Feedback!!!

From Gail:
I have known for years all of the origins of rituals that we in our culture have adopted for ourselves to celebrate Christmas. Although cults and pagans have used things that God has created to create for themselves their own idols and such, it does not mean that we cannot take those same very things and turn them into ways to worship him. (What satan means for evil God means for good).
For instance...Take the tree. They worshiped the tree. In our home we use the tree to symbolize Jesus' birthday candle. The tree doesn't have to big and glorious. It can be small and simple. Actually, I don't think God really even cares if we have a tree.
We usually give our kids 3 gifts each because Jesus was given three gifts from the wise men. We also give one bigger gift for all the kids to share. We set a manger scene under the tree to show Jesus was God's gift to us. The Lord says be a cheerful giver. Really the pressure comes from us not being content with simplicity. We feel as though our simple gift won't be good enough. Or others not being grateful for a small simple gift.
If giving is causing us stress then perhaps we are trying to give beyond our means and feeling the recipient won't appreciate what little we could afford. Or all the shopping that goes into it can be exhaustive. Giving does not have to come in form of material gifts. It could be just giving someone a phone call, a letter, or a visit. The purpose is to celebrate Jesus' birthday. To give thanks to God that He sent His son to buy our pardon.
One other example is that I use to be against Easter egg hunts. I thought it was a pagan deal and took away from the meaning of Easter. Then we experienced a Seder service. (I wish you all could attend one). During the end of the seder a matzo is wrapped in a piece of cloth and is hidden. Then all the children get to search for the matzo. The Seder service is a very sacred meal or banquet. Yet they have a special time for the children to play and participate in it and have fun. Jesus did not feel this took away from the meaning of the service.
So just because some pagan thousands of years ago decided to decorate and worship and egg does not make the egg itself sinful nor does the decorating of the egg. Nor hunting them.
My view is enjoy Jesus. Celebrate Him. If something is coming between you and celebrating Him then get rid of it. Do what you do to give glory to God. No matter how small or how big. I would be perfectly happy just being with family.
The little drummer boy had no gift to bring so he played "pa,rum,pa,tum,tum" on his drum. I believe we all would be just as happy whether we receive a gift or NOT because we know we have already received HIS ULTIMATE GIFT..JESUS.

From Tammy:
Thank you so much - this has really been on my heart lately (actually since last year when I had first heard of some things about Christmas - like it isn't really celebrating Jesus' birthday, etc . . . )- I think it's just another way the enemy tries to take our Joy from us and start focusing on the world's wrong instead of the right in JESUS!
God bless!

Linda wrote:
Here....let me make it easy...I'VE BEEN REDEEMED. My life, my words, my numbers, all the pagan associations that were formally "from the pit", have been redeemed in MY life. Where is our power if we let this nonsensical, superstitious stuff hang us up and deplete the intensity of our relationship with the one who redeemed our lives. We grew up with this, we got saved, if you're smart, when you learned about all the paganism involved in these things, you exorcised them. We use them for good. We take authority over them. What Satan meant for evil, we, in our enlightened states, have used in Kingdom celebration of our Lord and King.
In the UK (forgive me for this incomplete tid bit) it is my understanding that the Monarch's birthday is celebrated on a certain day in May, regardless of when their actual birthday is.
Halloween is the celebration of "All Saints Eve". I think I'll redeem it this year. I've treated smiling pumpkins like boogey men for years now and I'm over it.
REDEEMED. Given the power of the Holy Spirit. Satan be damned. Satan IS damned. Now take the spoils of this victory, turn them around and send your spirits soaring through the Universe with the sound of CHRISTmas carols and smooches under the mistletoe. For those of you in my boat, you'd probably be happy for a little peck from a druid under the mistletoe!


From Mandy:
Well said. Christianity is full of symbolism, and the date and means of the celebration of Christ's birth is a part of that symbolism. The bread and the wine aren't actually Christ's body and blood, but they symbolize His sacrifice for us. Christmas doesn't actually fall on the day of Christ's birth, but it is the day we celebrate that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). In order for Christ to die for us, he had to be born first. This is what we celebrate. I could go on, but here are the words of St. Augustine (and I could never hope to say it better than he did):
"The Word of the Father who created all time, by becoming human created for himself a birthday in time. He with the Father existed before the vast extent of time; he through his mother Mary inserted himself into the passing procession of time. He the Creator of humans, he the Ruler of the Heavens, became human so he might become a baby at the breast, so that he the Divine bread might be hungry, so that he the Fountain of life might be thirsty, so that he the Way might be weary from a journey. God became a human being so that the Truth might be accused by false witness and the Judge of the living and dead be judged by a mortal judge. He became human so that strength might be shown as weak, that the author of life might die....
Awake mankind! God became a human being to save you from death. If he had not been born in time, a happy eternal life would have been impossible for you. You never would have escaped your sins if he had not taken on your humanity. It was only through his mercy that you escaped eternal unhappiness. You would have perished, had he not come. And so, let us joyfully celebrate the festive day on which Jesus-God, he who is the great Eternal Day, came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time."
Becoming flesh and doing so in the uncomfortable form of a baby was part of God's sacrifice for us. It is that that we celebrate- the beginning of his story of redemption. Do we sometimes miss the point and spend too much time on gifts and stress and things that don't matter? Of course. But we are forever missing the point. The flaw is in us, not in Christmas.