Christ in Christmas



Some traditions need changed

 It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Perhaps.

To some people.

During the holiday season, we hear accusations of "culture wars" or "Christmas wars." There are various stories of people complaining that some politician is calling the city's decorations a "Holiday Tree" instead of a Christmas tree. Elementary students can't sing traditional Christmas carols like "Angels We Have Heard On High," only songs like "Jingle Bells."

Christians get worked up over the scrubbing of Christ from Christmas. Secular people state that not everyone is celebrating the same thing.

On a similar note, my family enjoyed The Sing Off on NBC. The singers they bring in are so amazing. They had a Christmas special on December 5th, and it brought some of the most popular groups from the 3 seasons to perform. It was a very enjoyable performance, but I realized after a while that all of the songs were focused at the secular side of Christmas. I didn't listen to every performance, so I may have missed something, but even though it was billed as Christmas and inspirational, there were no Christmas hymns. The groups may not be Christians, but some amazing songs come from the Christmas hymn tradition and would be great for acapella groups to tackle.

I am not here to throw another punch for the culture wars. I still enjoyed this special. It is still disappointing to listen to two hours of music without any classic hymns. It is sad to miss out on Christ in Christmas.

Secular people may point to the facts that Christianity superceded other pagan holidays or traditions over time to draw people to Church celebrations. Point taken! Guilty as charged.

I can't change that fact. Still, we have hundreds of years of tradition for Christmas. Even though some traditions are relatively new, there is still background that has changed rapidly in the last several years.

I'm willing to share. I don't care if a Christmas album has "Jingle Bells" or "White Christmas" on it. But I don't want to see "O Holy Night" or "Go Tell It On The Mountain" relegated to church only though. Why can't we all have time in December? How does that sound?
---