{"id":29370,"date":"2020-12-13T03:30:52","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T11:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=29370"},"modified":"2020-12-11T17:13:49","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T01:13:49","slug":"december-13-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2020\/12\/13\/december-13-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"December 13, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/sup><\/em>For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Isaiah 9:6-7<\/p>\n

Keeping Christ in Christmas<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Walk His Way Revisited<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s that time of year again. I\u2019m seeing it all over social media, and hearing it in conversations:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u201cI\u2019m not going to say \u2018Happy Holidays!\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n
  • \u201cWhen you write X-mas, you\u2019re taking the Christ out of Christmas!\u201d<\/li>\n
  • \u201cIt\u2019s a Christmas tree, NOT a holiday tree!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    I wonder if these distinctions really make a difference. I decided to do a little research some years back, after Pastor Bryan told us that holiday<\/strong>\u00a0means holy day<\/em>. Here\u2019s what I found:<\/p>\n

    Although Christmas started out as a pagan holiday, look at the etymology of the word Christmas.\u00a0<\/strong>The word originated as a compound word meaning Christ\u2019s Mass.\u00a0<\/em>It is derived from the middle English\u00a0Christmases\u00a0<\/i>and Old English Cristes m\u00casse<\/em>. Cristes<\/em>is is from Greek, and the symbol is, you guessed it, an \u201cX\u201d! \u201cX\u201d means Chi<\/em>, which means Christ<\/em>. So the letter \u201cX\u201d really can stand in for the word Christ<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Now, on to holiday<\/strong>…this one is a bit easier. Simply put, it is derived from the Old English word h\u00e5ligd\u00e6g<\/em>, which I could never hope to pronounce, and it means Holy Day.\u00a0<\/em>And, holiday\u00a0<\/strong>is more inclusive, for, say, our Jewish friends…catch my drift? I also think that \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d is inclusive for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year\u2019s.<\/p>\n

    I realize many Christians work in a secular environment and are being told to withhold their faith; thus, they may not have the freedom to even say the name of Christ in any form. You may or may not have strong convictions about the way we express Christmas greetings, but I think we should always show Christ in the most tangible ways possible. Instead of taking offense, ask the Lord to show you how you can reflect Him during this season. Honestly, I don\u2019t think it should look any different than how we should show Christ\u2019s love all year long.<\/p>\n

    Lord, thank You for putting us in a country where we are still free to worship You. The world wants to take that away from us, and I ask You to remind us that the enemy is our enemy, not people. Thank you for sending us Your Son. Go before us, and direct our paths for Your glory. Your will be done. In Jesus\u2019 name, amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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