Saturday, December 03, 2011

A Season to Celebrate our Culture…

When we speak of defending our “culture” or if we speak of “culture wars”, what do we really mean by that?  What represents our culture more than anything else?

President Obama certainly does not understand the concept at all because he has spent his life either outside of our culture or soaking up the influence of those who despise it.  He declared that we are not a Christian nation at all.  We are one of the largest Muslim nations, he said.

To me, one of things that represents and celebrates our culture, even more than the 4th of July, is Christmas.  The 4th of July celebrates our nation.  Thanksgiving celebrates our beginnings.  Christmas celebrates our essence.   This “essence” is why a friend of mine ultimately rejected a lasting relationship with a Jehovah’s Witness sweetheart in college.  Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas.  That non-practice took away too much of the essence of our culture for my friend to feel “like home.”  It wasn’t as much a religious thing as it was a cultural thing.

Christmas represents the high reverent celebration of what formed, guides, and protects this nation.  Despite the harangues of progressives and their atheist allies, we have strong and undeniable Christian roots.  And, though weakened by the god of cultural diversity and tolerance of immorality and competing ideologies, Christianity remains the predominant, strong fabric our society. 

Most of our parents and grandparents were influenced and comforted by Christianity more than any other religion or ideology.  Most of us have warm memories of mystery and family and giving from childhood through our child raising years through the experience of dozens of years of celebrating Christmas.  Mystery manifests itself in Divine grace God bestowed on our nation and families depicted in the spirit of Christmas.   Family represents the unity and love shared by those closest to us in the spirit of Christmas.  Giving is the generosity that families, churches, and average Americans have shown though our nation’s history mirroring the spirit of Christmas.

And the deepest of our cultural roots in Christmas is the miracle of the gift of life given by our Savior, Jesus Christ and the hope for the future He brings to us all.  The best way to fight the battles that rage against our culture is to return to our heritage – to our faith in the miracle of Christ and the spirit of Christmas.  May this season bring this kind of renewal to all Americans.

May you have a Merry, Spirit-filled and renewing Christmas.

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