For the longest time in America it was essentially a Macy's type of Christmas....and I loved about every minute of it. My wife and I went out to dinner last night and I specifically wanted to go to one of the cheaper steak houses....for I wanted a little trip down Memory Lane. I need to give a little explanation here:
Christmas in Pittsburgh in the early 60s was a simple thing. There really weren't any fancy gifts to give to the kids. Oh we thought they were great but compared to today they were very simple. As for myself, some years we had a Christmas tree and others we didn't and I really didn't take much notice to that. The real big thing for me was our annual bus trip downtown...for their was no such thing as a mall. Hopefully it was snowing and it seemed like it usually was. We would trek from Macy's...excuse me, Kaufmann's on the Mon River side to Gimbals by where the U. S. Steel Building would eventually go up, to Hornes down by the point, while stopping in many stores between them, but my fondest memory was the new and exciting steak restaurant at the point called the Flame where from the street you could see the flames cooking the steaks....and it was cheap....cheap enough for anyone to afford. So last night I wanted just a little bit of that memory....and I got it....and a good steak also.
Jesus was in Christmas back then....if only as a baby. A number of movies at the time showed pretty clearly what Christmas was to us....Holiday Inn and White Christmas being two. You probably will not remember this film but it was very typical.....The Apartment with Jack Lemmon, Shirley (I am God) MacClaine and Fred MacMurray. It revolved around a national insurance company and some of its managers and lowly Jack Lemmon who provides his apartment to them to meet with young woman. A company Christmas party was prominent in the story.....gifts....drinking....a party....and plenty of fun. This was Christmas in America in 1960. Jesus was still there....somehow....and we just assumed that all was well....but as the years passed even this changed.
They started taking Jesus out of Christmas. At first we began to use other words such as Xmas and holiday. More years passed and certain institutions, including our government, started to ban any religious significance for the day. Conservatives in America were outraged and 'putting Jesus back in Christmas' became some what of a battle cry. One thing led to another and the conservatives won....we have Donald Trump as our President-elect! So we can go back to our baby in a manger and the company Christmas Party... with gifts...and drinking...and plenty of fun....all of this of course leading up to New Year's Eve and Times Squire....only Guy Lombardo and his orchestra are long gone....replaced by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Beyonce.
Here's my point folks...you know I always have a point....Jesus has been out of Christmas in America.... and maybe this was a good thing... for it was becoming a mockery of the birth of our Savior. Now before you get too upset, yes there were...moments. Some of the hymns that were composed over the centuries were magnificent in exalting the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and many Christians throughout America simply gave thanks on this day for the fulfilled prophesy of the birth of Christ that would thirty years later lead to Jesus ministry of three years where He would proclaim to us the glorious gospel of salvation. Yes there were moments in our modern Christmas in America but in the last thirty years or so even those moments were few and it has been as if we have forgotten altogether the birth of Jesus.
This is therefore my hope! Jesus was taken out of Christmas...we no longer took joy in.the angels singing praises in the heavens while the shepherds could only watch and listen in awe...and Simeon was no longer there to proclaim...."for my eyes have seen Your salvation..." We have gone through our Christless Christmas period and should God will it...it may be time for Jesus to be put back into Christmas! The international news of this world is moving as a speeding locomotive...without brakes... down a mountain. That news may bring with it a sobering....and we may indeed put Jesus back in Christmas....but not in mere words such as 'Christmas parties' or 'Merry Christmas'....and not only as a newborn baby...as glorious as that was...but in the hope of the returning Savior....the King of Kings and Lord of Glory!
Christmas in Pittsburgh in the early 60s was a simple thing. There really weren't any fancy gifts to give to the kids. Oh we thought they were great but compared to today they were very simple. As for myself, some years we had a Christmas tree and others we didn't and I really didn't take much notice to that. The real big thing for me was our annual bus trip downtown...for their was no such thing as a mall. Hopefully it was snowing and it seemed like it usually was. We would trek from Macy's...excuse me, Kaufmann's on the Mon River side to Gimbals by where the U. S. Steel Building would eventually go up, to Hornes down by the point, while stopping in many stores between them, but my fondest memory was the new and exciting steak restaurant at the point called the Flame where from the street you could see the flames cooking the steaks....and it was cheap....cheap enough for anyone to afford. So last night I wanted just a little bit of that memory....and I got it....and a good steak also.
Jesus was in Christmas back then....if only as a baby. A number of movies at the time showed pretty clearly what Christmas was to us....Holiday Inn and White Christmas being two. You probably will not remember this film but it was very typical.....The Apartment with Jack Lemmon, Shirley (I am God) MacClaine and Fred MacMurray. It revolved around a national insurance company and some of its managers and lowly Jack Lemmon who provides his apartment to them to meet with young woman. A company Christmas party was prominent in the story.....gifts....drinking....a party....and plenty of fun. This was Christmas in America in 1960. Jesus was still there....somehow....and we just assumed that all was well....but as the years passed even this changed.
They started taking Jesus out of Christmas. At first we began to use other words such as Xmas and holiday. More years passed and certain institutions, including our government, started to ban any religious significance for the day. Conservatives in America were outraged and 'putting Jesus back in Christmas' became some what of a battle cry. One thing led to another and the conservatives won....we have Donald Trump as our President-elect! So we can go back to our baby in a manger and the company Christmas Party... with gifts...and drinking...and plenty of fun....all of this of course leading up to New Year's Eve and Times Squire....only Guy Lombardo and his orchestra are long gone....replaced by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Beyonce.
Here's my point folks...you know I always have a point....Jesus has been out of Christmas in America.... and maybe this was a good thing... for it was becoming a mockery of the birth of our Savior. Now before you get too upset, yes there were...moments. Some of the hymns that were composed over the centuries were magnificent in exalting the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and many Christians throughout America simply gave thanks on this day for the fulfilled prophesy of the birth of Christ that would thirty years later lead to Jesus ministry of three years where He would proclaim to us the glorious gospel of salvation. Yes there were moments in our modern Christmas in America but in the last thirty years or so even those moments were few and it has been as if we have forgotten altogether the birth of Jesus.
This is therefore my hope! Jesus was taken out of Christmas...we no longer took joy in.the angels singing praises in the heavens while the shepherds could only watch and listen in awe...and Simeon was no longer there to proclaim...."for my eyes have seen Your salvation..." We have gone through our Christless Christmas period and should God will it...it may be time for Jesus to be put back into Christmas! The international news of this world is moving as a speeding locomotive...without brakes... down a mountain. That news may bring with it a sobering....and we may indeed put Jesus back in Christmas....but not in mere words such as 'Christmas parties' or 'Merry Christmas'....and not only as a newborn baby...as glorious as that was...but in the hope of the returning Savior....the King of Kings and Lord of Glory!
