Unless of course the season you are referring to is your life here on earth.
When you are dealing with someone like me who is a total "rule follower" these are the questions I ask myself when I believe Jesus is the reason for the season:
- Was he really born on December 25?
- What about time zones....sometimes it's Dec. 25th here but Dec. 26th elsewhere
- So I can't have an X-mas tree unless I can somehow tie it to Jesus
- Oh wait, God gets mad if I say X-mas?
- So I can't give my kids and family members gifts unless I justify it and follow certain rules?
- I can't say Happy Holidays to someone who has different beliefs than I do? Okay, I better get rid of that stamp then!
I could spend some time trying to research all of these answers, but why? Is Jesus really the reason for just this season?
No!
I believe the Bible to be true and applicable today. I believe the Bible has a beginning, climax and an ending...Jesus died on the cross for me {JOHNLYN}... ME....really?!? me...the one who messes up ALL.THE.TIME...He died on the cross for ME! Christ then rose from the dead.
GRACE = even though you are a mess up, if you believe in the death and resurrection of Christ you get to go to heaven.
So why should I focus on the birth of Christ only in December?
Some things are amoral...money....getting a dog....shooting down a Christmas tree....owning and displaying a nativity set. Of course our actions could be immoral, but the THINGS are amoral.
Do you know why people use an X? It's an interesting reason, but regardless do you think that God gets angry because we don't write CHRISTmas instead of X-mas? You know the God whose plan it was for his Son to DIE on the cross? Seriously people....don't get stressed about this. Celebrate the love of Jesus every day, not just during the season.
SANTA
Santa is MAGICAL to me....no one will EVER take Santa away from me. I told my husband when we got married 19 years ago {GULP!} that I will ALWAYS getting a stocking full of stuff. No, the stuff doesn't have to cost much, but it will be filled {either by him or me!} Good thing the man loves me and does this for me! Does it take away my appreciation of all that Christ as done for me? How could it? It's a symbol of everything my MOM sacrificed for me while trying to raise 3 kids on a secretary's salary (or piddly paycheck I should say.)
Christmas is not about Christ for me...it's about traditions, family, fun foods, SANTA, gifts, symbols, SANTA, etc.
Every day life (including December 25th, but not limited to December 25th) is about Jesus. EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Jesus Christ ~ NOT one day a year, not one month and not one season.
If you are new to my blog please note that I very rarely post anything about religion or politics. Feel free to skip over this rant or leave a comment about how crazy I am...either way I'm glad you are here!
This works for me! Find other ideas over at We are THAT Family.
I love this post... Jesus should be all year and not a reason to get angry at others. The holiday is for celebrating, happy times, family for everyone. No room for judgement, just enjoyment and (like you said) grace for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI so agree. Nothing in the Bible tells us to celebrate His birthday, but we sure do celebrate that He died on the cross as full payment for our sin debt! It Has been paid in FULL! I celebrate that every day. I don't associate Christmas with Christ but as a celebration with family giving thanks and how the Lord has blessed us.
ReplyDeleteand this is why I love you! I just read a post that was completely opposite, basically chastising frugal bloggers for spending money on Christmas.... That even making gifts for people is encouraging consumerism. I wholeheartedly disagree. I love seeing my kids in Christmas! And my favorite memories are holiday one :-). Even though we don't have money to buy things for the kids this year, I still want to make sure they have a special time.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME! It is so hard to find others that have this same belief! Thanks for the post! Great blog.. been following you for a few months after I caught wind from grocercartchallenge blog!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said!!
ReplyDeleteBased on science and historical facts, they assume Jesus's real day of birth to be closer to September 11 anyway!
You crack me up Johnlyn! I love the way you're so passionate about everything you do. You rock.
ReplyDeleteNow, for a rant of my own... It annoys me to no end when I hear Christians say we can't use Xmas. It is a misconception perpetuated by ignorance that Xmas is an attempt to take Christ out of Christmas. The reality is there is a long history, of using X, as in the Greek symbol for Christ, as and abbreviation for Christ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas
Just sayin'. ;)
Loved this post. Very well said.
