Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

How would you feel if you invited friends over to celebrate your first-borns birth and have them bring booze and turn it into a drunken brawl? I would expect, at least I would hope, that you would lose some friend that day. I know I would. My expectations of a celebration of birth with my friends would have everything to do with our relationship. If you value our relationship, do not make it about you.

What does our Holy One see when we celebrate His birth? Is it about Him or is it about what we have made it? Have we corrupted a good thing? Once again, I will not judge but ask you to search your own hearts.

If we look to the selection process, in how December 25^th came to be Christmas then all we have to do is search history.

“The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated.” Quote from biblicalarchaeology.org

If this is true, then the very roots of Christmas began in secular history and that no fault can be found in secular celebration and secular changes. It was, after all, their day of celebration, we might have been said to have hi-jacked their day.

What do you make of all this?

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Yesterday I left off with a promise to talk about the billions of people who celebrate Christmas. Are these His people? Does celebrating Christmas make you special? If the purpose behind His birth is to save His people from sin, then isn’t it reasonable to assume that those who celebrate His birth must be family members or close friends of the family?

I don’t have to answer that do I? All you have to do is look around at the number of people who demand that Christ be taken out of “Xmas”. Any reminder of His birth parked on any government lawn in the form of a nativity scene is met with vandalism and law suits. Demands are being placed on Christians to secularize this holiday season. Yes, holiday season, the only celebrating going on for many in this group of billions is paid days’ vacation and time away from work.

While many of the faith would balk at the idea of taking Jesus out of Christmas, I would ask them just how the world came to be this way about this Holy Day? Perhaps in some small part over the years it has something to do with failing to remember and celebrate the purpose for His birth. I will not condemn others for not wanting to be reminded of their sins on the celebration of a birth, we have other days for that. It is however a part of the long line of changes in how we celebrate His birth that got us here.

Where in the nativity is there a fur tree lit up with lights and adorned with bulbs and garland? At what point did popping popcorn and stringing them together become part of the birthday celebration? All we have to do is look at His birth moment and compare it to our living rooms on Christmas morning to count how many secular traditions have been added to make the day more festive.

Secular change is for tomorrow.