Someone once said…”the more things change, the more they stay the same.”  I think that is so true, especially at Christmas time.  For hundreds of years, the question in the minds of Christians is how do we maintain a balance between Christmas as a cultural holiday and Christmas as a celebration of the birth of our Savior.

Four hundred years ago, Christians in America refused to celebrate Christmas because they believed that it wasn’t commanded in Scripture and they began to see what we are trying to resist today…the excessive materialism at Christmas time.  Because of this, they actually cancelled church services on Christmas day.

Today Christians have taken a different stance.  The struggle these days is not if the church should celebrate Christmas…almost all do.  The struggle seems to be whether or not the stores that we buy our gifts in say “Merry Christmas” vs “Happy Holidays”.  Almost daily I receive emails asking me to refuse to shop in certain stores because they say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”.  I have to wonder if this fight is nothing more than slapping the name of Jesus on our excessive materialism so that we feel justified in spending so much money on things that will be forgotten in three months.

I am not saying don’t enjoy Christmas the cultural holiday.  Buy gifts, go to parties, eat good food and enjoy your family…I know I will.  Just remember that those things are not ultimate.  They are not worthy of our worship.

As a Christian, we know that Christmas is more than a cultural holiday.  Christmas stands as a reminder to us of the grace of God revealed as a baby in a manger.  Christmas stands as the fulfillment of the promise God made in Genesis 3…that One would come and ultimately crush the head of the Serpent.  According to John 1, Christmas is about shining the Light in dark places.

The next time the worker at Best Buy (or where ever) says “Happy Holidays” don’t go into automatic defense mode and correct them.  Instead, quietly thank God, that in His goodness, He revealed His grace to you and that He would do that same for this worker.  Pray the this worker…your friends…your neighbors…your co-workers would see beyond the cultural holiday to the Baby lying in a manger.

Honestly, if you have any hope of this happening, it has to start with you.  So on Christmas morning, where will you be and what will you be doing?  For goodness sakes, don’t forget to go to church!

See you on Christmas morning at 10:30!

Darin