Wednesday, December 04, 2013

A Christian on Christmas

I am a Christian.
I celebrate Christmas
(after Advent, however.)
I just want to say
that not all Christians feel the need
to cram Christmas down the throats
of everyone else.
Some of us are quite happy
to observe the Christmas Season --
which is, believe it or not, only 12 days long,
beginning on Christmas Day --
in our churches and homes.
I don't need to see a Nativity scene
on the courthouse lawn,
or Christmas trees in every home,
or have someone in a store
say "Merry Christmas" to me
every day from Thanksgiving on
in order to celebrate Christmas.
And now:
On with Advent.
[by Katie Sherrod]

1 comment:

RonF said...

The War on Christmas is not being fought by store clerks who wish us "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". It's being fought - and, I suggest, lost - by the circumstance that in our culture this has become noticeable because people have more contact with store clerks than they do their friends and families during Advent.

There IS a reason for the season. And it's not to load up our stress levels and our credit cards buying, giving and receiving gifts.

At least, not gifts you can buy in a store. Not gifts of things. Jesus DID ask us to give gifts , but to honor God and each other, not in honor of his birth. Gifts of compassion, gifts of help, gifts of honor and respect and a recognition of each others' humanity. Gifts of love, gifts of that most precious commodity you have - your time. You can't keep it, it passes regardless of whether you watch TV or help a friend.

These days I think that if you want to give someone a gift, take a look at the gifts you have been given and use them. Late in my life as it is I've been given the gift of music (or perhaps more accurately, I've been able to revive the gift I was given a long time ago but laid aside). I find that whenever I use it to make music for others I get back more than I give.

You who are reading this? You have such a gift. I don't know what it is, but God has given each one of us one. Find it. Use it. Give it.

Merry Christmas!