“for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11, NASB95)

I am excited about celebrating Christmas. It is a wonderful time to spend with family, eat delicious food, and give and receive gifts. I am off work for the day. I look forward to the specialness of the day. It is not an ordinary day. We decorate, time a break from our routine and make it a festive day. But it is more than that. It is Christmas! That’s what I want to write about today.

Christmas is a word that simply means the Mass of Christ. It is a religious, Christian holy day (holiday). It is a celebration of Christ’s birth. It is a festival to remember that God loved us so much that he became Immanuel, God with us. It is a time to remember that God incarnate dwelt on this earth and participated in life with mortal man. It is the opportunity to remember that God became human flesh. He did this so that he could become the perfect man and thereby the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Since Christmas is a religious holiday, celebrated by Christians and cultures influenced by Christianity, it amazes me that so many non-Christians choose to celebrate it. They obviously don’t celebrate it as a day to worship the Almighty, praising him for the gift of salvation through his Son. What is their purpose for celebrating?

If I decided to take Feb 27 off from work, spent days cleaning, decorating, and planning for Maha Shivaratri, my friends and family would think I was crazy and had lost my mind. I am not Hindu. To make plans to celebrate an Indian holiday that is designed to worship Lord Shiva, a deity I do not believe in, would be absurd. It would be even more ridiculous for me to celebrate it and tell all the traditional worshippers that they needed to take Lord Shiva out of the holiday. People would think I was insane to celebrate their religious holiday without celebrating their religion or faith.

It seems to me that it is equally insane to celebrate Christmas without a decidedly Christian view. It is also absurd for people to think that I want to or should have to celebrate the holy day without reference to the Deity that I worship. To leave Christ and references to him out of the celebration is to negate the reason for the holiday. It is not at all odd or strange for me to celebrate Christmas; I believe in Christ. On the other hand, it is quite peculiar that so many who openly make fun of religion and claim no faith, celebrate Christmas.

I wonder if this is because the Christian community has not celebrated in a way that we distinguish Christmas as a holy day. Do we center it around the gift of the Christ Child? Do we worship on that day? Is my focus on the Great Gift Giver or the great gifts? Is my celebration any different from my secular counterparts? If I expect the world to respect my Christian traditions and faith, then I have to make them about Christ. Let us each pray that God through the power of the Spirit leads each of us into holy celebration this Christmas. Let’s do our part to keep Christ in Christmas.