How Does God Want Us to Celebrate Christmas?
How do you celebrate Christmas? Is it honoring to God? Do you tell or read the Christmas story every year? Are your traditions all about the Christmas Tree, ornaments, food, sparkle and presents?
I do wonder what God thinks about our Christmas-time activities. Over the last few years, my husband and I have made a conscious decision to spend much less money than ever before. Is that what He would want? I have friends who decided years ago to not even celebrate Christmas, but instead give gifts to each other at Thanksgiving time, communicating to each other their thankfulness for each one’s part in their lives. Is that what He would want?
I think the best thing to do, if you want to re-think your Christmas plans and traditions, would be to go back to the scriptures which describe the 1st Christmas (in Luke 1&2 and Matthew 1&2) and just soak it all up again – what did they do? How did they feel? Then go from there – include a few new things in your Christmas which reflect the 1st Christmas. Or, eliminate a few things which don’t seem to point to the Christmas story at all.
In light of Mary’s overflowing praise to God (Luke 1:46-56) months before the 1st Christmas, at a time in her life when she was balancing between childhood and adulthood, tradition and a new kingdom to come, I think I’ll try to add more overflowing praise to my upcoming Christmas season this year. Not exactly sure how yet – but I’m going to try.
There’s a new DVD and book out by Phil Vischer (creator of Veggie Tales) which deals with Christmas and Christmas traditions. Click on the following link to check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkQOWkvE_VY&feature=share
Bible Studies by Kathleen Dalton 