ReplyDeleteI do completely agree...Jesus and really His birth are extremely important all year round, but Jesus is the reason for the season because without Jesus there would be no reason for CHRISTmas. Santa, family, tradition and all the other things came after Christmas was established, and it was established in celebration of Jesus' birth. Jesus is important all year round, but because we choose to celebrate His birthday and what He has done on one day all around the world, that is what makes our Christian family so powerful--because we can come in unity and celebrate Jesus' birth as one giant family!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you. The fact that you're also a Jesus lover makes me smile. I grew up not celebrating Christmas bc my parents believed it to be a pagan holiday made by men. Being from Europe we knew there was a St.Nick but he was dead. I was also taught that according to Roman history, taxes were due sometime in Spring time in Bethlehem. So that's probably when Mary and Joseph were there. All that aside, we do celebrate Christmas now. It's an amazing thing to smell a real Noble Fir tree into the house. To get to give gifts and share with others who may have less, to have the whole family take off a day or two from this hectic life, to send and recieve news from old friends or family, to watch it snow while the fireplace is going (our 1st time doing that),
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I enjoyed your thoughts. I was surprised when someone got irritated with me yesterday when I said, "Have a good holiday." The gruff, "Merry Christmas" wasn't very inspirational. It was so odd that he couldn't see his attitude might be worse that someone saying the word holiday as opposed to Christmas. Sometimes those in the Christian culture, miss the point.
ReplyDeleteWow-- to be honest I found your post to be a bit... confusing. Yes, Christmas is way too commercialized, not really on Christ's birthdate, and we should focus on Jesus year-round. But to not celebrate his birth at an extra extra special time? That is not for me. I will celebrate this Christmas as Christ's birthday. I NEED to celebrate this way to remind myself and my family of its immense importance.
ReplyDeleteI will not, however, feel guilty about bringing my kids gifts from Santa, wishing my Muslim neighbors "Happy Holidays," or keeping the family traditions we have to make it a memorable time every year.
Becci ~ I know that you'll make Christmas an extra special time for your kids. How about a great big box from an appliance store? My kids would still love that!
ReplyDeleteReally Erin? I had NO idea about the exact time frame.
ReplyDeleteJennifer - wasn't it a code used so others knew they were Christians by making an X with their foot?
Anon - absolutely love this "but because we choose to celebrate His birthday and what He has done on one day all around the world, that is what makes our Christian family so powerful--because we can come in unity and celebrate Jesus' birth as one giant family!!!"
now if we can do it without nitpicking each other!
Ahhhh a day off from a hectic life. AMEN!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this article by Rachel Held Evans about how "taking Christ out of Christmas" might make us better Christians? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs an Episcopalian, I feel my faith is deepened every year by celebrating Advent as the season of anticipation of new hope coming into the world, and by remembering Jesus as I prepare gifts for others. But I certainly don't think that shoving Jesus into everyone's faces would improve the spirit of the season! It seems to me that non-Christians who celebrate Christmas as a time of gift-giving, love, closeness, and charity are partially walking the way of Jesus, and criticizing them for not CALLING it that is not going to improve anything at all.
Johnlyn- The symbol in the dirt I'm familiar with is the Ichthus, the Christian fish symbol we see mostly on the back of cars now. :)
ReplyDeleteJust FYI, X is the symbol for the Greek letter Chi, which is the beginning of the word Christ, so it is really just a shorter way of saying Christmas. It might have other traditions or meaning connected to it, but that is all I know about. : )
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting angle at the "Merry Christmas Vs. Happy Holidays" issue. I've had e-mails from loved ones with tacky songs attached encouraging me to avoid, walk out, and just be out right rude to stores and employees that don't say "Merry Christmas". Personally, I think it's ridiculous. I am a Christian and I feel that as taking the name of Christ upon me that there's an obligation to act as he would. I feel that He would never be rude to someone and would wish good will and love to all. There are other significant religious holidays being celebrated at this time of year and they should not be ignored. I feel that when I say Merry Christmas I am sharing will and peace from the heart. If someone was to wish me a Happy Ramadan or a Happy Hanukkah or even a Happy Kwanza I would return the exact same greeting to them in brotherly love because I believe that is what they are, my brother or sister. This is what Christ taught and gave up His life for and what I believe we celebrate at Christmas
ReplyDelete@Becca - I just read that article. So glad I'm a small blogger based on the comments.
ReplyDeleteJennifer - I was told it was an X!
ReplyDelete@anon - LOVE this... If someone was to wish me a Happy Ramadan or a Happy Hanukkah or even a Happy Kwanza I would return the exact same greeting to them in brotherly love because I believe that is what they are, my brother or sister.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%.....Christmas is about tradition, family, gifts, dinner (yum), and all that jazz. Jesus entire life from birth to resurrection, to his soon coming, is everyday for our family, and I do not feel guilty for enjoying Santa stories, or for because I have a Santa in my yard and not a nativity set. I don't think we should get all bent out of shape about Christmas. We should just enjoy it for what it is.
ReplyDelete