There's an old History Channel special on the history of Christmas that usually starts playing this time of year, and is also available on YouTube. I've seen it a few times over the years, but it's always a good thing to watch, and I suspect I will watch it again this year. If nothing else, it's a good reminder that, when laid out in 2,000 years of sequence, how easy it is to see all the trappings of the world we have allowed to intrude on the way we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

From ancient pagan traditions that were adopted into the earliest forms of the "Christ mass," to Clement Moore's St. Nick poem and Madison Avenue's marketing here in America, we've been hit from every side with layers to add to the simple Christmas story that we claim to be celebrating. There are so many externals we've come to accept that really don't have anything to do with the incarnation of the Son of God. And as much as everyone wants to "keep Christ in Christmas," the reality is, most of what we do this time of year has little to do with Jesus, other than maybe a manger scene on our coffee table and a few Christmas carols that we hear playing in the store while we shop.

Now, let me say, this is not intended to heap more guilt onto your shoulders. It is a suggestion, in this season of Advent, to re-evaluate what this thing we call Christmas is all about. What steps can we as the people of God take to do things a little differently? Are there realistic ways that we can remember "the reason for the season" and not get caught up in the commercialization we all complain about, yet most participate in? How can we honor Jesus in our environment of Christian community, and how can we truly put Him first in our family traditions?

My one suggestion: simplify. I know it’s a little late in the season, but there's still time to make some choices--10 days, in fact--that you don't have to get caught in the world's trap, stress yourself out, spend all your money, and chase the fantasy that we've made Christmas into. Just say no. It's okay.

Some people will probably think you're crazy, and no doubt some will call you Ebenezer Scrooge or the Grinch. But that doesn't matter. To truly be a follower of Christ, you often have to go against the flow. In fact, there's no occasion in all of Scripture that more confounded the conventional wisdom of the world than the birth of Jesus we are supposedly celebrating.

Who would have thought that the Messiah would be born to an unwed teenage mother, and laid in an animal food trough? The witnesses were not royalty but lowly shepherds--and a few cattle. This was the greatest of stories ever told, yet it unfolded not with great fanfare but in the simplest and most unexpected of ways. So, if you want to follow the Biblical pattern, go against the flow. Strip away all the accessorizing that now comes with our American Christmas, along with all the expectations from the world, and do it your own way. Or better yet, His way.

I won't prescribe what your Christmas should look like, and how you and your family should celebrate the holiday(s), but I will suggest, strongly, that you not succumb to the pressure of the world to do it their way. 

I do pray you and your family have a joy-filled season, and that you truly experience "peace on earth" during this season of the year. I'm praying for you, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

--Pastor Ken