I imagine that most of the decorations are down and packed away for next year's Christmas celebration. As I read the posts and statuses of packing away Christmas I can almost feel the relief from Christians and non-Christians alike, that Christ can get packed away for the next 11 months.
It seems that for the month of December, we get all huffy about proclaiming the Christ of Christmas and then go back to living Christ-less lives until next year. I'm not saying that we completely forget about the Christ of Christmas; I'm just saying that we're perfectly content to let everybody else forget about the Christ of Christmas. And let's be honest, there are a lot of December Christians that actually do put Jesus back in a box and (other than a brief display at Easter) wait until next December to start spewing their "I'm saying 'Merry Christmas' not 'Happy Holidays' " or "it's Christmas, not Xmas" crap all over Facebook and anywhere they can get a mob to agree with them.
So the question is: Now that Christmas is over and the decorations are put away, what do you do with Jesus?
Do you pack up the Nativity scene and put Baby Jesus in a box?
Or do you live with the realization that Immanuel (or Emmanuel) -- God with us, is still with us?
The fulfillment of the prophesies that took place on that first Christmas are as much for us today as they were 2000+ years ago. And if God is with us, don't we have the obligation to share that with those around us -- all year long?
Generally speaking, the Epiphany (Jan. 6) marks the end to the Christmas holiday. For my Christian readers, let's make sure that Jesus doesn't get packed up and put on a shelf until next year. Let's make sure that we never take the "Christ" out of our Christianity.
John <><
A lot of people do this on a routine basis: keep religion to something that one does on Sunday, without any relation to the other six days.
ReplyDeleteWe grow in Christ as we share His love 24/7/365.
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