Is Your Christmas Full of Christ?
Through centuries of traditions, Christians have managed to associate all of the trappings of Christmas – the lights, trees, and presents – with the birth of Jesus. Today’s battle cry is “keep Christ in Christmas.” In reality, of the roughly 45% of the world’s population who celebrate Christmas, fully one-third are not Christians. According to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, 81% of non-Christians in the United States celebrate Christmas. This number includes roughly one-third of the U.S. Jewish population, three-fourths of the Hindu and Buddhist population, and 87% of people not affiliating with any kind of religion at all.
That’s a whole lot of people celebrating Christmas who have no interest in or reason to “keep Christ in Christmas.” What sets the Christian Christmas apart from everyone else’s is Jesus. Nothing else about the traditions of Christmas are uniquely Christian. Anyone can decorate a tree. Anyone can hang lights. Anyone can buy presents, wrap them up, and gift them to family and friends.
Not everyone will celebrate the birth of Jesus, Immanuel – God-with-us. Not everyone will recognize or receive the Savior. They
don’t even care.
This should have us all catching our breath.
Let me assure you, I love Christmas. I do. I am not anti-lights, or tree, or decorating, or gifts. Not at all. I love all that stuff. It’s just that this year we were smack dab in the middle of kitchen remodel chaos when the Christmas season “officially” kicked off and my enthusiasm for launching into all the trappings of the season was pretty much non-existent. We have a wreath on our door, a few things set out in the house, and a handful of gifts have been purchased and wrapped. We don’t have any lights and I did not drag out all of the Santas that normally adorn the mantel. We did not decorate a tree. Somehow, our schedule has been lighter than normal too.
Our minimalistic approach this year has me contemplating my whole approach to Christmas and I find myself asking whether or not that stuff helps or hinders my celebration of Christmas. Does my Christmas look any different from that of my unbelieving neighbor who also celebrates Christmas? Where is Jesus?
That may be a shocking question. But it’s an honest one. One I hope you will ask yourself.
Maybe we should be less concerned about keeping Christ in Christmas and instead, make sure that our Christmas is about Christ. If we focus on all the stuff surrounding this holiday like everyone else does, we are telling the unbelieving world that Jesus is just a part of our celebration when in fact, Jesus is the whole reason we celebrate. Are all of the trappings actually a burden that keeps people from recognizing the Savior?
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The religious environment of Jesus’ day was ridiculously burdensome. The Jewish Pharisees had taken the Law of Moses and exponentially magnified it to the point where their faith was more about the “trappings,” the rules and regulations, than it was about worship.
It’s in this setting that Jesus confronts these leaders. Shame on you for placing such a heavy burden on God’s people. Shame on you for making it impossible for them to experience peace. It’s in this setting that Jesus speaks an invitation that continues to echo today.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28 NIV).”
The King James translation of this verse uses the words labor and heavy laden, invoking the image of a people striving to live under the heavy burden of the law. Jesus holds out his hand and invites the weary and burdened people to stop striving. Stop toiling. Leave the trappings behind. Come to him and find their rest. He isn’t speaking of physical rest. Rather, the true spiritual rest that is found in the peace of God that comes from knowing Jesus as Savior. The peace the angels pronounced at his birth.
This invitation resonates in my heart this year as I look around at Christmas. Do the elaborate decorations, the parties, and all the stuff around Christmas, echo this invitation into the lives of those who do not yet know Jesus? Do our celebrations even mention Jesus?
I have to confess. We celebrated Christmas with part of our family last weekend. We enjoyed a great meal, great fellowship, and we exchanged gifts. We accomplished all the trapping of Christmas. But not once did we speak of Jesus as the reason for the season. There were people who needed to hear his invitation to bring their burdens to him. To come to him to find their true rest. Our celebration did not echo his invitation. This acknowledgment shatters my heart.
I am not against all the fun stuff about Christmas. Please don’t hear me say that. Our kitchen chaos has simply provided a hiatus that permits some personal reflection and I recognize how I have allowed all the trappings of Christmas to usurp Jesus.
Our Christmas needs to be more than lights, trees, parties, and presents. It needs to give the non-believing world a reason to care that we celebrate the birth of Jesus at this time. The whole world, like it or not, is watching us at Christmas. Will our Christmas be full of Christ?
Will they hear Jesus’ invitation from me? And from you?
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28 NIV).”
I’d love for you to comment below on how you keep Christmas full of Jesus.
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4 Comments
Denise Roberts
A sweet reader emailed me with wonderful ways in which she and her family keep Christmas about Jesus. With her permission I am sharing them here. Thank you Suzanne!
Thank you for your article.
There is one thing I would like to suggest.
