Are you guys celebrating Christmas this year?That was a question that began to come our way a lot over the last few months, and our ever infuriating answers probably didn’t help. The answers we gave to inquirers may not have been satisfying ones, but they were truthful, “I don’t know”, “Maybe”, and the ever vague but slightly more spiritual sounding “We’re still praying about it” tarried much longer than we wanted them to. Finally God provided answers through searching the scriptures, studying the works of the church fathers and reformers, and the writings of many modern day theological giants, such as Sproul, Brown, and Piper. First a definition of terms, no we are not celebrating Christmas, nor any “mass” as there is no need for my Savior to die more than once for my sins. That may seem like a mincing of words, but for point of clarification the Via family is celebrating the Incarnation/Advent this year. We are doing it like never before and it’s because we laid down our idols last year and took a year off!
This year we are lighting Advent candles, hanging
Jesse Tree ornaments, and all of our decorations will be
packed away in a few weeks in a medium sized rubber made container. The only decorations
joining our Jesse ornaments on our tree are stars and angels because the Father
used stars and angels to herald our Savior’s birth. We also have a few doves to
properly represent the Holy Spirit’s participation in the nativity story. Every
single decoration points us to the Savior in worship and is useful in training
our children in the word of God.
The truth is
in our culture Christmas is not recognized as pagan, and in many
countries where missionaries have spread the gospel Christmas is only known a Christian
holiday. We are faced with a quandary as followers of Christ, we know that Christ was most likely conceived
around Christmas time, and we could stretch the taffy to declare that since
life begins at conception that Christmas is in the safety zone. However when
you stretch taffy that thin it usually dries a breaks, so I wouldn’t build to
much of an opinion on that one. The Father
did indeed mark the Saviors birth, with a star, with the heralding of angels,
sending wise men to seek the Savior. The birth of Christ certainly wasn’t done
on the fly or passed unnoticed or undocumented, scripture gives us repeated accounts of
the birth of Christ, because it fulfilled numerous prophecies and because it
was a joyous event! It’s is the fulfillment of the promise to made to Eve after
the fall, the covenant made with Abraham that through him the whole world would
be blessed, it’s certainly worth celebrating. However the date Christmas shares
on our Gregorian calendars is one that was placed there in an attempt to
replace pagan traditions, and some of those traditions exist even today! Does the date or pagan history make Christmas a sin?
St.Patrick used a three leaf clover to teach the
pagan Irish about the trinity? St. Valentine was martyr massacred for his faith
and the church attempted to replace Cupid’s celebration with a remembrance of
his death. Reformation Day happens to actually coincide with Halloween. Does
the date matter? Can it be redeemed and used an discipleship tool? Are we being
holy by abstaining from Christmas or are we throwing out the baby with the bath
water? More questions that I cannot give definitive answers to. I can only
tell you our story and share our journey.
What is so different about this Advent for us?
To answer that question, you need a little Via Christmas history and for me to
eat a little crow. Christmas was never about Santa at our house, never once did
we celebrate or perpetuate that myth to our children. However I did turn Christmas
into a full month event with so much glitz and activity that nary a spare
simple moment could be spared for worshipful contemplation and my husband’s
blood pressure soared as we erected our decorations each year. We had an entire
closet dedicated to Christmas décor, four trees (yes 4), a lawn full of lights
and the accompanying electric bill, and busy busy busy! Fourteen years of Christmas
gorging met up with us last fall as we read through the bible in 90 days as a
family and coming to the knowledge of the pagan roots of Christmas created a
perfect storm of spiritual conscience last fall. We knew it would be a sin for
us to celebrate it that year, or celebrate it the way we had in the past ever
again, and since it could not have been of faith we took a year off and
celebrated the Old Testament holidays for a year. 
If you are a believer in covenant theology like we
are, you believe the first half of scripture is a profitable as the
second half, for us walking through the biblical holidays last year was a great
learning experience about the nature of God and His desire that our holidays
serve as a remembrance of His works and a tool for training our children. This flies
in the face of the way we had celebrated Christmas in the past. For me as Ray’s
helpmate seeing my husband’s stress at my over-the-top Christmas revelry and
not changing course was a sin on my part. So the question became an issue of
could we celebrate Christmas and it not be a sin?
This is where we dove into the scripture and the
writings of godly men. The reformers and many great theologians are split on
the issue. Martin Luther thoroughly enjoyed Christmas and started many traditions that we still see today, like the lighted Christmas tree. Spurgeon preached against
Christmas and then in a later took a more neutral stance, as did Calvin. The early
church fathers didn’t really celebrate Christmas, some riled against it, though
Augustine is recorded as reading an advent passage on Dec.24th.
