Doing Christmas is common in most churches—so is having Christmas. Rare, however, is actually celebrating Christmas. That sort of all too infrequent commemoration requires more than handbell concerts, decorations, and warm feelings.

Here are 3 essential promises that I have always made to the several congregations I’ve been privileged to serve:

1. We will talk and sing about the coming of Christ in the context of who He is in his full majesty and glory, the Bridegroom of the church.

Stop me if you’ve heard all this before (and you have, I’m sure), but somehow even sophisticated Christians become charmed by the baby Jesus far more than they are willing to admit. I call it “Manger Moistness.” We often weep our way through the holidays remembering such things as our personal childhood promises both kept and unkept. We sometimes fail to see Christ’s explosive incarnational introduction to a personal relationship with the living God.

 2. We will allow and even encourage people to fully explore Christmas enjoyment.

Yes, you read it correctly.  

I love everything that could even be marginally thought of as Christmasy. I’m a Christmas freak! I like Santa Claus, Yule Logs, mistletoe, handbells, Salvation Army buckets, and, well...you name it. What’s more, I tend to drive right past a church billboard that suggests I shouldn't like those things. 

There is no sin in enjoying a season of giving, family gatherings, and lovely music, liberally sprinkled with prime colors, but we, the church, are not Target, and we don’t need to fulfill a role that retail does so well. (See Brian Mann's excellent video that goes with the graphic upper left)

Interestingly, the non-churched masses of the world we seek to influence at Christmas are actually quite willing to sing, hear an organ (if you’ve still got one around), cry, and even hear the story about how the mysterious Savior of the world came into existence. We often cheat these folks out of learning about Him because we are so busy trying to please them.

3. We will not pretend that all of the traditions we enjoy were packaged for our consumption the day Christ was born.

For example, Advent, as a ritual of the church, begins in the 4th century as you probably already know, but it often appears to Christians and non-Christians alike that the customs of Christian worship surrounding the birth of God’s Son were somehow written in stone like the Ten Commandments the day Christ was born.  

I’m glad we have these traditions because they center and focus our attention on the various aspects of prophecy and the fulfillment of that prophecy. That’s a good thing. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if people saw Christmas as organic and excitingly alive in the 21st century. 

Sometimes it seems that our sentimentalizing of Christmas customs gets in the way of providing deep connection with the basic message of God’s desiring a relationship with humankind.  

You may be in a church where that central relationship is the major theme of the days leading up to Christmas, but, unfortunately, it is also possible that you might have gotten caught in the  spiral of endless Christmas calendaring wherein Christ is essentially lost. 

Make a promise to yourself that Jesus will show up in everything you say and do this Christmas.  

Blessings 

Doug 

(see, too, Mitch Todd’s excellent Do Empty Christmas Rituals Leave You Feeling "Bah humbug?")

Also, have a taste of some of my favorite Christmas moments...

http://vimeo.com/33945546

http://vimeo.com/17754320

I love this!