Many of us lament that the true
meaning of Christmas is lost in commercialism. We are particularly critical
that the marketing of Christmas starts immediately after Thanksgiving…and in
some cases holiday displays can even be seen right after Halloween. It occurs to
me that in times past proclaiming the name of Christ was confined to the month
of December. However today, even though it is not the intention of marketers, the
name of Christ is publically proclaimed throughout November and December. “Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----The true meaning of Christmas is in the hearts and minds of those who love the Lord. The public meaning of Christmas is in the hands of those who make messages publicly. The 1920’s saw some awareness of responsibility towards morality and reverence in filmmaking by the creation of the motion picture production code. For thirty years it was like society itself had at least some semblance of self-control. But in the 1950’s, competition from foreign producers unfettered by the code and a need to distinguish their product from the newly developing TV market led to the beginning of the code’s unraveling. By the end of the 1960’s, the code was rendered completely feckless.
-----I’ve always found it fascinating how societies develop similarly to individuals. “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Prov 25:28) An advertising content code also developed alongside the motion picture production code, and television had its own rigorous code. All of these walls didn’t topple completely by the end of the 1960‘s. But they fell plenty enough that the enemies of good social order -immorality, perversion, irreverence, and self-gratification- could climb over the rubble into the city with ease. And pour into it did!
-----The relentless attacks on “anything Christian” in the holiday themes is merely the malignancy of that uncontrolled, cancerous growth of evil spreading throughout the city with abandon. And the seeming hopelessness of it all roots in the fact that the purveyors of perversion have gained control of the education, political, and judicial systems as well. As a city without walls, our society has been more than run over by evil; seems it has now been laid upon a gurney for transfusing it straight up the veins.
-----But those who know the Lord are not entirely shut out of the social community game. We need first to mind what the entertainment industry abandoned: a good moral code. God’s word is replete with that code -how to treat folks with love, being honest with them rather than militant against them. And during Christmas I am always amazed how quickly the store clerks’ “Happy Holidays” get restated after receiving a warm hearted, jubilant “Merry Christmas” in return. Our messages enter the public mindset through a different gate than do those of the entertainment industry. And the more messages we pour over the city through the gate of reverence, truth, and decency, the more the people of the city cast a jaundiced eye upon the open sewer Hollywood, TV, and advertising has become. We have a little hand on some public messages, too. So, let’s start expressing more of the meaning in our hearts which grows from His Spirit being with ours.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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