Putting Christ Back into Christmas

We live in a day when everyone is outraged about something. Certainly there are important issues, injustices, and downright bad things that should stir our passions and cause us to speak up and/or do something. But red Starbucks cups?

Starbucks cups aren't so much in the news this Christmas, but this meme made me start thinking about how we believers in Christ define persecution at times. During a recent Christmas season there was quite the stir over Starbucks changing their "Holiday Season" cups to simply red. They didn't have any reference to Christmas, it was simply a red cup with their green logo. However, many took offense to that. You would hear, "Starbucks is boycotting Christmas, so we have to boycott them". The church was being persecuted!

Then there is the great kerfuffle of Christmas past over whether we should say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas". Retailers looking to not offend certain groups encouraged their employees to simply say, "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas. That way, whether a customer celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, or not at all, you are being inclusive. Well, many took offense to that as well and defiantly began to return every "Happy Holidays" greeting with an hearty, emphatic, if not snarky, "Well, Merry Christmas to you too!"

Just this past week there was the annual Christmas tree lighting in Washington DC. President Trump lit the tree and read the Christmas passage from Luke 2. Facebook lit up as well as the DC tree. President Trump has saved Christmas. The war on Christmas has been won. He read from the Bible, so we can now talk about Jesus again in December. 

Don't get me wrong. I love that the story of Jesus' birth is acknowledged in the public square. No one loves the Linus reading of Luke 2 and sharing what Christmas is truly all about in A Charlie Brown Christmas more than me. Display the nativity scenes and do the Bethlehem re-enactments at churches, complete with live donkeys and camels. Please celebrate until your heart is content!!

But like the meme above, I've been thinking much this year about what Christmas really means. Have we really been persecuted? Is putting "Christ in Christmas" what a Starbucks cup looks like, a holiday greeting, or whether some verses are read publicly at a Washington DC event? Or could it be something deeper? Is it something that is life changing and causes us to act out less in rage over people having a "war on Christmas" but rather act out in quiet, yet radical ways of caring for others around us in meaningful ways?

With our savior Jesus bursting into this world as a harmless baby to bring light and love into darkness, could it be that when we do the same in the life of another individual we are embodying the Christmas Spirit in a much greater way than being outraged? Maybe Christmas looks more like serving a hot meal to someone who is hungry. Maybe Christmas looks more like comforting those who are afflicted, whether a family member, friend, or stranger. Maybe it looks like welcoming refugees and those who's lives are a living hell. Maybe it looks like expressing love to the outcast and the marginalized. Maybe it is expressing radical forgiveness to the one who has harmed us, as Jesus did on the cross. Perhaps it is giving encouragement to someone who is completely without hope this holiday season.

Maybe, just maybe, it is hard for the world to embrace Christmas...in the sense of Christ's birth and all that it means...because they need to see the effect of Christ's birth in the lives of His people. And when I repent and act like Jesus towards others then the world will see a very real vision of what Christmas is supposed to be all about. The love of a savior who was willing to give up the riches of heaven to come to this cruel world and take on human flesh in order to love people, serve them, care for them, even provide for them. To show them that there is a better way called the Kingdom of Heaven. And maybe, just maybe, I can put Christ back into Christmas a little bit more when I simply love and serve my neighbor.

May we all put Christ back into Christmas as we begin to celebrate this Advent season!!