I grew up in a Church of Christ. But it wasn’t one of those churches of Christ. That is, it wasn’t until I got to college that I came to hear a lot of the traditional CofC arguments. Like opposition to Christmas. I mean, I had heard some rumblings, but I grew up in a house that celebrated Christmas. My mom was a music teacher, my music teacher at school, and we sang Christmas songs and had a Christmas concert every year. At home, we put up a Christmas tree, Christmas lights, the whole works. There was even a tiny little nativity scene.
When I got to college, I learned that the churches of Christ cover a broad spectrum. And that some of the people along that spectrum opposed every mention of Christmas, every hint of a celebration of that pagan holiday. While I didn’t come to embrace their views, I did learn why they felt as they did.
One of my best friends at ACU was from the Assembly of God, and she liked to kid me about some typical beliefs of my fellowship. Once I was helping her move and was unpacking a large nativity scene. “For those of us who celebrate the Lord’s birthday,” she said with a laugh. “Tell me when it is, and I might celebrate it,” I shot back.
So I found myself in the middle: not ready to condemn Christmas as thoroughly pagan, not ready to embrace it as “the Lord’s birthday.” And to this day, I walk through a winter no man’s land, not ready to join either camp.
I want to discuss this a bit more, but I’d like to hear your thoughts. What do we do with Christmas?
I didn’t grow up in the churches of Christ, but learned early on that Christmas was a private affair. I spent no time in preaching about the birth of Jesus at this time of the year. But since I’ve been with this small group, we all like to sing Christmas carols and I’ve preached on various aspects of the birth of Jesus, and have even used the word “Christmas.” My view has been that since people are thinking about the holiday, we might have a chance to encourage people to think about what it is about. Another thing, listen to the traditional carols or religious music. They say more about the purpose of Jesus than His birth. Many emphasize that He is King. “We Three Kings” (if we can get by 3 and kings) has a very powerful message, especially vs. 4 and 5. In essence, the King has come! Let’s celebrate!
“Walking though a no mans winter wonderland”. I like it. That is where many of us find ourselves. I ask glad I am not alone. I think I will preach a hanukkah sermon this year.
I like the thoughts. I LOVE the picture!
The Statler Brothers sing a song about a little boy who asks his daddy, “O daddy just whose birthday is Christmas? The Bible says that Jesus was born, O daddy please explain, I had to ask because, you hear so much about Santa Claus.” I think about that song every year. I will preach on the birth of Jesus this Dec. 25, not because it is Jesus’ birthday, but because he was born.
Feliz Navidad,
Paul
I grew up attending a CoC where the only mention of Christmas during the Christmas season was a sermon before Christmas on why all the “denominations” are wrong for celebrating Christmas as the birth of Christ (and we wondered why eventually we never had any visitors on “Christmas” Sunday). Fortunately though, my Dad and Mom held a different, more moderate, view. While they rightfully taught us that there is no substantial evidence for 12/25 being the actual birthday of Jesus, they believed that if Matthew and Luke included the story of Jesus’ birth then there was something significant about it that God wanted us to know and since this was a time when other Christians (yes, my parents also rejected the idea that the CoC was the sum total of Christianity) were focusing on the birth of Jesus, then it was a good time for us to focus on Jesus’ birth as well. This included (gasp) attending my grandmother’s Christmas Eve service at the local Presbyterian Church (something I appreciate now more than I ever did as a child) and when we returned home, before going to bed, my mother would tell us the story of Jesus’ birth.
I believe my parents set us a great example of how to celebrate the faith significance of Jesus’ birth and use it also as a faith-formation event in the lives of their children. Years later I learned that this decision of my parents was used as a charge against my Dad as to why he should not be an elder (sad!).
As a parent, I get excited when my daughter (who is 6) wants to talk about Jesus’ birth at Christmas time because it is an opportunity to teach her about God and his work in this world.
I did a blog series on Christmas a couple of years ago. You can read it here. The first 2 or 3 posts deal with the issues you raise.
Jerry
I was raised in the “condemn everyone” CoC, so I’m very familiar with the denominational bashing that goes on this time of year. It came to the point where I actually questioned why the birth of Christ was never discussed, studied or taught at any time of year, and the answer was “because it’s His death that’s important. We teach Christ and Christ crucified.” Seems a shame to skip over several chapters of the New Testament just because “we” get uncomfortable because of the denominational emphasis on these passages at the end of each year. The Holy Spirit saw fit to include it, we need to study it. I agree that it would be inappropriate and even “wrong” to teach that 12/25 is Christ’s birthday. I’m not one to teach as fact something that Scripture doesn’t support. But since the world around us is talking about it, let’s use it as an opportunity to teach about Christ. Let’s use this as an opportunity to go through an open door and build relationships and possibly get Bible studies scheduled, as opposed to slamming the door in others faces and destroying any chance we have of reaching out to the world for Christ. Does this mean we should have nativity scenes on the church grounds? No. But I don’t think we should be attacking others if a nativity scene winds up on the mantel or, Heaven forbid, a star winds up on top of their Christmas tree!
I grew up in a Baptist home and we celebrated Christmas. It was a very important day. We married in the church of Christ 40 years ago and we are still with the church. We raised our family celebrating every holiday. We did this following traditions of men and guided by our emotional feelings. I told the children Christ wasn’t born in the winter and no one except heathens celebrated their birthdays in the first century, but I was sure Jesus wouldn’t mind (back with the emotional guidance instead of being guided by the word.) When my children matured, they were very upset with me. They learned how the Catholic church created Christ-mass in the fourth century and how it was a very cruel day. They would beat and torture Jews on Christ-mass for killing Jesus. Before my youngest son died, he told me he thought I had one foot in the world and one in the church. He suggested I had to let one of them go, so I did. My wife and I no longer celebrate the holidays, but like some have already mentioned, we celebrate Jesus death, burial and resurrection daily, so why not on the 25th? We no longer sit around, pleasing our self’s on the 25th, we work for Christ. This is the day we work with other Christians setting up meals for the homeless, passing out Bibles and sharing God’s word with the lost, this the one day that even the lost are thinking of Jesus. I now look forward to Christmas more then I did when I practiced it the secular way. I have to admit, even as a child I wondered, if it was really Jesus’ birthday, how come everyone got a present except Jesus. Now, it is he that gets the present and our hearts are full of joy for sharing his word.