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Christmas is Jesus

 


I am so frustrated how Christmas has become about Santa Claus and his magical elves and reindeer. I bet Gen Zers even think that Chris-tmas comes from Chris Kringle! Not knowing it comes from a combination of Christ and Mass; the mass that ushers in Christmas at midnight. 


This is the first year I have seen hardly or no Nativities for sale at stores. I use to count on the snow globe Nativity and the small sets. Now nothing.. oddly enough it was a bookstore this year that had Nativities in all types from painted hearts to porcelain and beyond. But that was the only place I found any decorations to celebrate Christ’s birth. All the main department stores had no Nativities, not even major name department stores. It is becoming increasingly evident that the true meaning of the holiday is being abandoned by the retail market, and now all that remains is the folklore and ‘magic.’


Christmas is suppose to be about Jesus, not a jolly fat man in wool jumpsuit. Its about “Away in a Manger” not “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” I feared this day would come, when people in society would have no idea what Christmas really is about, that all there would be is evergreen trees, Santas, and holly. It makes one feel depressed as a Christian, that soon we, the faithful, will be the only ones who know about “A Child Born Unto Us.” Then again maybe its a good thing, that we who worship Christ now have Christmas to ourselves, that we can cherish Him and let converts come to know the truth, that Christmas is Jesus. Perhaps rather than be dismayed that we cannot find a ton of “Jesus is the Reason For The Season” plaques, we live out those words as the congregations of Jesus! What if for once we set aside the the sword of the culture war, and made Christmas something special again in The Church? Is it possible that is what our Lord is up to? To rekindle our intimacy with Him at Christmas? I mean if we arn’t excited, why should the world be? Maybe its time for the Ecclesia to get right with Emmanuel instead of trying to win the culture over? Christianity from the beginning was not culturally accepted, the world persecuted the saints, because we do not belong to the world, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (Jesus Christ, from John 15:19-20). Amen. 


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