Christmas?

Few things have the power to get under my skin more than 'Christmas'. So few people know anything about Christmas. The well educated may well know that Christmas is placed on December 25th due to the pagan holiday of Saturnalia. These people may also know that this was not so with the very early Christian church and was an invention of the Roman Catholic Church. But really, how many everyday average people know and understand this? And how many of the people who do apply this?

My senior year in high school, about this time of year, I did a research paper based on the common Christian knowledge of Christmas. For the paper I asked every Christian who would take the survey questions about Christmas such as how long Christmas was, when it started, how many gospels contain a 'Christmas story', how many wise men there were, what gifts they brought, when the wise men visited Jesus etc etc. The results were horrific. I don't have the paper with me right now to give the exact results, but I do remember that only 1 of 25 polled people would have 'passed' if I had graded it like a test. In fact, everyone reading this should answer the questions listed above to see how well they'd do. Now for the answers. Christmas lasts for 12 days. It begins Christmas day. Only two gospels contain a christmas story: Matthew And Luke. Neither of the gospels specify the number of magi that visited Christ; the common answer of 'three' comes from the three gifts. The magi did not visit Christ as a child, they visited him much later, most experts agreeing on 5 or 6 years old.

Back to the point I wanted to make, few Christians know anything about Christmas because a culture of consumerism has pushed santa clause and presents on us. Stereotypical nativity scenes are as christian as you'll find in todays secular world. No magnificent saviour is presented to save us from our sins, just a little baby in a manger. Christmas builds up to Christmas day with sales and Santa all to end abruptly December 26th with 'after Christmas sales'. Christmas does not end Dec. 26th, its just getting under way! Celebrating Christmas during advent cheapens the holiday, makes Christians blend in with the unsaved, and promotes a commercialism which is contrary to what Christmas is about.

In response to this many Christians have rightly noticed that Christmas was not celebrated by the early church nor is it set out in the scriptures, and have decided to not celebrate Christmas at all. To these people I say 'more power to you'. But to those of us who want to have a set aside time to celebrate the birth of the saviour, we need to have an established time to do so. We need to have a time that is set aside for worshiping the saviour, and it's not a Christmas eve service, its a season. It should not be dictated by the culture around us in the same way that nothing in the Christian life should be dictated by non-Christians.

Some Christians have also seen this point and embarked on a quest to "Put Christ back in Christmas". They have such sayings as "Jesus is the reason for the season" and such not, but are ultimately doomed to fail as long as we let the world tell us when and what Christmas is. If you want to take back the meaning of Christmas, take back the time of Christmas. Put Christmas in it's proper time and celebrate Advent when it should be celebrated.