R.C. Sproul wrote, "For one thing, in our worship at Christmas we may varnish the staggering truth of the incarnation with what is visually, audibly, and aesthetically pleasing. We confuse emotional pleasure — or worse, sentiment — with true adoration." For many, Christmas is nothing more than sentiment. We seek after temporal happiness, briefly cast aside differences with family, friends, co-workers, and others, and go through religious rituals mostly so that we can obtain a desired experience to coincide with the contemporary Christmas holiday. Much in the way we dig out an old Christmas sweater, we also temporarily pull on Christ to "celebrate" his birth.
Much in the way we dig out an old Christmas sweater, we temporarily pull on Christ to "celebrate" his birth.
How? By attending an experientially rich worship service, complete with mood lighting, lit candles, familiar and perfectly performed music, and even sweet dear grandma whose heart is warmed by the presence of your butt in the pew next to her. Most are there to simply hear a story told, to hold a candle, and to arrive at an emotional state that culturally defines our modern Christmas. But in the heart, this has little or nothing to do with Christ - in fact Jesus is held in the same regard as Santa Claus. He's a means to an end. He's an aspect of an cultural experience. But in our hearts, He's not real, his birth, the most miraculous event in all of human history, does not move as to motivate genuine worship or even life change.
I pray that I do not approach the Christmas service at my church with this kind of attitude. I pray that I am focused more on Christ than on the how well the music was performed or the other aesthetic features bound to be present. And I pray that the local church will be focused on presenting Christ, the whole messy Christmas story, in a way that pleases Him more than it pleases first time visitors who are after the sentimental feeling of the modern"Christmas" experience.
HT: Ligonier
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