Christmas

Well, thank you, Mr. Dance, I guess. It was nice to see Danny back, and you're welcome to come back anytime, I'm sure. I know your parents enjoy having you here on a Sabbath or a weekend or anytime. Well, actually, it's time for my annual Christmas message. I got to looking at the calendar and looking at the dates and figured that if I didn't speak on Christmas this week, I wouldn't have an opportunity.

So, I wanted to go ahead and take the first part of the services and cover a little bit about Christmas. When I was at the home office, Peter Eddington mentioned that an AP writer by the name of Tom Breen, B-R-E-E-N, had called us last week to ask our opinion on Christmas, talking about calling the home office. He also called our pastor closest to him in Charleston, West Virginia, John Foster, and he wanted to get his impressions about Christmas. The article included mention of the United Church of God, Clyde Kylo, Pastor John Foster, but in a very neutral way.

It was not derogatory at all. It appeared in religion today, on December the 13th. The article contains an interesting perspective on Christmas. So, I thought it would aid us in our discussions, because a lot of us here are confronted with people who ask us, why don't we keep Christmas? Or, you ask our children, is there going to school? Why aren't they celebrating it?

So, I think you'll find this article helps, concerning giving answers. And I would suggest, if any of you would like to look it up, type in religion today. You know, or Christmas, Tom Breen, and you should be able to find the article. Let me start quoting from the article to begin with.

It says, as Christmas draws near, Pastor John Foster won't be decorating a tree. Shopping for last-minute gifts, or working on a holiday sermon for his flock. Well, he may not realize that the John probably is going to work on his sermon, but it may not be the type of sermon he would think of.

After all, it's been 50 years since Christmas was anything more than a day of the week to him. He is one of very few Christians who follow what used to be the norm, now notice, in many Protestant denominations. Rejecting the celebration of Christmas on religious grounds. Now, I thought that was quite a telling statement. What are the religious grounds for rejecting Christmas? If you had to answer that, what would you quote? Well, one religious ground might be back in Jeremiah. Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah 10, verses 1-3, where we read, Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.

Thus says the Lord, Do not learn the way of the Gentiles. God is in essence here saying, Don't worship me the way the Gentiles worship me. Don't learn the way of the Gentiles. Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are futile. Then he talks about, One cuts a tree from the forest, the works of the hand of the workman with the axe. They are commanded not to learn the way of the heathen, and to not follow their customs. Now anyone, you can read any encyclopedia dealing with the subject of Christmas, and you will find that its origins, its roots, go back to paganism.

Nobody denies that. But they always come up with another reason. That while we're not keeping pagan customs, we're worshiping God in a little different way. Well, let's notice in Deuteronomy chapter 12 in verse 29. These are some basic scriptures that all of us should be able to refer to. Deuteronomy chapter 12 beginning in verse 29. When the Lord your God cuts all from before you the nations, which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself, that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods?

I also will do likewise. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, God says. We're not to look at how the other nations did and worship God in that way. Now again, it's very much understood that Christmas, December 25th, at least that day, was selected, because it was an observance of the Saturnalia, or the Brumalia. These were customs where people were getting together, the pagans, the heathens. They were sharing gifts with one another. They were celebrating, getting drunk, and all of these types of things.

So God says, You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. In every abomination to the Lord, which He hates, they've done to their gods, for they burn even their sons and their daughters in the fire, to their gods.

Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor shall you take away from it. So God says, You worship me the way I tell you to worship me. Don't you add to it? Don't you take away from it?

Well, what you find is people have come up with their own ideas, their own traditions. Now, did Jesus Christ change this in the New Testament? Matthew 15. Let's notice Matthew chapter 15, and we will begin in verse 1.

Do you not wash their hands when they eat bread? Well, apparently they had a tradition that you had to wash your hands up to your elbows. This had nothing to do with cleanliness. I mean, I try to wash my hands when I eat. But are there times that I eat and I don't wash my hands? Well, sure there are. There have been many times that I've been out hunting. I'll reach in my pack and I'll get a sandwich or something to eat.

There's no place to wash your hands. You just eat. But this was a tradition of the elders. Notice. It was something that was more of a ritual. So, he, in verse 3, answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandments of God? Because of your traditions. For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and your mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.

But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, whatever prophet you might have received from me, has been dedicated to the temple. In other words, mighty they should have been helping their parents with, they went ahead and gave it to God, so they thought that they were excused. In verse 6 is released from honoring his father and his mother. Thus you have made the commandment of God in no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites, well did, Isaiah, prophesy about you, saying, These people draw nigh to me with their mouth.

See, they talk about God, and they honor me with their lips, they pay lip service, but their heart is far from me. See, their heart is not doing what God commanded. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. So we cannot teach for doctrine the commandments of men, but that's what they were doing. So you'll find that these scriptures were some of the scriptures that used to be quoted by many Protestant denominations in the early days of this country.

