Christmas is almost certainly the most diluted American holiday. Some see it as a celebration of family and friends, others prefer to use it as a time of giving, some unabashedly look forward to receiving, and Christians demand that our fellow Christmas observers acknowledge that Jesus is the real \u201creason for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBaby Jesus\u201d is the main character of the evangelical church\u2019s national Christmas play, and Christians and non-Christians alike marvel at our nativity scenes, storybooks, Hallmark cards and pop songs and proclaim, \u201cIsn\u2019t that cute?\u201d They\u2019re right to do so. Babies are cute.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know offhand the origin of Christmas as a holiday. I\u2019m not sure if it was the concept of \u201cBaby Jesus\u201d or something else that dominated the thoughts of the church when the holiday was first founded. But I do know that such a singularly minded holiday tends to be needlessly fruitless.<\/p>\n
In Christmas, Christians have an unprecedented opportunity to engage the world in celebration of the real miracle of Christmas. Not the miracle of birth, but the miracle of incarnation. We\u2019re not merely celebrating \u201cThe Birthday of Jesus,\u201d as if the only thing that made Christmas special was that a really important person was born on this day. Instead, we ought to celebrate the incarnation. God became man. God with us. God as one of us, for our sakes.<\/p>\n
This truth is not \u201ccute.\u201d It is earthy. It is Jesus\u2019 first great sacrifice. It was an unpleasant reality for that particular person of the Trinity. And it was a glorious beginning to a glorious gospel story. \u201cAway in a Manger\u201d doesn\u2019t cover it. \u201cSilent Night\u201d is not enough. We don\u2019t merely admire a \u201choly infant so tender and mild.\u201d We must acknowledge the truth that though Jesus was God he did not consider such a status something to cling to but instead made himself a humble servant in the form of mankind. From His perspective this is both a glorious and ugly truth. From our perspective it is a glorious and humbling truth.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christmas is more than likely the most diluted American holiday. Some see it as a celebration of family and friends, others prefer to use it as a time of giving, some unabashedly look forward to receiving, and Christians demand that our fellow Christmas observers acknowledge that Jesus is the real “reason for the season.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[256],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-culture","tag-christmas"],"yoast_head":"\n