Holiday Greeting
"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." -Jos 24:14-15
This verse jumped out at me because of how relevant it seems to me in these days of "Happy Holidays." Is it evil in your eyes to serve the LORD and say "Merry Christmas"? Christians, we should not be saying "Happy Holidays." Which holiday, and which God are we serving and encouraging others to serve? Do we really want to wish people a Happy Hanukkah and encourage their celebration of denying Jesus as Messiah? Or Happy Muslimness? Or Happy Kwanzaa? Or maybe Happy New Year--go get drunk? The fact is, unless it is serving the Lord, it is not a holiday.
But the problem is that we Christians have become so like the world, serving the world's God (money), that the world has hijacked our celebration of the Lord's birth, and reclaimed it as its own. So when you're out shopping and the cashier says "Happy Holidays" what he's really saying is "These days are holy to our money god. This is our month-long celebration of how rich and materialistic we are. Thank you for worshiping money with your Visa."
Oh, Lord, come quickly before my cynicism makes me explode.....
4 comments:
I actually really appreciate that! (tho I guess if I knew someone was jewish and that they celebrated Hannukah I would like to wish them happiness during their correct holiday) but you make a good point. I HATE the whole PC thing. Lumping everything all together has devalued all of it. "Happy Holidays" is just stupid and meaningless, especially because it's overused (and sometimes mangled) in EVERY SINGLE COMMERCIAL this time of year (Happy Honda Days, anyone?) It really is the mantra of anyone company or product trying to get your money from Halloween thru New Years. maybe I'll just wish everyone a Merry Christmas this year and see how many dirty looks I get (not too many, I'm betting, I don't know too many non-Christmas celebrators)
Anyway, I'll stop blogging on your blog now... =) Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Tex.
Here's a blog post that might resonate with you:
http://branthansen.typepad.com/letters_from_kamp_krusty/2007/12/the-krusty-sage.html
But while I sympathize with your disgust in the commercialization of Christmas, I really don't get bent around the axle about whether someone says, "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" or what have you. The fact is that as you have stated, the traditional Christian celebration of Christmas has been turned on its head, so it's not as though saying "Merry Christmas" is any kind of a witness for Christ. And frankly, while Christmas is a wonderful tradition, and used wisely is a great time to explain Christ and the good news to others, it is just that - a tradition. If Christmas were completely eradicated from the earth today, we would still have Christ's sacrifice on the cross. That is the good news, and to me that is what we need to always remain focused on. Traditions, even Christmas, are only valuable as pointers to the Cross and the Resurrection. In and of themselves they are of little value, and I think we as Christians need to spend less time bemoaning the death of Christians and more time preaching Christ raised from the dead.
Love ya, man. Hope you and your family are healthy and have a wonderful Christmas.
Just to clarify, I meant to say ...bemoaning the death of Christmas.
Gostei muito desse post e seu blog é muito interessante, vou passar por aqui sempre =) Depois dá uma passada lá no meu site, que é sobre o CresceNet, espero que goste. O endereço dele é http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . Um abraço.
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