Now, going on with this article says, People don't think of it this way, but it really is a secular holiday, said Foster, a Princeton-based pastor in the United Church of God, he last celebrated Christmas when he was eight. His Church's objection to Christmas are rare among U.S. Christians. Gallup poll from 1994 to 2005 consistently show that 90% of adults say that they celebrate Christmas, including 84% of non-Christians. That's a huge change from earlier days. Now, notice that. Huge change. When many Protestants ignored or actively opposed the holiday, but as it gradually became popular as a family celebration, churches followed their members in making peace with Christmas.

So, who was in the driver's seat? Well, members started keeping Christmas, and therefore it became so popular that the church then began to support it. Now, isn't this how it was introduced into the church originally? Here you had all of these heathens celebrating the Saturnalia. Christians, quote-unquote, alleged or so-called Christians, were getting caught up with it. So, they thought, well, what we'll do, we'll just change the name instead of being a day that worships the Son, S-U-N, we'll have it as a day to honor the Son of God.

And so, they said it was His birthday. It says the changes didn't happen overnight. Through much of the 19th century, schools and businesses remained open. Congress met in session, and some churches closed their doors, lest errant worshipers tried to putably celebrate the day. So churches locked their doors to keep people from coming into church on those days, lest they worship on that day. Let me read another article. Most of you can't see this, but it's an article I clipped out of the paper. Christmas once outlawed. Alarmed church leaders. Let me just read a little bit out of this article, because it ties in with what we're reading here.

The idea of outlawing Christmas may seem like Bah-Humbug sentiment to Scrooge, but the popular celebration was, in fact, outlawed both in this country and in England in December 25th, event existed only because of the determination of the masses, in other words, common people, to have a happy, joyful birthday celebration. So believes Dr. Clifford W. Edwards, an associate professor of psychology and religious study at Virginia Commonwealth University, who says, quote, Christmas is the result of a Populist movement. He sees Christmas as a triumph of the Populist, who, in spite of the law and disclaimer from the church, insisted on celebrating December 25th celebration to honor the birth of Christ.

According to Edwards, who is a New Testament scholar, clergy, and official of the church, they ignored the nativity as an event for celebrating in reach to the growing sentiment of the Christmas celebration with alarm. He points out that the church fathers actually moved to outlaw Christmas festivities on more than one occasion. So again, this is commonly taught. And you find that a lot of the customs surrounding the Christmas celebration are a twisting of what the Bible says. How many of us have seen the manger scene where the three wise men come in?

They give gifts. Shepherds are around. Angels are hovering in the heavens, singing. Here's the little baby lying in a manger. Generally a little cradle back there. And, you know, this all seems so idyllic. But let's go back to Matthew 2. And there are certain questions that you need to ask yourself. Where does it say three magi, or three wise men? It doesn't. It doesn't say how many there were.

Three is derived because there were three types of gifts given. And as a result of that, the assumption is there were three. There could have been twelve. There could have been six. Who knows? The Bible doesn't say. Beginning in verse 1, now it says that, Notice he's already been born, and these men have been traveling. They've come to worship him. And Herod the king heard these things, and he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him.

And when he had gathered all the chief priests, scribes, and people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, In Bethlehem a Judea, for thus it is written by the prophets. But you have Bethlehem in the land of Judea, not the least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you shall come a ruler who shall shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he said to them, or he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child, and when you found him, bring backward to me that I may come and worship him also.

Now, of course, his objective was that I may come and kill him also, is what he wanted to do. So, you find here in verse 9, When they heard the king and departed, and behold the star which they had seen in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. Now, this star probably was an angel guiding them. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they had come into the house, not a manger, not a barn, but into a house, Christ by this time was in a house with his parents. They saw the young child, doesn't say baby, but a young child. He was evidently still a baby, but he was a little older than a brand new born baby. With Mary's mother, fell down and worshipped him. When they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Now, why did they give gifts to him? Because he was a king. And it is very accepted to go and present gifts to royalty, you know, to any dignitary, any head of government. And so they did here. Now, you find that the story here gets, all of the elements are sort of blended together and lumped together. Continuing with the article that just came out, it says the whole culture didn't stop for Christmas, talking about back when the country first started.

It said Bruce Forbes, a religious study professor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. Government went on as usual. Business went on as usual. School went on as usual. In researching his book, Christmas, A Candid History, Forbes discovered that the American, major American denominations, Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, Congregationalists, either ignored the holiday or actively discouraged it until the late 19th century. And then things changed. Quoting from this other article that I have, let me give you another quote here, it says, Some church officials publicly denounced Christmas celebration. On December 25, 1729, a New England preacher, named John Barnard, said in his sermon that no one knew the exact day of Christ's birth.

He further declared, Christmas is a man-made device derived from pagan rebels and introduced by corrupt popes. Now, this was a teaching back in the 1700s. Edwards said Christmas was ignored as an official church celebration for centuries, not just years. When the two major church fathers, Trutelian and Origen in the early 200s, drew up their list of church fest, Christmas had no place on it.

The associate professor added that three centuries after the birth of Christ, the church still had no official celebration. Dates like May 20, April 18, March 28, January 6 were dates, birth dates, argued by various scholars. Apparently, December 25 was finally adopted as a celebration date because it was a date that the pagans celebrated the winter solstice, which was celebrated by devotees of Mithra, God of the Sun. The church probably adopted the December 25 date for Christmas, so that Christians could have something to do on the day and stay clear of this festival or festivities of the pagans. The New Testament scholar noted that Christ of Sun, a church father in 386, wrote that new celebrations of the birth of Christ were commencing, although many church officials were opposed to them.

