Let me share a story of my last Christmas in Ukraine. When I was 20 years old, for the first time I heard of the true reasons why Christ had to be born, live, suffer and be crucified. The story penetrated my heart so deeply that I could not wait till the next Sunday to go to church and reconcile my life with God. None of my friends were Christians, as a matter of fact, all of my friends did not have a good opinion about them. Christians in our town were considered to be a sect: people who do not cuss, do not drink, do not have pre-marital sex, do not lie, do not steal, do not complain, are not grouchy, etc… That Sunday, as I was walking the two mile distance across the Soviet Union collective farm fields, I cared little about the fact that I will lose all my friends. That did not really matter anymore. When I came to the church that morning, I told everyone who was present there that I wanted to know God, to love Him, to be called one of His children. I said that I was guilty of living a life that as if God did not exist. Among others I was known as a nice guy, the one who did well at school, never hurt anyone, always helped, but I knew that inside, my heart was rotten with pride, self love, fake humility, evil thoughts and lustful desires. The people in the church gladly accepted me into their family. One fellow came to me and said, “You know, tonight we are getting together for a Christmas celebration. Why don’t you come and join us?” I was shocked. The problem was that it was September. “What do you mean? Who celebrates Christmas in September?” He said that there is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas every day. Now that sounded strange to me, and so he proceeded to explain to me the true meaning of Christmas.
If we consider what happened on that day 2000 years ago (God becoming a man, born to be crucified) and why that happened (so that those who believe in Him will be freed from eternal hell and escape God’s righteous punishment for their sins), we have all the reasons to celebrate it every day. Thus the birth of Christ is the expression of God’s love towards those who do not deserve it. In other words, God, motivated by His holiness and love, sacrificed Himself for wicked humanity.
Human sins are so serious that there is no other way for us to be reconciled to God other than through the crucifixion of His Son. Think about it. If there would be any other way for God to save sinners, and we know that God is all powerful, He would have used that other option. Crucifixion of Christ would be the last resort. The problem is that it is the only option. Because nothing can satisfy the righteous demands of God to atone for sins of people unless it is a pure and blameless sacrifice. On this day we need to reflect on what it cost God to save us. That reflection should result in honor and glory of God. Our primary response on that day should be an examination of our hearts in the light of what God has done. And that examination should result in another step of becoming more and more like Christ, whose birth we are celebrating: meek, humble, self-controlled, patient, kind, loving, joyful, etc… Thus it is appropriate to celebrate Christmas every day, even in September. The problem is that unfortunately, we do not see Christmas being celebrated properly even on the 25th of December.
Some folks here think that Christmas is a time for a family to get together, others think that it is a time of giving, because they say God gave us His Son, so let us focus on giving and helping others. The problem with these two reasons is that we lose focus of what exactly happened on Christmas and what we should do as our response to it.
When the angels appeared to the shepherds on the first Christmas day, they told them that “unto you the Savior is born”. As a result the shepherds, the Bible says, “glorified and praised God”. When John the Baptist’s father spoke of the upcoming Christmas he also praised God because of the “salvation provided to God’s people through the forgiveness of their sins”. The birth of Christ, in other words, is linked with the salvation of sinners. Salvation from sin and from the punishment of sin. This is the central point of Christmas.
There is nothing wrong with getting together on Christmas, there is nothing wrong with giving to others, as long as we keep the reason for the season in perspective and “getting together” and “giving to others” do not dominate our minds and overshadow the true meaning of Christmas.
So let me come with a couple counter proposals for a new tradition for Christmas. The first one is that we forget about any gifts for Christmas and instead will exchange gifts on some other day, for example New Year or Thanksgiving or some other day or a day before Christmas. It may be difficult for an American culture to imagine, when there is not enough days in a calendar between the black Friday and December 24th. But this is how it is done in former Soviet Union countries. No gifts are exchanged on Christmas; all gifts are exchanged on New Year. It allows not polluting the holy holiday with consumerism which only produces jealousy, greed, hurt feelings, aggravation, and more importantly the reason for the season is lost. The family still should gather together, but we should not lose focus why we gather together. Back at home typically on Christmas besides a prayer before the meal we would read scriptures, sing couple of songs, everyone would pray in a circle. Church is obviously a vital part of the day, and we would conclude the day with visiting unbelieving neighbors who are still in the dark. For some reason, I think that every single part of this will be hard to implement in the context of the American culture, especially the part about not worrying about buying gifts and receiving gifts. But if the gifts are such a vital part of the holiday, then the least what we can do probably as we gather together is to read some portion of Scripture and spend some time in prayer, besides just asking God to bless our food, health and wealth. This would certainly be a good start in the right direction. We as a family went through a number of turbulent events in the past couple of years. And we do not know what waits for us in the future or how many of us even have a future tomorrow. But we do know that the future is much brighter with God than without Him.
If neither of the above mentioned options work, then I have yet another proposal. Let's just abandon all references to Christmas on that day and greet each other with a "happy holiday". For the unbelievers among us, this would be probably the necessary option. Otherwise, every year on December 25 you are adding to the list of your un-atoned and un-forgiven sins the violation of the 3rd commandment when you take Lord's name in vain. Just abandon all references to Christ on that day and it will be easier for you on the judgment day. This may sound sarcastic, but this is indeed one of the options that Julie and I are contemplating: celebrating Christmas properly on Jan 7 when Ukraine celebrates it and December 25 will be just a family gathering and gifts and all that stuff. The main point here is that Christmas is not about us and what presents we can get or give on that day. It is about God and what He did for those who love Him. If there is no love for God in your heart, then "Happy holiday" is the best you can do on the day, unless you are willing to devote your heart to God.
With my the best intentions,
Sergiy
