AN amazing amount of enthusiasm is generated every year for the celebration of Christmas. Pine trees are purchased, and ornaments and lights decorate homes, trees, and even bushes. Songs are written and carols are played endlessly for weeks, even months before Christmas. Lavish meals are prepared and delicious desserts are in abundance. The table settings are beautiful and ornate.
Many billions of dollars are spent for the decorations, wrapping paper,
ribbon, and bows; even the sale of Scotch tape goes way up. The increased cost
of electricity for decorative lighting for homes, stores, and public buildings
is enormous.
People travel from far distances to gather with their family for the
occasion. Money spent for airfare and gasoline for car travel is beyond our
imagination. And telephone calls made to family and friends are enumerable.
Store advertising is beyond extensive as Macys, Sears, and Walmart
compete for the business of shoppers. And the shoppers are spending literally
billions of dollars for gifts.
Another major Christmas expenditure is for alcoholic beverages. More
liquor is sold at Christmas than any other time of the year.
The investment of time, energy, and money is so enormous that the
economy of our country has become dependent on Christmas.
Yet, when the few brief hours that we call Christmas are over we are
faced with the aftermath of it all: the bills to be paid, the mess to clean up,
the returning of gifts that were the wrong size or were just unwanted, the
physical recovery that is needed, the removal of all the decorations and lights,
the return to life and business as it was before, and, in some cases, the
recovery from a hangover.
Of course, the A.C.L.U. can smugly pat themselves on the back for seeing
to it that nobody was allowed to bring religion, especially Christianity, into
the celebration.
This is how the world celebrates Christmas, but I am convinced that
there is a better way. Why not celebrate it as it should be, i.e., celebrate it
as the advent of God Almighty, the Creator into the realm of humanity through
the incarnation that took place in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem.
Yes, Jesus, who is God manifest in flesh; Emmanuel, who is God with us; the
Word, who is God made flesh; Jesus, who is the head of all principality and
power; came to us in the form of a man that was the Son to die, redeem us, and
save us. The beauty, glory, and awesomeness of this truth, of this love is far
greater than the commercial, carnal, and casual presentation of Christmas that
the world gives us, and leaves us with no negative aftermath. Would it be a
novel idea to suggest that we celebrate Christmas with worship and thanks the
way that the shepherds did in the manger?
