December 15, 2010

From the Senior Associate Pastor

The trend to replace the use of the word "Christmas" with the more generic "holiday" seems so ironic to me. I recently saw an advertisement for a symphony production of Handel's Messiah which described the oratorio as a "favorite holiday tradition." The work's very title conveys its message: that Jesus Christ is the one who fulfills the many prophecies of the Old Testament (prophecies which make up the majority of the Messiah's lyrics). No doubt this message is offensive to some, but does calling it a "holiday" tradition instead of a Christmas tradition make anyone feel any better (if in fact that is what the advertiser hoped to accomplish)?

Too often, we and society forget what words actually mean. Isn’t this ironic? "Holiday" is nothing but the contraction of the words "holy day." Although Christmas in our society may have degenerated into a celebration of food, gifts, and time off work, secularists unwittingly keep reminding us that it should, above all, be observed as a holy day!

The holiness of God is the heart of Christmas. It is God's holiness that prevents Him from being able to allow sin in His presence. But God made a way to be reconciled to us where there was no way. He took His perfect Son and sent Him into our midst. When Christ was born, there entered into our world a holiness so true that it wouldn't be stained by the sin that the rest of us live and breathe. Zechariah, the aged father of John the Baptist, anticipated God's reconciliation at work and prophesied over His own Son: "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." (Luke 1.76-79)

The birth of Christ guides us into the path of peace because the road Christ walked and the death He died brought about the forgiveness of sins. He did not come merely to sympathize with us in our weaknesses or to make God seem more accessible, He came to reveal the holiness of God's wrath, wrath which He would bear for us.

The next time someone wishes you a happy holiday, I invite you to stop and consider just how holy was the child whose birth we celebrate. His holiness gives us our hope; for unless we are clothed in His righteousness, we are ill-fitted to approach the Holy One of Israel. This hope is captured in the words of the beloved Christmas hymn:

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt His worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, O night divine!
 

Pastor Mullinax