It Must Be Okay to Ignore Christmas

Really, I shouldn't. I mean look at all these churches that change their names to be more "appealing" to the non-churched, but in doing so actually create more distance and obscurity from their supposed true mission.

The points surrounding discussions and dismay about churches cancelling Sunday services because it falls on a holiday, one of the biggest holidays in the Christian celebration (shadowed only by Easter) seems to be lost on these non-descript Megachurches.

I'm sure it all has to deal with the War on Christmas. Well, actually, yes. It is a war between our own personal wants and wishes vs. what Jesus commands us as Christians to do. It is about commericialism and materialism of a most precious and sacred holiday. It is forsaking our church communities and communities that need church, for selfish desires of self and family.

Here's the so-called War on Christmas:

Certain department stores where people buy unneeded materialistic Christmas gifts for their loved ones won't say "Merry Christmas." What's the message here? Christmas is all about saying the right words, regardless if the person means it, when one is shopping for materialistic presents for their pseudo-sacred holiday to honor only themselves.

Here's the real War on Christmas:

Not only does a majority of US Christians not understand basic concepts of their Christian faith, but so do churches, especially Megachurches. Perry Noble, a minister of one of these non-descript megachurches, even gave an analogy based on the materialistic habits of his family's Christmas to explain why Christians and other churches should not be upset with their church for cancelling their Sunday service. You gotta read his post! (And then come back and comment, of course.) It is simply amazing that these leaders of their Megachurches just don't get it themselves, and feel justified in dismissing the presence of Christ in Christmas. There's the special presents of Christ in our Christian churches when we come together to celebrate a spiritual and sacred miracle that happened one day over two thousand years ago that to this day give us hope and promise.

Sure, they say that they are holding 16 services in that week leading up to Christmas, but there is something about that one day. Something so special that in fact, out of all the sacred days Christians celebrate, this is the only one that our Federal government lets everyone have the day off, so it is even more special for Christians and non-believers alike. Basically, all citizens of the United States knows that Christmas Day is special, and of those Americans that don't know much about Christmas or Jesus, this is the day they might decide to go and seek to know this Christ, this child born to save. You'd think we could wait to open our materialistic presents (or even open them at another time entirely, like maybe on New Year's Day instead-the materialism of time holiday when we honor the clock god that would be so fitting to celebrate our love of materialism), so we can come together on Christmas Day and be there not only for our church family but also for non-believers to know that our holiday is not just about giving each other materialistic presents? Far from that, it is about the gift of Salvation Jesus brings, and it is about sharing that hope and promise to those who seek it. And, this year, it conveniently falls on a day most churches are worshipping their Lord and Savior, anyway. Perfect, right? But, how can a church share that hope and promise when they are so busy being greedy? Right? Riiiight...

But, these are leaders of churches who claim that it is okay to be absent from the presence of Christ in the church community on a sacred day to open materialistic presents and overindulge. It must be okay, then, to ignore the blessedness of one sacred day.

It is kind of like Joseph and Mary being relegated to deliver their child, God's child, in the lower rooms of the house with the animals, and to rest our Savior's head in a manger, because there was no room for them in the "inn." It must have been okay to ignore the Savior, then, too.