The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?
A Defense of Christmas
By Jeffrey J. Meyers
For a few Presbyterians this is not the season to be jolly; rather, it's open season on churches and Christians that celebrate Christmas. Almost every year about this time I get handed or emailed the same anti-Christmas essays. Well-meaning brothers are concerned that we have a Christmas tree in the foyer of our church, light Advent candles in December, and decorate the church with garland and holly for the season.
Yes, we do these things. We also arrange our Scripture readings to highlight the themes of Advent, use prayers and hymns that focus the church's petitions on the coming of the Lord, and actually encourage our members to rejoice and feast during the holiday season to commemorate our Lord's incarnation and birth. All of this, I am solemnly warned, is either blatant anti-Christian paganism or quite un-Reformed and therefore an offense to God.
Consider this man's summary judgment:This may be a shocking thought to some: but . . . I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing Christian about Christmas; that in its present observance, as well as in its origin, Christmas is basically and essentially pagan (Is Christmas Christian?).
Another internet essayist, in an article called Tis the Season for Pagan Worship, intensifies this indictment:What many in Christendom have been celebrating--Christmas--is a thoroughly pagan holiday--in its origin, in its trappings, and in all its traditions . . . . The modern conservative cry to put Christ back into Christmas is absurd. Jesus Christ was never in Christmas.
I'll admit upfront that I am angered by this kind of rhetoric. Let me be clear. I'm not angry with people who don't celebrate Christmas. Individuals and churches have the liberty to celebrate or not. What is troubling is to hear those of us within the Reformed church that do commemorate the incarnation of the Son of God at Christmas labeled as compromisers, crypto-Romanists, idolaters, second-commandment breakers, and worse. Beyond that, the anti-Christmas rhetoric is inflammatory, but the reasons offered are pitiful. Read more. . .
