The "Holiday" Controversy

We just finished up another holiday season. It seems that more attention was paid to society trying to take Christ out of Christmas than to actually celebrating Christ in our lives and the lives of our families. As I consider the following events—companies enforcing a “holiday” rather than “Christmas” season; Christians getting ticked off that churches are closing on Christmas Sunday; and the insanity of commercialistic gift buying—I am struck with this conclusion: Christians don’t know how to celebrate our religious holidays properly. I think of Christmas and Easter especially.

Instead of celebrating them for what they truly are, we have allowed worldly traditions to influence and, at times, dictate how we celebrate. Does it seem contradictory that Christians are up in arms about churches closing on Christmas, but on that day talk about a fictitious pseudo-super hero that has invaded the house the previous night leaving a bunch of crap that we don’t need? Does it seem contradictory to consider Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection in the same breath as an oversized magical bunny that brings chocolate?

Obviously, I would say that it is contradictory. So it led me to a different question: “Do we need Santa or the Easter Bunny to celebrate the significance of our holidays?” Cleary we would all answer, “No. We don’t need these icons to celebrate the holiday.” Then why do we have them? What would happen if we ignored them? Ceased to mention them to our kids? Explained them as fictitious from an early age?

Some might say, “You are taking away the magic and excitement of the holiday for the kids.” So kids need these characters and extraneous practices to enjoy the holidays? I don’t think so. What is more magical than God raising His Son from the dead? What is more exciting than God coming to earth as a baby? How about focusing on these foundational pillars of faith rather than fantasy?

Instead, we let these other traditions and practices invade our celebrations, and these seasons quickly change from a focus on God’s acts of grace, salvation and redemption and turn into a selfish receiving of gifts based on our action (i.e. if you aren’t good Santa won’t come). I’m tired of the hypocrisy of Christians getting upset about stupid things while ignoring the most important aspects. As Christians, shouldn’t we focus our attention and energy on celebrating what God has done and remove the selfish actions that do not contribute to remembering Him? Or maybe I am just a humbug scrooge.