Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Dec/93

Contributor - Jeff Kingswood

Title - Editorial

Topic - Editorial

Sometimes I dread the approach of Christmas. I grow more and more sympathetic to the Puritans who did not observe the Roman feast days and Christmas was no exception. Every Lord's Day was to be celebrated both as Christmas and Easter.

A trip to the local Canadian Tire store to find mousetraps for our century old farm house left me shaking my head. In October mouse traps had been replaced by Christmas decorations. My mousetraps had to be dug out of storage; in October! More and more the world is allowed to set the agenda for the Church. Commercialism drives our society's notions of what Christmas is all about. Buy, buy, buy. Its not new but I wonder, 'Is it getting worse?'

The late Francis Schaeffer was continually urging Christians to reclaim their culture. The threat that Schaeffer saw was not that we would be persecuted out of existence but that we would be seen to be simply irrelevant.

The truth of the matter is of course that the great and wonderful story of the incarnation of the Son of God is the most relevant, most significant event of history. We must not trivialize it by acting just exactly the way the world wants us to act; just like them. The question that we face then is how do we celebrate Christmas in a way that is different? How do we go about setting the agenda rather than allowing the world to co-opt our celebration?

I don't have any quick or easy answers. Maybe the Puritans were right. But what I do hope is that this Christmas you and your family will think seriously about what it is that makes your Christmas celebration different from that of your unbelieving neighbours. How can we communicate the truth of Jesus' birth, the Son of God become man for us men, without getting caught up in the world's agenda?

We would like to hear from you. On this subject or on any others that you feel are important for our Canadian churches to be dealing with. For the Pioneer to be relevant to you we need to know what you are thinking. We need to know how we can help you to be a more effective Christian in a more effective Church. Our goal is to see us as Christians growing in grace so that our light will not be hid but rather, be seen by our world. We pray that our efforts will help the saints "declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."

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