As we are nearing closer and closer to the actual day of Christmas, I want to encourage everyone who will read my article today to please be very careful and vigilant to not allow the Grinches and the Scrooges of this world to steal your Christmas. Though these characters are fictious and come from the writings of Charles Dickens and Dr. Seuss respectively, they are nevertheless symbolic of real-life people who have a serious problem with the practice of people celebrating Christmas. I venture to say that there are perhaps Grinches and Scrooges in every walk of life whose mission in life seem to come alive during the Christmas season. These anti-Christmas folks will steal your celebration and observance of Christmas through various techniques.
I have been the victim of allowing someone to steal my celebration of Christmas many years ago. The irony of my experience was that it happened in church through some legalistic teachings that made me, and many others feel guilty and condemned that we put up Christmas trees and decorations. To add insult to injury, the teaching completely destroyed the belief and embrace of all the fictious characters of the season like Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, and such like. In their place and the giving and receiving of gifts, the initiation and implementation of a practice called good shepherds’ night was introduced. Much, if not most, of the money that the congregants spent on buying Christmas gifts for family and friends were now spent on bringing an offering to honor the senior bishop who was the chief shepherd. As I have grown in Christ and the knowledge of His Word over the years, I now know that teaching was legalistic and laced with greed for the purpose of merchandizing and fleecing the people for filthy lucre. For quite a few years, I allowed someone to serve as a Grinch and Scrooge and steal my celebration of Christmas. Once I gained my freedom through the enlightenment of the Word of God, I vowed that I would never be brought under the yoke of bondage again. Furthermore, as a servant leader of God’s people, whose job is to be an example to them of what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, as well as to feed them with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15 and Acts 20:28), I am determined to not be a Grinch or Scrooge to those who the Lord has put under my pastoral care. They have the God-given right to decide whether or not they are going to observe December 25th as Christ’s actual birthday. To be technical and historically accurate about it, it is not. However, since it is the cultural and official day that is designated on our calendar, I do not see any spiritual or doctrinal harm in regarding that particular day as the day of Christ’s birth (Romans 14:4-6).
In our opposition to the Grinches and Scrooges, who are specialists in either stealing or spoiling our Christmas celebrations and festivities, I believe it is necessary for each of us to take some precautionary measures to keep things in proper perspective and priority. Though I can find no fault in the fictious aspect of the Christmas season, let us be very careful that we do not allow the fictious or fairytale characters like Santa Claus, Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and such like, to replace Jesus Christ as the central and primary person of the Christmas story. Furthermore, we must do all we can to expose and dispose of the Grinches and Scrooges who always show up during the Christmas season in the guise of materialism and commercialism. For several decades now, these two allegorical characters have dominated the Christmas season with their accomplices, greed, and selfishness. Christmas has become so commercialized that a vast proportion of American consumers’ buying and selling of goods and products are done during Christmas time. I am not against consumer spending at any time that affords jobs and keep the wheels of our economy turning. However, I take issue against the spirits of materialism, commercialism, greed, and selfishness that have undermined and distorted the true meaning of the Christmas season. As I see it, Christmas should not be about receiving gifts, especially when they are expensive and extravagant. Christmas should not be about partying and having a good time to the delight and fulfilling of one’s natural appetite and cravings. In order to apprehend and shut the door on the Grinches and Scrooges, who are on the prowl in search of a way to steal Christmas and its true meaning, we must make Christmas about family and about reaching out to give to those who are destitute and less fortunate than we are.
If it is going to be more than a date on the calendar, we must make it about the One whose birthday we are suppose to be celebrating and honoring. How would you feel if a day was appointed and designated to honor you and you were displaced, disrespected, or downgraded to a seat of insignificance and insult at your birthday celebration?
Oh, the sacrilege that many are guilty of committing who celebrate Christmas without Christ as the Honoree!