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November 29, 2013

Keeping Christ in Christmas - Bro. Victor D'Souza


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.

Written and compiled by Victor D’Souza with some references taken from www.christianity.com and www.beliefnet.net