Christmas


One of the Holy Feast Days is Christmas. The other two are Easter and Pentecost. And in each, we see the focus on a different member of the Trinity. All three festivals have as their liturgical color white for purity.

In Christmas, we focus on God the Father fulfilling his promise of a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Easter focuses on God the Son, who displayed his victory over death by rising from the dead. This innocent death and glorious Resurrection tell us God has paid for our sins and we, too, will one day rise. Pentecost focuses on the Holy Spirit and the power of the Church given to it by and through the Holy Spirit.

It surprises many people that Christmas is actually a "modern" celebration when compared to other celebrations and seasons in the church year. Early Christians focused on Easter as the high feast in the year. If Christ had not been raised, we would still be in our sins and our faith would be futile. New converts were added and baptisms and confirmations were held on Easter. So highly was Easter exalted that the weekly day of worship was changed. Sunday became the weekly celebration of Easter (hence, in Lent, the Sundays are "in" Lent, not "of" Lent).

Early Christians also did not celebrate birthdays, as it was considered pagan. And to celebrate our Lord's birthday in a pagan way was inexcusable.

So, if the early Christians didn't celebrate Christmas, how did Christmas get to be the behemoth of trees, presents, singing, and merriment we know today?

Cultures throughout the world have held a winter feast at the winter solstice. When you think about it, it makes sense. You have the shortest day of the year. What better time to have a party and cheer up? Romans had Saturnalia; Germans had a feast; the British had a feast that contained elements of Roman occupation and Anglo-Saxon migrations. And since most centered around December 25, it became a natural to have a celebration of the Savior's birth on that date.

But it still took centuries before anyone decided it was a good idea to celebrate our Savior's birth and re-read every year those precious passages from Luke 2 and John's Prologue and Matthew's account of the Wise Men. This was when Constantine took over as emperor of Rome and Christianity became a legal religion. Debate if you will whether Constantine had true faith or not, but I'll go on with Christmas.

The copyright of the article Christmas in Lutheranism is owned by John L. Hoh, Jr.. Permission to republish Christmas in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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