Christmas Is Over.

I feel the need to tip my hat to Christmas, now that it is all over. It's a nice time and it's a nice tradition. If Western missionaries went to another culture they would jump at such a God-given opportunity firmly embedded in the culture and use it to tell people the gospel. And that is what many churches do, but I wonder whether Western people are hampered in their use of the Christian season for gospel purposes by themselves being so firmly embedded in the culture of Christmas and all the extraneous cultural add-ons. I really feel I am, which is why I would prefer to call the day Incarnation Day, though, in reality, that would possibly alienate more non-Christians than open hearts.

Suppose that instead of concentrating on a baby in the manger, we go back and explain why the baby is in the manger. And instead of concentrating on the three wise men and the shepherds in the fields, we make them the periphery and major instead on Jesus Himself. Or perhaps if we don't start from the conception and birth of Jesus and instead begin from the pre-existent Son and emphasise that this is God in the manger. Not that I think there is anything wrong with more traditional starting points, but they are so common that all impact is gone.

What about fresh, more God-centred ways of looking at Christmas. I mean, often when the Christmas story is told, there is a lot about the characters around the baby Jesus, but never any real explanation of Jesus. The wise men worshipped Him - yes! The shepherds left their flocks to go see Him - yes! He is the Saviour and King - yes! But why? What does that mean to us today? Preachers telling non-Christian listeners that they need to worship the baby too; that they need to leave what they're doing to find Him too; that the baby can be their Saviour and King too, usually do not explain why. They usually do not push home the full plan and the future. Jesus is left in the manger, or he is suddenly and mysteriously transported to a cross with no real explanation as to why and we are left in the past with a cursory application to the present and no reference to the future - as in the consequences for accepting or rejecting the Christmas message.

Anyway, God still uses the time. Now Christmas is over, let's look for other opportunities to tell people about Jesus.

(Note: I have written two other posts on Christmas here and here.)