So This is Christmas

I'd apologize for not posting a ton lately, but I'm not really sorry. I do, however, wish all of the readers who remain minus the consistent ***'s a very Merry Christmas. It's interesting to me that we have little to no evidence that the early church took special notice of Jesus' 'birthday' as a time of celebration. Christians in the 300's started celebrating the birth of Christ in late December in hopes of 'Christianizing' some pagan festivals. I've heard some people argue that, because of this fact, we shouldn't celebrate a formerly pagan holiday at all. That's ridiculous. We, as Christians, are in the business of redeeming all things in the name of Jesus Christ.

So what can we make of this thing called Christmas? We can utilize the time to discuss and celebrate the doctrine of the incarnation. The stories of Jesus' birth were important enough to the Gospel writers to merit a few chapters. It's our task to figure out why. We can certainly spend the time increasing the unity in our churches and homes through love. Finally, we can use Christmas as an opportunity to reach out to those in need. Instead of hoarding up treasures on this earth, we can spend and be spent for the needy in one way or another. Or both!

By the way, this post is my Christmas card to all of you!
Merry Christmas