So, my lovely wife Beth brought home some cereal from the grocery the other day. It was Capt. Crunch...the Christmas version. It has red & green pieces in it to commemorate the birth of Jesus...wait...red & green have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus do they?
So, I was on my way to work the other day and saw a Christmas themed billboard about some sort of alcoholic beverage, because nothing says "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" like killing a few brain cells and getting drunk...no, wait, that doesn't have anything to do with the birth of Jesus either.
So, I was watching the news the other day when I saw a story about people trampling a Wal-Mart employee to death because that represents the Virgin birth of Jesus... no, wait, that has nothing to do Jesus either...hmmmmmm.
So what does happen this time of year that has to do with the Greatest Birth to ever take place? Not much. You may see a Nativity set on someone's lawn or mantle, or maybe hear the radio station that plays Christmas Music 24/7 from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas Day. You may even pull out the Christmas videos/dvds and start watching them, you know, uh, well, uh, there really aren't very many anymore that have to do with the Baby Jesus.
If you're lucky, you may catch "The Little Drummer Boy" on late one night. It's on late so as not to offend those who don't believe that Christmas has anything to do with Jesus...unfortunately they are becoming correct.
Most of us know that Jesus wasn't born in December...more than likely He was born in the spring to coincide with the birth of lambs, many of which would be raised in a good Jewish home for 1 year only to be slaughtered as the Passover sacrifice the next spring...coincidence? I think not.
Most of us also know that December 25th is a holiday date of pagan origin, as is the Christmas tree. Many of the "window dressings" of Christmas are of pagan origin.
So what do we do with this information? Do we harp on it and rag on the people who celebrate this time of the year? Do we stand on a street corner and try to dissuade people from buying the evergreen trees which are a symbol of the fertility gods & godesses of the eastern European countries?
What we can do is...we celebrate the wondrous, Virgin Birth of the One Child who was born with the sole purpose of living a sinless life and dying a death that was meant for you & me. We do not keep this holiday for pagan reasons...if we knew all the things that we do/participate in that have "pagan origins" we would probably never leave our homes!
Remember, in spite of the nonsense that goes on this time of year; in spite of the commercialism and the selfishness that runs rampant the month of December, we must celebrate the One who came to make forgiveness available for the above mentioned offenses.
Think about it.
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