Home for the Holidays

“I can’t believe that the public schools don’t have a Christmas pageant anymore!” a parent complained to me on the school yard a few days before the “holiday break.”  Ironically, the upset parent is not a church going person and yet felt that Christmas should still be part of the public school experience.  ”Well,” I replied with a wink, “the church still does the Christmas pageant really, really well.  Why not join us on Sunday at 10 am with your kids?”  It has been interesting to watch the “evolution” of political correctness over the years when it comes to Christmas.  My favorite moment was years ago back in Ontario where someone publicly referred to baby Jesus as “the holiday baby.”  That just cracked me up.  Thankfully, we’re not as handcuffed as in the hey day of political correctness of the late 1990s.  What I find most interesting is that it is entirely possible now to celebrate a “secular” Christmas with free floating values of “peace and goodwill to all.”  For example, I just finished watching a delightful Christmas special with my daughter on NBC hosted by West Van’s own Michael Buble.  After it was over I noted how Buble and friends certainly did not shy away from mentioning Christmas but of all the musical selections of the hour long show not one was a carol or mentioned the Christian story of God coming in the flesh as Jesus Christ.  Hmm…  Perhaps as we fill the church three times this Christmas Eve at 4:30, 8 and 11 pm we do so with a greater sense of urgency and freedom than ever before.  As we welcome pilgrims “home for the holidays” the church takes it rightful place once more, no longer relying on the culture to convey a distorted version of gospel, we are free to proclaim from the rooftops, “come and worship, come and worship, come and worship, Christ, the new-born King.”  Merry Christmas!!

OR