Redeeming Christmas

During the next few weeks our posts on worship.vintage21.com will focus on preparation for the season of Advent. Please join in the conversation by commenting after posts, or email matt at vintage21.com with questions, ideas, or topics you’re interested in.

“Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home the ordinariness of things.” – Screwtape, from The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Years ago I drove cross-country with two close friends. This was before the internet had inundated all aspects of society, so while we had cell phones all they did was make phone calls. We winged it the whole way, searching for places to sleep alongside the road and eating at whatever establishment was nearby. On several occasions we found ourselves stopping in the middle of the nowhere, which looking back now I do not recommend for anyone the least bit concerned with their safety or well-being. These suburban-bred boys were not aware that streetlights aren’t on every road, so we’d end up in the pitch black, using the headlights to guide us in setting up the tent. The next morning was usually interesting as we’d find ourselves either next to a cliff, on someone’s property, or 50 feet from a much better camping spot. While we wouldn’t have chosen to locate a camping spot and set up in such darkness, the trade-off was worth it; we were shocked at the amount of stars visible in the night sky. Our first thought was, “Are there more stars here than back home?” We quickly realized that back home there are just as many stars, only no one can see them due to all the light created by our homes, shopping malls, ballfields, and cars. On nights when my gaze turns upward, I remember there are much more stars than are visible.

This is the case with all of our lives. As Screwtape writes in the above quote, it’s “all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before our eyes”. The world is so full of noise and man-made lights that we’re unable to see the wonder of God’s creation or hear the low whisper of God. The Holy Spirit convicts our hearts and guides us towards holiness but it’s easy to become distracted or even distract ourselves. During the season of Advent, a season of listening to the Spirit, meditating on the words and promises of Scripture, and singing the words of Advent hymns with great thoughtfulness and conviction, we are bombarded with jingles, sales and expectations. There are Christmas parties, gift exchanges, daily battles with holiday traffic, sales, advertisements, and it seems that time speeds up during the month of December. Before you can say “Yuletide” it’s Christmas Eve and you’re in a candlelight service, trying to prepare your heart for the “true meaning of Christmas”. We’re fooling ourselves if we believe this hour honors God when it’s surrounded by a hijacked holiday of consumerism, tradition and togetherness. In years past I’ve been convicted during the Christmas Eve service to honor Jesus on Christmas morning, only to wake up and go about the day designed to celebrate the birth of our Savior by not celebrating the birth of our Savior at all.

What’s the solution for followers of Christ? Do we burn the tree, tear down the decorations, and dump out the green bean almondine? Is it a sin to go to the mall? Should we create a commune of people that only celebrate Christmas through prayer and the reading of Scripture? In some ways, this withdrawing from society wouldn’t honor the birth of the Savior any more than the current system of celebration. We should follow the example of Jesus, who faced the same dilemma when He walked on earth. At that time, the Pharisees were busy distorting the meaning of the Law and the Prophets. Jesus’ response was one of protest, but not through withdrawal. Quite the opposite; he lived among and spread a message of hope to everyone around him – tax collectors, prostitutes, pharisees and fisherman. Jesus and His disciples, and later the church, are the sent people of God. The church is called the Body of Christ, and Christ both compels and commands us to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16). We are on the mission of God to spread the good news of Immanuel to a lost and dying world. Shame on us if we allow society to settle for a consumeristic Christmas! Who will redeem this holiday, if not the church? Instead of judging those who do not know the truth, sing the truth of God with greater fervor and more confidence than anyone’s ever heard. There’s something wrong when our friends and neighbors visit our churches during Advent and hear us singing songs of the Incarnation as simple quaint, traditional melodies. The world has been changed, we have been freed from the slavery of sin and selfishness, and we have the message of true hope. We must not allow ourselves to settle for the temporal, and we should not remove ourselves from those who need this message. This message from Bruce Benedict (@cardiphonia), music director at Christ The King Church in Raleigh and author of the blog Cardiphonia, is a appropriate call to the church during this season:

“Advent is a time to cry out. A time to trim the wicks and ready oneself for the final battle of all things. Advent is a time to make a joyful noise so loud that the angelic hosts are roused in jealousy of our Christ infused praise.”

Let’s not allow the traditions of the worldly celebration of Christmas to distract us from Advent, but spend time preparing our hearts to cry out with joy. See you Sunday, when it all begins!

Previous Advent posts:

• Advent 2010 Introduction
• Advent: More Than A Manger
• Christmas: The Worst Cover Song Ever