Christmas is the
most wonderful time of the year. However, in today’s world Christmas is
commercialized and the day has been secularized. The question we ask is: Are we
partly to blame for this commercialization and secularization? Haven’t we have
supported it in some form or another? We have taken our children to the mall
and have taken pictures with Santa. We have put gifts in the stocking and told
our Children they were gifts from Santa. We have made Santa Claus more popular than
Jesus. We have encouraged songs about Snow man, Santa Claus, Reindeer and what
have you….We have inadvertently helped, those that don’t want Christ, to remove
Him out of Christmas. But it’s never too late.
If millions of Christians put their heart and
mind to it, they can surely bring back Christ into Christmas.
But what does
keeping Christ in Christmas mean? The number one way to keep
Jesus Christ in your Christmas celebrations is to have him present in your
daily life and make Him the centre of your life. Keeping Christ in Christmas is
more about the way you live your life than the things you say, such as
"Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays."
Let us do things
differently this year. There are simple ways to keep Christ the central
focus of your life this Christmas season. Give God a special gift that is just
from you. Let this gift be something personal that no one else needs to know
about, and let it involve a sacrifice.
Visit a sick
relative, friend or an acquaintance that is homebound. Read the Bible, commit
to pray with family and friends this advent season. Pray for Peace. Set up a
Nativity scene in your home. It is a good reminder why we celebrate Christmas.
Send Christmas cards
that have Bible verses and artwork that remind the receiver about the arrival
of Jesus and not Santa Claus. Write Christmas and not X-mas. It would be good if Christian Canadians bought religious postage stamps,
although the tradition of sending Christmas card through mail is slowly dying.
It supports a worthy initiative from Canada Post, one of the few official shows
of Christianity when slowly but surely everything Christian is slowly being
removed, and helps keeps Christ in Christmas. Listen to Christian
music and carols sung by Christian artist. Shop at stores that keep Christ in
Christmas. Look for gifts that support Christian charity.
Volunteer to help the homeless. You can also
plan a project of goodwill to a needy family. Find someone with a genuine need,
involve your whole family and see how happy you can make someone this
Christmas. And
most importantly, we can lift our minds and hearts to Jesus in prayer. Here is
a prayer you could say from your heart.
“The Christmas
prayer” by Robert Louis Stevenson.:
Loving Father, help
us remember the birth of Jesus that we may share in the song of the angels, the
gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men. Close the door of hate
and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift
and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing
which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts. May the
Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy Children, and Christmas evening bring
us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.
