The Missing Christmas

*     *     *

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” -John 8:12

*     *     *

(An open letter to our family.) 

What I am about to say, is likely to make many people upset or angry with me. Still, there is no getting around the obvious. We aren't celebrating Christmas within our household, not this year, nor the years after. I know that it gets hackles up for some people, and of the first questions that we get, "Does that mean that you aren't Christian anymore, that you are converting to Judaism?"- that seems to be the most frequent. 

Let me just say, for the record.... 

We are lovers of the Almighty God, Creator of all. We believe that Yeshua (called Jesus), is the Messiah that Father promised, and that he is the Word made flesh. We believe that there is ONE God, and I don't personally feel that I need to twist myself up like a pretzel to try and explain how one God could reveal Himself through more than one way of being. I'll leave it as this- He is God, and He can do whatever He wishes, and through whatever means He desires. 

We believe that Yeshua (Jesus) died so that all who would be a part of His people, His bride, would be spotless and without blemish. For the sake of her, to cleanse her from the sin of adultery with foreign gods, the bridegroom paid the wage of her sin and died in her stead. Having been raised from the dead, triumphant over sin and the grave, Yeshua sits at the right hand of the Father and will one day come again for his bride. 

We, lovers of Yahweh, proclaim that we are children of Abraham, grafted in from among the nations. Though we are not natural-born to Israel, we have been brought in among her by the grace of God. We are children born by faith, instead of bloodlines. Counting ourselves as children of the Most High, we believe that God has things that he desires that we do, and things that we don't do. We don't believe that there is one set of rules for the House of Judah, and that all other children of God get a different "rule book".  Exodus 12:49: "One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you." 

There is a lot of confusion in the Christian church, concerning the guidelines and instruction (torah) of God. For as long as I can remember, it has been stressed that we learn the commandments that Moses received on the mountain. Still, we were told that the law was done away with.... while we were still expected to know at least a portion of the commandments and obey them, uh, except the Sabbath. That one was still somehow done away with, though you couldn't lie, bear false witness, covet, etc. I have come to realize that the general understanding within the church is- Yeshua (Jesus) "Fulfilling" the torah has somehow come to mean that he did away with the parts that we don't like, but he kept the parts that we find acceptable. I am a big enough adult now that I feel capable of saying- I don't accept that. At all. Not even a little. That statement alone would make me very unwelcome among many of the people that I love. I don't say it lightly. 

(This is, obviously, a big conversation. There will be more on law & grace, later.)

What does this have to do with Christmas? 

Historically, the Christian church has this habit of taking pagan worship and trying to sanitize it for our common use. I've heard it said that we can take back days, practices, symbols, etc. and use them for good. However, I have yet to read that in the scriptures. Instead, God has a habit of saying things like: 

"Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. ³ Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

You must not worship the LORD your God in their way." --Deuteronomy 12:2-4

After reading and reading some more, until I thought my eyes might fall out of my head, it seems evident to me that God doesn't want us to worship him in the ways that pagans worship their gods. Nope. He's all about the smashing, burning, and wiping-out of false gods and the ways that they are worshiped. He doesn't say anything about taking their silly god trees, decorated with silver and gold (Jeremiah 10:3-4), and incorporating them in worship to Him. The traditions that we've picked up from pagan worship are many and varied, and while I'm not afraid of these symbols or fake gods, I don't see any benefit in using them in worship to Yahweh, when He doesn't want to be worshiped like that. 

So, what does that leave us? Is it possible to celebrate Christmas without involving any of the practices of Saturnalia? I just don't know. First, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that Yeshua (Jesus) was born on or particularly near December 25th, which used to be the winter solstice. So, what is the point of celebrating on that day, if one is trying to cull out the pagan? The giving of gifts is a nice thing to do on any day, and wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing to do during any celebration. I don't have a problem with that, though I have concerns about materialism, and what it does to us spiritually. Most of the trappings that we associate with Christmas, though, are "borrowed" from pagan worship. I don't know if there is really anything to salvage after that. So, are we so addicted to the idea of Christmas that we do mental and spiritual gymnastics to try and make a way to celebrate it without offending God? 

I guess that I am simply not creative enough, and don't feel like straining myself that much. It doesn't mean enough to me to keep a day that God hasn't told His people to keep. 

This year, instead of celebrating Christmas, we are going to take a page from history and rub it all over our lives. Like Maccabees, we are going to "hammer" pagan worship from our "temples", and re-dedicate them to the Lord. We think on Yeshua (Jesus), the Light of the world, coming and being a presence in this earthly place. We think of the Holy Spirit reflecting in us, these blood and bone temples, that we can be a shining city on a hill. It has nothing to do with self-righteousness, judgement of others' practice, or earning salvation. It has to do with our journey on a closer walk, and what that looks like for us. 

Are we Christians? Sure. I have no problem with the title, though I know that there are some Christians who would like to disown us just as surely as the Jews do. We are simply believers, choosing to follow God's guidelines and instructions to the best of our abilities, not out of a desire to earn heaven- but out of a love for the One who loved us first. He didn't have to make a way for us. With humility and gratitude, we are choosing to walk His way, as best we can. We know that we can't do it perfectly, but that Yeshua is perfection for us. Still, what is important to Him, is important to me. This is going to be a grand adventure for us, learning to walk a new way, as we joyfully embrace what Yahweh says to "do", and leaving off what he says, "do not". I am sure that there will be lots of questions, confusion, and stumbling along for us. Still, while we will wobble along like toddlers, I feel confident that Father's hand will be holding us steady as we learn. 

Just to wrap up, let me say that our decision to not keep Christmas doesn't mean that we are in any way looking down our noses at anyone else. If you see joy in what we are doing, and want to join in with us, you are very welcome to. If not, that's ok too. We can still hug one another, eat turkey and stuffing until we feel like Butterballs, and spend good time together as a family. If anyone feels like doing it more often, we typically have a really good meal at home every Friday evening. I might have to institute a fine for teasing, however. For every ribbing about not eating pork, someone should have to give my husband a package of turkey "bacon". hehe.  :)