About or because of?

As I have grown up, Christmas seems to have lost some of the wide-eyed wonder that I remember it having as a child. Maybe it's because I'm older and more aware, or maybe it's because throughout the last 10 years or so, Christmas has become awfully commercialized. As much as we try to emphasize and tell our young ones and teach that Christmas is not about presents, our "it's all about me" culture stands in direct opposition to that. Even in my mind, Christmas is immediately associated with the busyness.... of shopping for gifts. Black Friday (or should I say Thursday?), and TV ads obsessed with stuff don't help much.

 See, as much as we say that Christmas is about Jesus, I think that it's not anymore. Not even for most Christian families. In my opinion, the church has followed right along with the secular belief that Christmas is about family, food, and giving gifts. It only takes a second to realize that those three thing dominate the season, and Jesus takes the back seat, possibly getting mentioned when we read the Christmas story on Christmas morning. It goes so far that when we explain Operation Christmas Child to young kids, the thing we put emphasis on is that the kids may never have received a Christmas present before, not that they may never have heard about Jesus!

For the church, I believe Christmas has shifted from being about Jesus, to being because of Jesus. For example, we call Sunday "Sunday" because of the Latin phrase "dies solis," which means sun's day, the name of a pagan Roman holiday. Does that mean that Sunday is about worshipping the sun? No! It's called that because of an old holiday, it's not about it. In the same way, just because we celebrate Christmas because Jesus was born, that doesn't mean we make it about Him.

The world is fierce with its commercialization. It is estimated that the average American sees 3,000+ advertisements every single day. We have to make a point to make Christmas about Jesus, not just because of Him.