Use the holiday gatherings, the gift giving, the decorating to exude Christ to others…that is what makes us as believers different.
For example, we host a few dinner parties in December for our neighbours and one for our “newer” friends who have come across our path in the last year.
We pray over the meal and thank God for the people sitting at our table and for this this special time of year where hearts are more tender towards Jesus.
Our table conversations always find their way to sharing our personal stories.
Often our guests share something that is heavy on their hearts and we are able to present the hope
that comes in the birth of our Saviour.
It has been such a privilege to have our guests feel comforted by the thought of Jesus!
Late this fall, a neighbour showed up at my door…she was drawn to come to us.
They had a concern that was weighing on their hearts and she said she needed to come over.
After sharing her heart we asked if we could pray with her and she replied “yes! I think that is why I came over…because I just knew you would!”
Use every bit of Christmas!
It is an opportunity to bring the beauty of Christ into a harsh world.
Give gifts to those who do not expect it…Bless those who serve you at the grocery store and shopping centres….share your memories of Christmas with others, good or bad…it opens the door to heart conversations….people are more open
than we would think.
Last week in my office, a client and I started a conversation about our Christmas tree.
In the warm glow of our reminiscing about our childhood, she opened up about wounds from a daughter that she did not
know what to do with and that led to an opportunity to share Jesus with her! A Christmas tree opened the
door to Jesus!!!…how wonderful!
My neighbourhood is adorned with beautiful lights and displays and one house in particular, has a large 10 x 12 foot painting on the lawn of Jesus in the manger. I do not yet know these people, but their display amongst all the others made me pause and think of Jesus.
Christmas can be wonderful! It is a unique opportunity as it opens the hearts of others to the possibility of Jesus!
Merry Christmas!
Suzanne
Katherine J Amick
Thank you for this article Denise! It is so good! We had a great experience going to a ministry that reaches women and children in motels on a street getting getting more active with exploitation. Our family went and served: Here is our experience:
My kids aren’t usually excited to serve but go along for the ride because they have learned they have no choice, because I sign us up anyway and we go regardless of how they feel about it! But every single time we leave with our eyes opened wide and very aware to realities of life, hard circumstances and just people wanting to be accepted and loved! We saw teens, living in a motel, come sing Christmas carols, dance, make gingerbread houses and have a great meal! A safe place to hang out instead of motel parking lot! We talked to a couple having a hard time lately and bringing most their meal home to their kids! They also told us how they had to heat a fire to get hot water! Tina, who runs the ministry with her husband, was overwhelmed at the bags we brought and Bibles and Jesus calling books were added to make a first time visitor bag! We had a great discussion in the car on way home about exploitation of women, and hardness of life! Even if my kids don’t do another thing, at least they can’t say they never knew these things!
We do pick something every Christmas to serve and to remind us and others it is all about Jesus!
Denise Roberts
I love this! Thank you for sharing!
Karla Goodhart
I love your line “Maybe we should be less concerned about keeping Christ in Christmas and instead, make sure that our Christmas is about Christ.” In teaching confirmation this year, I often repeated the phrase that is spoken frequently in our Sunday services – “God works in us and through us.” And like you, I wanted this Christmas to be more than just material things. I wanted my family to be vehicles of good – God working through us.
So I signed us up for “Christmas in the Park” which is an annual event put on by an amazing pastor here in Denver that serves our growing homeless population. It was bitterly cold that day, and after the early morning present frenzy, we put on our best cold weather gear and headed downtown with a group of other volunteers from our church. When we arrived there was a line of over 500 homeless people waiting for Christmas to begin. We heard later they starting lining up at 5:30 am for the noon event. I think there were nearly 1,000 served by the end of the day.
Our job was to hand out new coats and sleeping bags in our best Christmas spirit. There were many other faith groups and non profits there handing out everything from toiletry kits, to sock, to long underwear, to toys, etc. The handicap were the first to come through the line. With a “helper” they were able to get the items they wanted, but if being homeless wasn’t hard enough, it made us see up close what being blind and homeless must be like. Or in a wheelchair and homeless. There were parents with small children there braving the cold, single people often with a friend, and many elderly people. And as we stamped our feet and rubbed our gloved hands together to try to stay warm, we watched them cross the street and find a bench…knowing that we would go home to a warm house and a hot meal and that they would spend this cold Christmas Day on a bench.
I wasn’t sure what my teenagers would think about it. Coming face to face with abject poverty isn’t always easy or comfortable. But as we boarded the bus to head home, both said they wanted to do this again next Christmas. They said they wanted to be part of an effort to help make someone else’s Christmas a little better.
And for me, that’s God working through us. That’s making Christmas about Christ.