Jesus Is The Reason For The Season?

Merry Christmas to everyone…here’s a few thoughts from actionchurch’s Chief Creative Officer- Josiah

If you attended a christmas eve service last night you may have been reminded that: “Jesus is the reason for the season.” I attended two different services because I needed reminded of that twice… (No, not really, I am just a good boyfriend and a good son)

It made me think though. This time of year is already crowded with tv ads from Target, donation pleas from food banks, emails from African princes, and church’s trying to get you to come to their christmas eve service. Do you ever feel like Jesus is being sold for Christmas right along with the Tickle-Me-Elmo’s, Wii’s, and cowboy boots? I am not disputing that Jesus came to earth at this time of year, or that we should be thankful that he was sent.

But I, like most other Americans, just try my best to ignore advertising and its various messages now. We all have become callus to companies and churches trying to sell us what they believe we need. Even the message of “Don’t forget what Christmas is really about” needs another message on top to remind me to “Don’t ignore the ‘don’t forget what Christmas is really about’ message.”

I think the best present we can give our neighbors is not an invitation to a christmas eve service, but maybe a friendly invitation to coffee and christmas cookies at our house Nobody cares if you figured out a clever catch phrase to put on your church sign. Let’s stop selling Jesus 1 month out of the year, and start showing some love that Jesus showed to our neighbors all the time.

Merry Christmas.

Josiah

One thought on “Jesus Is The Reason For The Season?”

Thanks, Josiah :) I enjoyed your post. For me, Christmas has evolved into something that makes me sad. As a kid, naturally, Christmas was my favorite holiday. Later, as a young 20-something and new believer, Christmas suddenly had a deep spiritual meaning for me that it never had and I loved it. Once I had children of my own, the focus shifted to creating a ‘magical’ holiday for my family. This meant doing a lot of ‘stuff’ during the season, Christmas-y stuff. Every year I’d add more stuff to my To-Do list to make the ‘season bright’. Every December day was a wind-sprint — the month, a marathon. Now my kids are older (teens) and unfortunately I’ve set the precedent for what makes Christmas Christmas in our house. The spiritual aspect has all but slipped away. I’ve been a Christian for 20 years and still fight the trappings of materialism and busy-ness that overtake my household despite a personal resolve to ‘be different this year’…..I’ve become very Grinchy about it. I find myself at the end of Christmas day with a feeling that is a mixture of exhaustion and sweet relief! It’s over, I think to myself. I don’t like feeling like this, but I do!

Anonymous on December 26, 2008 at 9:15 am said:

Thanks, Josiah :) I enjoyed your post. For me, Christmas has evolved into something that makes me sad. As a kid, naturally, Christmas was my favorite holiday. Later, as a young 20-something and new believer, Christmas suddenly had a deep spiritual meaning for me that it never had and I loved it. Once I had children of my own, the focus shifted to creating a ‘magical’ holiday for my family. This meant doing a lot of ‘stuff’ during the season, Christmas-y stuff. Every year I’d add more stuff to my To-Do list to make the ‘season bright’. Every December day was a wind-sprint — the month, a marathon. Now my kids are older (teens) and unfortunately I’ve set the precedent for what makes Christmas Christmas in our house. The spiritual aspect has all but slipped away. I’ve been a Christian for 20 years and still fight the trappings of materialism and busy-ness that overtake my household despite a personal resolve to ‘be different this year’…..I’ve become very Grinchy about it. I find myself at the end of Christmas day with a feeling that is a mixture of exhaustion and sweet relief! It’s over, I think to myself. I don’t like feeling like this, but I do!