism that plagues the Christmas season and instead provided clothes to people who were cold? I am not saying don’t buy any presents for friends and family, but rather I am imagining what might happen if we kept Christ in Christmas by radically living out his Gospel in our homes and communities? After all, it is not our job as Christians to make sure that the culture around us conforms to our way of living, but rather to, in the midst of the wider culture, live out the Gospel of Jesus. This is what it means to live incarnationally, to be willing to enter in to our culture in a real and tangible way and live out the Gospel so that those around us might see the beauty of Christ.

Please let me say it again. I love Christmas time. I love everything we as Christians get to celebrate this season. So, in the midst of doing so, let us think how we might truly keep Christ in Christmas. As we go about our activities this Christmas season, let us be thinking about how we might live more incarantionally. Let us think how we might tangibly and powerfully live out the Gospel to those around us. Let us think how we might celebrate with, rather than fight against, those who do not hold the same faith we do or the same ideas about Christmas that we do. We must remember that Jesus is far bigger than Christmas or any other human holiday or institution that we might place him in. Christmas is beautiful, but only because we serve a God who is far bigger than Christmas.

Have a wonderful and beautiful Christmas season.

Luke