Christmas- a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ or to put it like how my friend tells her children, to have a birthday party for Jesus. here in good ol' America, we celebrate by decorating trees, making dozens (or hundreds) of cookies, going to sit on Santa's lap, watching Elf, gathering together with family, giving and receiving gifts, and many more "Christmas" related activities.
some people know that i am not your typical fan of all the ways that we celebrate Christmas (ex. i do not intentionally listen to Christmas music or watch many Christmas movies). i do love to make Christmas cookies and gathering around the table with my relatives. something i am just trying to figure out is truly how do we put the Christ back into Christmas? and no i am not just saying that to be cliche. i want to know how do we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior? i do not think there is one way, but i do believe we are called to honor and glorify God. this means we put Him before ourselves. Christmas has become more about winter activities and presents than about Jesus.
another factor into this discussion i am having with myself is that for the last 5 months i have worked at a place with Christmas in the title. the whole point of Operation Christmas Child is to spread the name of Jesus by using a shoe box full of gifts as a starting point to do that. they use gift giving and Christmas as a way to spread the Gospel.
this makes me wonder, how do people in other countries or cultures that follow Jesus celebrate His birth? additionally, what do people who do not believe in Jesus think Christmas means?
these are questions i have and do not expect anyone to answer all for me. celebrating Jesus is a wonderful thing. Christmas should be a celebration of His love, His sacrifice of coming to earth and His grace. He is worthy of our time, celebration and yes a party.
how do you celebrate Jesus' birth? what do you think a celebration of His birth, love and sacrifice should include?
p.s. some of you might find this amusing. i went caroling for the first time last week to an elderly home with Source. we first did crafts with the folks there and made them gift baskets. then we went to deliver the gifts while caroling. the smiles on their faces were priceless. i realized that i do like Christmas music when caroling.
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