It’s coming up that time of year again. But what time exactly?
There are many ways people will answer this question (even if subconsciously) – ‘Holiday-mas, Party-mas, Goodtime-mas, Excess-mas, Family-mas, Spend-mas’ and of course the less preferred (but very real for some) ‘Stress-mas’. Which one (or ones) do we relate most to?
These are increasingly the ways people view the time of year previously known as ‘Christmas’, even if not everybody actually says so out loud.
Of course, all of them have one thing in common. That is Christ has been removed as the central reason for this time of year. If we have done that or are tempted to do so it might be worth a minute’s reflection on what such a step actually means.
If we remove the person of Christ from the name of the season we are also rejecting the mindset, the world view, that over centuries has created, is the non-negotiable basis of, the main shaping influence of, and which has been the source of the blessed society we live in.
This Christ-centred, shaping influence that God-designed for the beneficial operation of human society, provided the other person-centred moral operating system of the ‘Golden Rule’. That is ‘Act towards others as you wish them to act towards you’ or ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.
Take Christ out of Christmas, we take him out of society. Take him out of society and we exchange God’s planned blessings for human society for self-centredness, greed, envy, jealousy, selfishness, friction, broken relationships, all of which contribute to the degrading society we are increasingly experiencing.
Go figure!
unbounded church 