When our family first arrived to Hope Chapel in September of 1999 and after only being here just over three months, I was introduced to the schedule of events that involved celebrating the holidays. I was still quite unacquainted with the Hope Chapel church family and totally ignorant of many of the traditions and the reasons why things were done the way they were done at the church. I was especially surprised when it came to decorating the church for Christmas. My first impression was that it was overdone and was too much for my personal preference. I had never seen a Foursquare church building and especially a sanctuary with so many Christmas decorations. But what really impressed me was seeing the Hope Chapel church family putting out so much effort, with so much dedication to detail, having so much fun and fellowship putting up all the Christmas decorations.
As the new Pastor who never saw all this before, I was concerned about how this tradition reflected the spiritual health of the congregation. I seriously had to seek God’s guidance concerning this Hope Chapel tradition of decorating the church building and ask myself the question; did it really glorify Christ or was it glorifying the building and the holiday? In spite of this personal challenge, the Lord assured me that everybody at Hope Chapel was okay and it was not necessary to make any changes. However, He showed me what needed to change was me.
As many of you know, since we have been here nothing has really changed about this Hope Chapel pre-holiday tradition of decorating the Church building. I can laugh at it now, but over ten years ago, Eliana and I were accused of being “cowards” by an individual who no longer attends Hope Chapel because in this person’s mind “we gave in” to this tradition. This individual thought that we were spiritually compromising because we were not willing to do away with all the decorations, the Christmas trees and nativity scenes, which they considered as an idolatrous worship of a pagan holiday.
The Holy Spirit taught me something about myself that started nineteen years ago with my first Christmas at Hope Chapel, which I will never forget. When it comes to an issue especially with traditions, I have to always remember to look at what motivates people’s hearts about that tradition today. I also try to understand “the why of yesterday” or in other words what was the reason for doing it and what purpose did that tradition accomplish in generations past. This is done by understanding the tradition through God’s eyes and with His Word, which helps us understand others with His discernment, with His grace, and with His love.
Recently I read a blog article written by Karl Vaters that reflects almost exactly, what I always have to ask myself every Christmas season for last nineteen years.
“More than any other time of the year, Christmas is filled with traditions. It’s one of the many reasons we love the holiday season. It’s also something our churches need to pay closer attention to. Before a church holds any event, program or service, we should always ask “why?” And Christmas is no exception.
We need to ask questions like “Why do we do this?” “Why do we do it in this way?” and “Does this event or tradition fit with the current mission of our church, or are we just doing it because we’ve always done it?” Then, if it does fit, we need to ask “is there anything about it that needs to be updated for current generations?” And maybe most important of all, “what aspects of our church’s Christmas events or traditions need to be explained instead of just assumed?” For instance, if Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, why do we have a Christmas tree on our platform? And if we don’t, why don’t we? Regular church attenders may understand the “why?” behind our traditions (although probably not as much as we think), but it may not be so clear to our guests – and this time of the year we may have more guests than ever.”
How would we explain to a new Christian who comes from another country why we celebrate Christmas the way we do here in Hope Chapel? I recently had to do something similar to this, explaining to a person who is from a country in Southeast Asia, that U.S. secular society does not specifically celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas. This interesting cultural point is also stated by the Biblical commentator Warren Wiersbe. “If a new Christian from a distant mission field were to visit many of our churches, he would probably be astounded at the ideas and practices we have that cannot be supported by God’s Word. Our man-made traditions are usually more important to us than the God-given doctrines of the Scriptures! While it is not wrong to have church traditions, that remind us of our godly heritage, we must be careful not to make these traditions equal to the Word of God.”
There will always be those who have something negative to say about the holidays, the traditions and the way we celebrate them. This is nothing new, from what I have found out, people have been critical of the way our church has been decorating for Christmas since the forties.
People who thought this way were even around in the first century harassing the Church with their opinions about traditions. The apostle Paul warned the church about them in the second chapter of Colossians (please read the whole chapter). When you read this chapter carefully you will notice what Paul says about these persons and what they can do the individual believer. It is important to notice the obvious similarities to those who can only see the negative aspects of celebrating Christmas.
- 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
- 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
- 16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. (And we can also add Christmas.)
It might be difficult to avoid these kinds of Christians and their criticisms, but when we are confronted by them, how do we respond especially when we are in disagreement with their point of view concerning the celebration of Christmas? If we read further on in Colossians Paul gives us the answer. As you read this take a careful and sincere look at yourself and do not be surprised if the Holy Spirit points out some things that need to change in you.
Paul ends his letter to the Colossian congregation with some wise advice that can apply to us today concerning how we should answer and discuss others questions and even the objections to the way we celebrate Christmas.
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:4-6
Pastor John
