This is Christmas

[sheep wrecked]

I heard a new song this year for Christmas and it really put into words how I feel. I see all the hustle and bustle, the presents, excited kids, hyped up emotions, and wonder how many get distracted from what Christmas is all about.

The song is by Kutless - a youtube link to hear the song is posted after the lyrics. Kutless is a Christian group. Their name "Kutless" comes from a different spelling of "cutless" in recognition that Jesus was crucified and "cut" for our sins, but we are "cutless" because He suffered for us.


This is Christmas

Do you find it hard to sleep til' night,
Resting by the Christmas lights?
Could there be something you forgot?
Beyond the bows, and mistletoes,
The tree with presents wrapped below,
There's more to this than you had ever thought?
Have we lost the reason that we celebrate each year?

Chorus:
What is Christmas?
If there never was a Savior wrapped in a manger.
What is Christmas without Christ?

Remember how the story goes,
God's gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes,
Beneath the star, one great and holy night.
The shepherds heard the angels sing,
The wise man brought an offering,
Peace on Earth began in Bethlehem
Have we lost the reason that we celebrate each year?

Chorus:
What is Christmas?
If there never was a Savior wrapped in a manger.
What is Christmas?
If the angels never sang 'Glory to the new born king?'
What is Christmas without Christ?

There'd be no
Gloria in excelsis deo
Gloria in excelsis deo

What is Christmas?
If there never was a Savior wrapped in a manger.
What is Christmas without Christ?
This is Christmas,
It’s all about the Savior wrapped in a manger.
This is Christmas,
Because of Jesus Christ!
This is Christmas,
Because of Christ!
Because of Christ!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20HoJZecNqM

[Mary]

lovely! thanks for this.

[heb13-13]

I have been reading the latest thread on Easter and it reminded me of an article I read recently about Christmas. I think you can draw some of the same parallels. (Posted below).

The other thing that I heard recently and don't know if it is true or not, is that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah. Was Hanukkah even around then? I assume it was since HRM people celebrate it and they only do what Jesus did or so they say. Hanukkah is not one of the Feasts of Israel, but I have heard that they (HRM) celebrate it because Jesus celebrated it. If this is true, I am very glad about it. It just proves that Jesus has no problem celebrating a holiday that is not "Biblical".

But according to the liberty of Christ, we don't need Jesus to have celebrated any non-Feast of Israel to justify our own outward celebrations.

Like SheepWrecked said in the Easter thread, everything in this world is pagan. I might add that the names of each day of the week and each month is pagan. When did our walk with God become so outward? Are we now to be made perfect by the flesh? Gal 3:3

Legalists will judge your every outward word and deed.

Enjoy this article, I did.

Spiritual Abuse and Christmas Trees
By Eric M. Pazdziora

I think I finally figured out what Christmas trees are really about.

A while ago I found a blog article on the subject of our friend Mr. Tannenbaum. Apparently (the author observed) some folks believe that Christmas trees are pagan symbols that the church has adopted in sinful syncretism. They appeal to Scriptures such as Jeremiah 10 to support the idea: the passage describes trees being chopped down, decorated with precious metals, and worshiped by pagans ("A-ha!" chorus the neo-Scrooges).

Knowing a bit about interpreting Scripture in context, I smelled an opportunity to cry "Humbug!" True, Jeremiah describes pagans chopping down trees for idolatrous worship. But it also mentions the trees being "shaped by chisels" into images of false gods like these. Those don't look much like Christmas trees
to me. Anyone for some eisegesis?

The underlying logic is even more significant. Follow it through: Idolaters once used decorative trees to worship false gods. Therefore, anyone else who uses a tree for decoration ever again must only be pagan.

Bah. Humbug.

I explained in another article in more detail exactly why this genre of anti-Christmas rhetoric is so absurd. Pagans didn't make trees; God did. So even if pine trees were once misused in pagan worship, it hardly follows that they must always and for all time be unacceptable to people who believe that "only God can make a tree."

But when a few outspoken commenters started chiming in to quarrel in favor of that phony interpretation of the Bible, my Spiritual-Abuse-Survivor Sense started tingling. Some people seem inordinately concerned with proving that the majority of Christians are sinful pagan syncretists. Not that I'm in favor of
bringing paganism into the church, but somehow that obsession struck me as suspiciously like a warning sign of Spiritual Abuse.

Next time you hear one of these Scrooges, pay close attention to the subtext:

* Everyone who doesn't believe precisely what we believe is unbiblical and pagan! (Exclusivity, dogmatism, spiritual pride.)

* The vast majority of Christians are evil pagans, so you had better stick with us if you want to please God! (Legalism, elitism, manipulation.)

* We have standards that you have to follow if you want to be holy, and if you don't follow them you're an ungodly pagan! (Superiority, shame.)

* Your external actions and displays--whether or not you put up a Christmas tree--are very important. (No mention of the grace of Christ.)

I could go on, but if you know about Spiritual Abuse, you've heard all this stuff before. It's the classic, archetypal sign of abuse, and they're taking the occasion of the birth of Christ to pull it out on us. Forget "Happy Holidays";
here's the real war on Christmas.

But, spiritual abuse awareness aside, what these sorts of people say about the poor pine tree turns out to show the real message of the Gospel better than they know....

The pagans used trees to sinfully honor their false gods instead of the Creator.

The devil influenced me to sinfully honor myself above my Creator.

The spiritual abusers say that, since the trees were used sinfully, they can only ever be regarded as sinful. They said that about me too.


God says, "It may have been used sinfully, but I made it in the first place. Don't you go calling anything I made unclean (Acts 10). If I made it good in the first place, that means I can make it good again."

At one time the pagans chopped down a tree, cut it into pieces, and hung it with metal to worship their false gods.

But another time some pagans chopped down a tree, cut it into pieces, and with metal, hung something on it that redeemed our souls.

Jesus came into the world at Christmas to be hung on a tree.

Jesus was hung on a tree for the sins of the world, including idolatry.

Because of what happened with that chopped-down, metal-adorned tree, we are free from the rules that say we can only ever be sinful.

Because of what happened with that chopped-down, metal-adorned tree, nobody can ever say that God is about anything other than grace and forgiveness.


Because of what happened with that chopped-down, metal-adorned tree, anyone who looks at a tree now can see not a symbol of idolatry, but an outward and visible sign of the infinite grace of God.

Because of what happened with that chopped-down, metal-adorned tree, anyone who looks at you now can see not a sinner, but someone who has been cleansed and made new by the infinite grace of God.

The devil intended to use that tree for evil. The spiritual abusers say it could only ever be evil. But God used that tree for the greatest good that has ever happened.

The devil intended to use you for evil. The spiritual abusers say you can only ever be evil. But God intends to use you for a greater good than you can imagine.

The Christmas tree reminds us that everything God created is good.

The Christmas tree shows us that everything God does is gracious.

The Christmas tree tells us that you don't have to accept the label that you're only a sinner.

And as for me, anything that makes legalists and abusers that upset is something I'm glad to decorate my house with. The other reason Jesus came into the world, of course, was to annoy the heck out of legalists.

Eric M. Pazdziora

Belated Merry Christmas to all.
Rick