Christmas Cynics
Are you a cynic this Christmas?
I hope not.
I hope that you aren’t jaded by the commercials that began at Halloween. I hope that you aren’t snippy about someone wishing you a Happy Holiday. I hope that you aren’t dreading that one Christmas visit.
I hope you haven’t been a cynic this Christmas.
It would have been easy to have been cynical two thousand years ago. A man and woman having a baby that was conceived before they were married. A trip at the end of the pregnancy to Bethlehem. A birth in a stable. A manger for a bed. Despite everything the angels and the dreams had said, it would have been easy to have felt just a bit cynical when the rubber met the road. Somehow, I don’t think so.
It is easy to be cynical today. Commercials for two months. Black Friday. Pepper spray this year.
There isn’t really room for cynicism at the heart of Christmas. There really isn’t room for cynicism and Christ. I hope you get there. I hope you get to the heart of Christmas and Christ is in your life. I hope you aren’t a Christmas cynic this year.
Have you been a cynic this Christmas? Do you know anyone who is?
I used to be a cynic. I was one of those “spiritual people” who went around badmouthing SC and if you spell Santa a different way it spelled… Well you know how that is. I finally embraced the spirit of the season and decided my cynicism was not accomplishing one blasted thing except making people miserable and as cynical as i was. I think I have a very balanced approach now…give me presents!!
Merry Christmas Larry. Praying that this will be an awesome time for you and your family.
That’s an awesome story, Bill. Not that you were a cynic, but that you overcame it. Merry Christmas to you, too.
I feel pretty thankful and blessed – especially at this time of the year!
I’ve been somewhat saddened this year when I’ve heard multiple people tell me that they’re just not into Christmas this year. It makes me sad. What made them feel this way? I often wonder.
I think it’s many things…expectations…finances…family…you name it.
My 16 yr old has been a Christmas cynic since he was about 5. His reasons are so many and they are valid. His first reason is that December 25 is not when Jesus was born. Second, there are celebrations and ordinances in the Bible that the Lord tells us to remember and honor and for the most part they are forgotten or left to a ‘quarterly’ observance. He is bothered that we honor what the Pope declared more than what the Lord has. Thirdly, there’s nothing about the holiday that is Christlike in his eyes. To him, he sees the world take on extreme garish decoration, selfishness, greed, materialism, deception, fighting, etc, etc. He broke down in tears at the age of 7 when we went to church and they were boasting about how much money was donated to the Food pantry for Christmas and then went on to talk about how much money they had raised for the Christmas party. The funds for the party were WAY beyond the food pantry donations. I used to try to “talk him into” enjoying Christmas. He never could. It bothered him that we were supposedly honoring Christ while our behavior was everything opposite of His character. It was his sorrow year after year that made me finally gave in and let him change how we “do” Christmas. I use to love the party atmosphere of Christmas but I really respect where his cynicism led.
Such wisdom & clarity in such a young child. I don’t think that is cynical, but prophetic. The verse that keeps coming to mind is: “these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” I think for many Christians this time of year we come face to face with either a disconnect between our professed faith & our actual lifestyle, or with the garish audacity of the commercialized secular world taking over “our” day & our impotency to do anything about it but go along & try not to be cynical.
Larry, thanks for this post. I definitely needed it.
Thought I should also say, I don’t think there’s a problem with being a Christmas cynic. The problem exists when you think EVERYONE should be one. I think this is where Romans 14 is most applicable.
im doing pretty good this year…not to bad…
except the whole…our christmas lights wheren’t working right and i had a fit and asked why we had to have them anyway and yadayadayda….
but i’m over it…
lets do this…
Christmas is here…
I work with someone who, due to their life circumstances, is not a fan of Christmas. They have left Santa out of their children’s lives (which may not be a bad thing), and are limited with there acceptance that God has not punished them for having sex at a young age by forcing them to be a single parent of limited means. It saddens me and I have spoken to them about it, but sometimes people only want to hear what they want to hear.
On another note, the following reading has always meant a lot to me. In fact, I cannot read Luke without hearing this in the back of my mind.
http://youtu.be/pn10FF-FQfs
-Mark