A Christ-centred Xmas

Adam asked in the comments about what a Christ-centred Christmas might look; would we recognize it if we separated the wheat from the chaff?

Adam has a point that Christmas is riddled with non-Christ-centred traditions. Since when did Santa, eggnog, mistletoe, evergreen trees and snowmen have anything to do with the birth of Jesus? For whatever reason I think that people like to lump things into significant holidays that really have nothing at all to do with their original purpose. We've done this with Christmas and Easter and the Jews do this with their holidays. They have special foods that they've come to associate with certain holidays that really don't have anything to do with the God ordained celebrations. It's just like we've done with our man-made holidays. I'm sure other cultures have done the same sort-of things. I think it helps us feel that the holidays are special when we add extra traditions to the days. We feel like we care more about the truly significant parts when the insignificant customs have given us warm feelings.

This seems to beg the question of whether or not all this tradition adding is appropriate. I think that I could probably make an argument that all tradition adding is inappropriate whenever it distracts from Jesus. Time and again the Israelites were reminded about and judged for adopting the traditions of the foreign nations (Lev 20:23, Jer 10:1-4). They were to be wholly focused around Yahweh. Yahweh also lambastes the Israelites when the traditions that he gave them ceased to be about him (Isa 1:14, Amos 5:21). Its seems clear that Yahweh is concerned about the focus of our activities. It seems foolish to add things to our holidays that have nothing to do with Jesus lest we make the holiday about sentimental feelings rather than about him.

Christmas in and of itself is a man-made tradition but I believe that it can be celebrated without all the added nonsense and focused around Jesus. Taking time annually to consider the significance of the incarnation can be a good thing. I would like to see Christmas celebrated with fasting and generosity toward the poor. The incarnation of Yahweh into the form of a man was essentially a fast for Yahweh. He was sacrificially generous toward us and thus sacrificial generosity toward others in need seems appropriate. I also think that the old carols could b an appropriate aid in our meditation on the incarnation.

Honestly, I think it would be really helpful for the church to separate itself entirely from Christmas. I would be happy though to see it replaced with an "incarnation day" in some other month. This would help people recognize those parts of Christmas that have nothing to do with Jesus. People would be less inclined to syncretize the celebration of the birth of our lord with the pagan (and they are pagan in that they are from this world) elements that only distract us from worship.