RetroPost: A Christian Defense of a "Secular" Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How should Christians react to this lovely mess of a holiday?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RetroPost: A Christian Defense of a "Secular" Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How should Christians react to this lovely mess of a holiday?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ and Pop Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-07T12:47:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"RetroPost: A Christian Defense of a "Secular" Christmas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-07T12:47:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-07T12:47:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/0bdc31762aa5cf11482f62fa9cff4bec\"},\"description\":\"How should Christians react to this lovely mess of a holiday?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"RetroPost: A Christian Defense of a "Secular" Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\",\"name\":\"Christ and Pop Culture\",\"description\":\"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/0bdc31762aa5cf11482f62fa9cff4bec\",\"name\":\"Richard Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e3dd0a7d6dd52cb9d13b58a7fa83e1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e3dd0a7d6dd52cb9d13b58a7fa83e1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Clark\"},\"description\":\"Richard H. 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{"id":8493,"date":"2010-12-07T08:47:50","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T12:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=8493"},"modified":"2010-12-07T08:47:50","modified_gmt":"2010-12-07T12:47:50","slug":"retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2010\/12\/retropost-a-christian-defense-of-a-secular-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"RetroPost: A Christian Defense of a "Secular" Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

RetroPost is a weekly repost of an older Christ and Pop Culture that has some relevance to current pop culture events or releases. <\/em><\/p>\n

This Week: An appeal for a more laid back \u2013 but no less thoughtful \u2013 approach to Christmas.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

It starts every year, right after Thanksgiving, commencing with the biggest shopping day of the year and finally ending with the welcoming of a new year. It causes stress and intensifies family divides. Of course, I\u2019m referring to the great debate about how (and whether) Christians ought to celebrate holidays.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the debate about Christmas has become just as common and all-consuming for many Christians as the holiday itself, and for many this is by design. Beginning with Thanksgiving and ending with the New Year, many Christians begin a marathon of holiday\u00a0abstinence, preferring the bare minimum when it comes to traditions, entertainment, and exchanging gifts.<\/p>\n

Others find such abstinence to be nearly impossible, and seek to make the best of their situation by co-opting secular celebrations and icons<\/a> and making them distinctly Christian<\/a> in order to serve our own purposes and to quiet our own consciences.<\/p>\n

Finally, many Christians spend the season in a funk, sent into a rage whenever someone at the supermarket wishes them \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d rather than \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d or when \u201cChristmas\u201d is spelled in the shorthand, \u201cX-Mas\u201d. The \u201cWar Against Christmas\u201d is well underway, we are told, and we are losing. The fault belongs to those who refuse to take a stand.<\/p>\n

It becomes very confusing and exhausting indeed for the undecided Christian to navigate through this\u00a0labyrinth\u00a0of opinions and passions<\/strong>, especially because this is not simply a personal choice. It is, in fact a choice that impacts those with whom we share Christmas. Those who abstain often hurt the feelings of those who expect a traditional Christmas. Those who co-opt Christmas often become stumbling blocks for those who despise Christmas. Those who become angry and agitated anger and agitate those around them.<\/p>\n

God help the non-Christians, who tend to observe the entire mess with an air of amusement and aloofness. They have enough to worry about over the holidays. They\u2019re glad they don\u2019t have to\u00a0over-think\u00a0the meaning of every tree, candle, angel and mythical iconic saint.<\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019ve had experience within every one of those ideological Christmas camps. I\u2019ve had the arguments every year, each year my argument varying a little bit differently with the next. I believe strongly that the Christian ought to be willing to abstain from any sin which entangles and\u00a0entraps\u00a0us, even if our culture deems it good. I believe in embracing good and distinctly Christian aspects of our culture and the Christmas season, even if they seem silly to others. I also believe in doing so fearlessly, even if my distinctly Christian celebration may offend others.<\/p>\n

Frankly though, I think Christmas could be so much more enjoyable and beneficial for us if we backed up a little bit and allowed ourselves a little bit of perspective. What if our unbelieving community, neighbors, friends, and relatives aren\u2019t trying to steal Christmas, or change it into a completely secular holiday? What if a Christmas tree isn\u2019t a pagan symbol or <\/em>a metaphor for the cross, but instead just a beautiful centerpiece that reminds us of the holiday itself? What if Christmas is a Christian celebration with some elements that aren\u2019t distinctly Christian or anti-Christian in nature?<\/p>\n

In other words, what if what we\u2019re raging about or abstaining from is actually just more examples of God\u2019s grace to us? When we hold a sunrise service on Easter Sunday, do we complain that the sun is distracting from Christ\u2019s resurrection? When we hear a beautiful love song, do we despair that it\u2019s a godless pagan love anthem, or do we praise God for the existence of love in the world at all?<\/p>\n

The way we answer these questions will dictate how we respond to Christmas, the culture around us, and the people we run into every day. My personal approach is to focus primarily on the gospel, not just during Christmas time but during every day of the year, and to see each and every holiday, celebration, and popular cultural event in light of that gospel. I mourn the fact that many in this world do not love Christ as they could, but I rejoice in the fact that they \u2013 that we <\/em>\u2013 are shown grace each and every day by a Father that doesn\u2019t hesitate to shower us with gifts \u2013 whether we appreciate them as such or repudiate them as idols.<\/p>\n

This is my humble approach to the Christmas season. I think it may be the best one in this beautiful fallen world.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"