Not liking today, December 2
Today is one of my least favorite days of the year. Some folks don't like tax day, others aren't too keen on annual visits to the dentist. For me, the day that we drag out all the Christmas decorations is no fun.
Why? Because I don't particularly care for the look of Christmas, and I view the trappings as unnecessary detritus that will simply be in the way for a few weeks and will require a lot of storage effort later. It's always much too stressful; everyone fusses and fights about what to display and where it should go. I'd really just rather watch football.
To top it all off, my religious tradition does not attach any special significance to Christmas. To us it's simply a secular holiday, and that's fine by me. The Bible says absolutely nothing about celebrating Jesus's birth, and Christmas is really a man-made holiday with traditions built upon Northern European pagan winter solstice rituals, so I think that we are on solid ground here. Therefore, I don't even get that win in the Christmas season. In fact, "Remember the reason for the season" slogans just remind me that the Norse were too superstitious to allow the solstice to go by without a collection of fertility symbols (fir and mistletoe, two plants that are still green at that time of year, and a winter father figure bringing the gift of spring) in their homes and on their person, nothing more.
(By the way, Easter is the real Christian major holiday in my view. We are commanded to celebrate Christ's resurrection every day, so in that way, Easter is a day like any other. However, we know the exact date of the resurrection from Biblical writings, so I'm good with special emphasis on that day each year.)
So, Merry Yuletide. Or whatever you celebrate. I'll have fun with the kids, but I wish that we could compact the whole thing into a couple of days. That's just my take.
Why? Because I don't particularly care for the look of Christmas, and I view the trappings as unnecessary detritus that will simply be in the way for a few weeks and will require a lot of storage effort later. It's always much too stressful; everyone fusses and fights about what to display and where it should go. I'd really just rather watch football.
To top it all off, my religious tradition does not attach any special significance to Christmas. To us it's simply a secular holiday, and that's fine by me. The Bible says absolutely nothing about celebrating Jesus's birth, and Christmas is really a man-made holiday with traditions built upon Northern European pagan winter solstice rituals, so I think that we are on solid ground here. Therefore, I don't even get that win in the Christmas season. In fact, "Remember the reason for the season" slogans just remind me that the Norse were too superstitious to allow the solstice to go by without a collection of fertility symbols (fir and mistletoe, two plants that are still green at that time of year, and a winter father figure bringing the gift of spring) in their homes and on their person, nothing more.
(By the way, Easter is the real Christian major holiday in my view. We are commanded to celebrate Christ's resurrection every day, so in that way, Easter is a day like any other. However, we know the exact date of the resurrection from Biblical writings, so I'm good with special emphasis on that day each year.)
So, Merry Yuletide. Or whatever you celebrate. I'll have fun with the kids, but I wish that we could compact the whole thing into a couple of days. That's just my take.
posted by EggsnGrits | 2:35 PM
3 Comments:
I think that Romans 14:5-6 would apply in this instance. However, I have the same feeling about the celebration. Much of it has nothing to do with the birth of our Savior.
Reading your church's plea was interesting. I like the idea of basing everything on the Bible. That's my desire as well. Does your church still sing without instruments?
Agreed on the reference. I'm not calling anyone out, I'm just saying that I personally don't attach much meaning to Christmas.
Yes. We are completely a cappela worship.
We follow only the Bible. No creeds, no traditions, nothing.
Mike
Thanks Eggs, for posting the link to your church's beliefs. I was curious specifically which thoughts you subscribe to and agree with a good deal of it.
I too think we can do without most of the whole Christmas thing, though for me I'm more against the whole commercialization of it rather than the religious aspect, though your points of historical accuracy are valid ones.
I think it's so interesting though how much the season is embraced by the consumer/retail industry. They'll push it as hard as they can for as long as they can, for sure.
"Hey, let's get everyone to spend thousands of dollars on each other! That'll get our quarterly figures up!"
:)
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