And so we again find this article collaborating with the article that just came out. Now, quoting from the recent article, says, that rejection was rooted in the lack of Biblical sanctions for December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth. So they objected to it because the Bible didn't say what day he was born on, as well as suspicion towards traditions that developed after the earliest days of Christianity. So when they went back and they looked at the first century church, they weren't keeping it. So these were traditions that developed later.

In colonial New England, this disapproval extended to actually making the holiday illegal, with celebration punishable by a fine. So you could be fine for keeping Christmas. Some somehow observed the date, wrote the Boston Puritan Samuel Sewell, on Christmas Day 1685. But are vexed, I believe, that the body of people profane it, and blessed be God, no authority yet compels them to keep it. So again, this is back in the 1600s.

322 years later, Sewell might be surprised to see his congregation today, known as the Old South Church, proudly displaying a decorated Christmas tree outside of the church. We think it's a cheerful and seasonal, said Nancy Taylor, senior minister of Old South. Now, there's a lot in that statement there. A woman being the senior minister there, one of America's most venerable congregations, counting among its past worshippers, not only Sewell, but Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams. Now part of the United Church of Christ, Old South, not only has a Christmas tree, but encourages its 650 or so members to exchange Christmas presents, although the focus is upon charitable donations and service rather than shopping.

We are the descendants of the Puritans and the Pilgrims. But we've loosened up a lot. See, loosened up a lot. In other words, we've compromised. Taylor said, we have changed and adopted, and I think that's part of why we haven't died out. Like Sewell's successors, the mainline Protestant churches have learned to accommodate Christmas, but the change came from the pews rather than from the pulpit.

Christmas benefited from a 19th century domestication of religion. Said University of Texas historian, Professor Panay Restod, in which faith and family were intertwined in a complementary set of values and beliefs. Christmas became acceptable as a family-centered holiday. It was a great day for the families to get together. Restod said, once it lost its overly religious significance. At the same time, the aspects of the holiday, like decorating trees and giving gifts, became status symbols for a spirit middle class. When Christmas began its march towards dominance among holidays, it was because of a change of the culture, not theology.

This is what the culture wanted. Today we find that popular culture introduces a lot of customs and allows a lot of things today. Even 20, 30, 40 years ago, we would have been aghast over. But the same thing continues. In America, the saying is that the ministers followed the people, and the people didn't follow the minister.

So the church, the ministers didn't teach this, became popular with the people, so therefore they went along with it. This was more of a sociological change than a religious one. The home and the market place had more sway than the church did. That's partly why Christians like the United Church of God reject the holiday. They say divine instruction, rather than culture and society, should determine whether the holiday is appropriate.

Now, who establishes the standards that you and I are supposed to live by? Society, culture, tradition, or God? Well, out of that list, I'd rather choose God. Which days does God tell us to observe? What does He say about lying to our children? Telling them, you know, reindeers fly, some got red noses, Santa Claus visits every house in the world, and he delivers gifts, and all of these type of things. Let's go over to Mark's account, paralleling here, Matthew 15. Mark 7, for Christ, I think, again, emphatically states this, Mark 7, verse 6.

He answered and said to them, Why did, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain they worship me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of man. For laying aside the commandments of God, you hold the traditions of men, but washing of pitchers and cups, and many such things you do. And he said to them, All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your traditions. And that's exactly what people do today. They reject the clear teachings of God, and people hold on to their own traditions, their own customs. It's common knowledge going on with this article, that Christmas and its customs have nothing to do with the Bible, said Clyde Kylo, President of the United Church of God, which has branches all over the world. The theological question is quite simple. Is it acceptable for God, or to God for humans, to choose to worship him by adopting paganism's most popular celebration, and calling them Christian? So I think that sort of summarizes it in a nutshell. They're still lingering uneasiness with the holiday and denominations that once rejected it. This can be glimpsed in worries about commercialism and in individual Christians like Philip Ross. Ross is an elder in the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Vienna, near Parkersburg. He's well versed in the history of Christianity, Christmas, and Presbyterianism. Ross knows his church historically objected to Christmas. On the other hand, Ross is also a father of two. And while he made up his mind to reject Christmas as a teenager, his children's early years included gifts, decorations, and a tree. I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas, he said. It seems obvious to me that there's nothing scriptural about it, but that's a hard sell with the children. So even though he knows it's wrong, and he stopped keeping it because of his children, they're going to go ahead with it. And that, I think, sort of outlines what a lot of people who know better do. So brethren, let's realize that the observance of Christmas, the fact that we don't keep Christmas, is not something that is unusual. That for centuries it was not observed. And many of the customs, even when it was observed, many of the customs that are observed today were not a part of it. But the whole celebration is borrowed from paganism, given a quote-unquote Christian name. So I thought that this would be a very interesting article for all of us, and if you'd like to look it up, you can. If you have trouble finding it, let me know. I can make copies, and we can hand those out to you.