How will you be celebrating Christmas?

How will you be celebrating Christmas this year?

By this coming Sunday, the day celebrated as Christ’s birth (December 25th) will be a mere dozen days away. However, it is not time to begin singing the familiar carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” since the first day begins on December 25th and ends on January 5th, the day before the Feast of the Epiphany. This feast was set to commemorate the visitation of the wise men who came bearing gifts for the Christ child. This tradition, for which there is no biblical basis, has its origin with the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, by the time the wise men reached the Christ child (months following His birth), He was no longer a babe in a manger, but living with Joseph and Mary in a house (Matthew 2:1-12).

People are scurrying about: decking the halls, shopping for gifts, baking Christmas cookies and preparing for that holiday trip or for company soon to arrive. There is so much to do during these final days leading up to Christmas Day.

It has always been my concern, in more than thirty years as a pastor, that many professing Christians tend to overlook the intended meaning of that day. Do we spend so much of our time preparing and then forget what Christmas Day is supposed to be about?

When the focus is on food, gifts and decorations, there seems little room for the Christ Who humbly entered this world that we might have the gift of eternal life. Perhaps it is time to begin some family traditions in your home that will assure that Christ isn’t crowded out of the celebrating.What our family has done over the years is to begin Christmas morning around the breakfast table with scripture reading about Christ’s first advent. We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, then one of the children blows out the singular candle on the cake (Jesus is the Light of the world), prepared just for the occasion.

There may be some discussion about the scripture, and each, in turn, will be asked to say something about what Christmas means to them: family time, love, merriment, fun activities, a break from school and, of course, thankful that Jesus came two millenniums ago, without which there would be no salvation.

If you don’t have any special family traditions to help commemorate the day with Christ as the focus, then perhaps you could begin something this year. You can make it unique and special, tailor made just for your family.

Keep this verse in mind: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or WHATSOEVER YE DO, do all to the glory of God” (First Corinthians 10:31). This includes how we recognize and celebrate the first advent of our Lord.

(Pastor Comments by David J. Cosma for Sunday, Dec. 13, in the year of our Lord 2009.)