Modern day conservative church leaders are also divided, Doug Phillips of
Vision Forum abstains from Christmas, but Matt Brown of the NCFIC, John Piper,
and RC. Sproul Jr. of Highlands Ministries embraces Christmas as a time to
celebrate the Incarnation. Not a lot of
conclusive evidence here to help us, so we turn to the primer source for a Christian,
the scriptures.
The verse you often here quoted the most against Christmas is
Jeremiah 10:1-5 “Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of
the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations
are dismayed at them,for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
“See, there is an indictment against Christmas if ever there was one!” many would say and yes I absolutely agree with them, you’d have to be either a bumbling idiot or blind as a bat not see the Christmas tree in the above verses. But don’t be so forgone on a conclusion that you also don’t see the last part of the passage “Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good”, or in southern vernacular, “it aint’ nothing but a thang honey”. Idols, historically recognized or privately erected in our own hearts only possess the power we ascribe to them. As I confessed earlier I ascribed a lot of power to the idol of Christmas in years past, to the point that I sinned against my husband in order to preserve their “high place” in my life. Not only did I do this with Christmas, I did it with birthdays and other holidays, turning feasts of joy into stressful events. Through much prayer God has crumbled and destroyed the high places in my life when it comes to holidays. Not that we are giving them up, oh no, we are giving them over to be used as tools of training and days of worship!
Now before someone accuses me of turning a
blind eye to the pagan elements this scripture warns against, let me ask you a
few questions about another passage of scripture. “Do not let your
adorning be external—the braiding
of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear”1Peter 3:3. I know some denominations
that do not wear gold or allow the braiding of hair due to this passage. Now I
freely admit I’m not a huge jewelry buff, as a musician bracelets and rings are
a nuisance, and as the mother of eight earrings and necklaces are often occupational
hazards, so what jewelry I own is often rarely worn. I have however worn wedding
bands for more than 15 years with great regularity. I have even left the house
on an errand and realized I left my rings by the sink, doubled back, and
retrieved them. Why? Because they are a sign of a covenant promise I have made,
they have spiritual significance in my culture and as a woman who believes in
spiritual headship it is physical reminder that my life, my heart, and not even
my body is my own. Are these few ounces of gold and stone idols? Are they a
sinful violation of the above verse? I can tell you without hesitation that in
full knowledge of this verse, I am fully convinced that it is not a sin.
We do long hair around here, we believe it’s the most feminine and
modest, another heart issue. With five daughters and myself sporting long
locks, I should have stated we do a lot of long hair around here and we often
braid it. Rarely elaborate braids, most often to get it out of our faces so we
can work, but are braids in violation of scripture? Here is where culture has
shifted so much that what once was a sign of prostitution and decadence is now
a sign of something else. In biblical times the Roman women of means would
spend hours having their hair braided into elaborate designs. The prostitutes
of the era also wore certain type’s jewelry and braided hair particular to their
trade. So when I work my hair into a French braid without even consulting mirror
as I scurry to my kitchen each morning with my wedding bands on, intending to commit
my day to the work of a housewife and mother am I in violation on the intent of
this verse? I don’t think so, you may disagree and that’s fine by me.
We could go on and on this trail and discuss head veils, menstrual tents,
kosher dietary laws, and so forth. The reality is we are not bound to the law
but we dare not disregard it, it gives us finite and ignorant human beings
glimpses into the will of God and His absolute holiness. So how then do we make
a decision about Advent, braids, jewelry, women wearing skirts, or any other
issue? We have to do the most difficult work of all; we have to commit ourselves
to the reading of the word, to prayer, and to God taking a scalpel to the
darkest cravings of our hearts. I know many people hear the words “heart issue”
and misinterpret it as freedom or liberty in Christ. However I let out an often
audible moan when I realize something has fallen into this jurisdiction,
because I know how corrupt and evil my heart is. When something must be vetted
and made a confidence of faith with my heart’s assistance, I have learned that it
will be a long and painful process. So I cannot tell you that it’s “okay” for
you to celebrate the Advent, wear your wedding bands, eat a bacon cheeseburger,
or pray with your head uncovered. I can share verses with you, pray for you,
love you no matter your choice and encourage you to keep submitting all things
to Christ. However that’s all I can do. There is one verse that summarizes our
crazy journey this year and I’ll leave it with you, some will see it as a “get
of jail free card” or cop-out on our part, and others will see it as the
challenge that it truly is, as Christians nothing is secular and all must be
done in confidence of faith and in subjection to Christ…
“One person esteems one day above another; another
esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who
observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day,
to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives
God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God
thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we
live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore,
whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” Romans 14:5-8.