When I say I love this time of year, it might be a slight understatement. We're the family that starts listening to Christmas music in October. We put up our decorations mid November, and our house is the most lit up house in our neighborhood. I still do a massive amount of Christmas baking, and we drive around just to look at Christmas lights.
I love it.
Most of all though, I love that every Christmas, what God did for us so long ago is renewed in my heart. I fall in love with Jesus all over again because we stop and REMEMBER that He came to earth as a baby to save us. Yes, it's very important to remember.
Which brings me to the subject at hand - There is a war on Christmas because it's about Christ and some people don't want it to be about Christ. They want to change every "Christmas" word into "Holiday." You know, "holiday trees" or "holiday gifts." Somehow they think that it's not about Jesus anymore if we change the name.
So, every year here in Baxter County we have a tree lighting ceremony on the lawn of the courthouse. Lots of people come to this event. There is singing and hot chocolate and a parade. They light up the tree and the beautiful life sized nativity set that sits on the lawn in front of the courthouse. A lovely Christian couple in our community sponsor this event by heading it up and providing the nativity set. A few years ago someone decided that this was an issue. It was too Christian..... The issue went to court, and this year it was decided that the tradition we'd had for years would no longer be. No more nativity on the courthouse lawn. No more Jesus in Christmas.
I was irritated to say the least. My thought was, "I guess we'll show them. There'll be no lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony this year! No more singing. No more hot chocolate. They will all be sorry they ruined our tradition."
It was final in my mind.
But then, (There's always a "but then" it seems.) I heard that the same family that always did the tree lighting WAS DOING THE TREE LIGHTING. "What?!" I thought. "Why are they doing that? How can we show everyone what they are missing if we do it anyway?? And besides, aren't they offended their Christmas gift to the community has been rejected?"
But then, (There it was again.) my heart was broken. "You want to keep Me in Christmas?" Jesus spoke to me. "Then you be Me in Christmas." "But God," I argued, "Don't you want us to have symbols of you everywhere so the world can see that Christmas is about Jesus?! It feels like they are taking our freedoms away!" "Sure," God said to me, "But, I told you that would happen. It's far more important to Me that the world see you being Christ in Christmas than having a fake Jesus in your yard."
Then I figured it out.
Christmas isn't about a symbol or a bumper sticker that says, "Keep Christ in Christmas," or a button, or saying, "Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays," or a silly red Starbucks cup, or even HAVING A NATIVITY on the courthouse lawn. It's about that special Baby who is living, breathing, walking EVEYWHERE in our community. Through me. And you.
That's what keeping Christ in Christmas is. Being Christ in Christmas. It's something no one can shut down. The judge can rule that we can't have a nativity in front of our government buildings, but he can't stop the family from being gracious to the community and still leading the tree lighting.
I read this quote somewhere, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head, "Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.”
I can a wear a "keep Christ in Christmas" shirt all December, stick a bumper sticker on my car, and deliberately say, "Merry Christmas to anyone who dares say," Happy Holidays" to me, but it's meaningless if I'm impatient with the over abundance of shoppers and the slow cashier at Walmart, or I'm not kind to my neighbors or my in laws, or I don't stop and see the real needs in our community, or I forget about the child who has nothing for Christmas when my own have so much.
That's the Christ in Christmas that will NEVER go away. That's the Christ in Christmas that's going to show our neighbors that Jesus loves them. That's the Christ in Christmas that's actually going to feed the hungry and care for the orphan. That's the Christ in Christmas that is gong to change the world.
It's not just a symbol or something we say, it's who we are.
So this Christmas, I will say, "Merry Christmas," and I have a lovely nativity that lights up my front yard, but most importantly I want to teach my children that Christmas really is all about Jesus. I want them to see me being Christ in Christmas, and I want them to see that it's so beautiful that they want to be Him too.
Our community will no longer drive by the courthouse and see the beautiful nativity that used to sit there, but I hope our community will see Jesus everywhere else so much they that they fall in love with Him this Chirstmas because -
they can't help it.
