Wake Up, Look Up

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach

wyrock and Merry Christmas this is our

Christmas episode and that's why we're

asking the question can we win the war

on Christmas if you're not aware uh the

war on Christmas language has been

language used in the culture war that

has been taking place in our country for

the last decade or so the idea is that

there's a growing group of people out

there who would like to see Christmas

either done away with or at least

stripped of any of its religious

significance a lot of people believe

this in fact recent polling suggests

that four out of every 10 Americans

believe there is a concerted effort to

take Christ or religion out of Christmas

uh and less and less Americans are

participating in a kind of Christmas

celebration that is religious in fact in

47% of Americans said that their

participation in Christmas was strongly

religious but in

2019 asked the same question only 35% of

Americans said that their participation

in Christmas was religious uh you can

see that generationally too as

Millennials who grew up in a culture in

which the practice of Christmas was less

and less religious are now uh far

outpacing previous generations in their

belief that Christmas is a cultural

holiday not a religious one so can we

win the war on Christmas begins by

acknowledging there's a shift in our

country towards Christmas but not the

shift I think that most of us assume I'm

not sure there's some shadowy cabal

that's meeting in dark rooms to talk

about how to take down Christmas or how

to at least strip it of its Christian

Origins I think the war on Christmas is

not outside of our homes but inside of

them not outside of our churches but

inside of them that's because I've

noticed now in 41 years of growing up in

a Christian home going to Christian

churches and now being a Christian

father

that the temptation to secularize the

holiday lives in me before it is outside

of me the truth is we have all added a

lot to Christmas we've added Santa Claus

and reindeer we've added music and

movies and subculture and traditions

we've added a lot of noise a lot of

Glitz and glamour that on its own might

not be evil or wrong but it is simply

put distracting

I think if most of us were going to do

an audit of our own celebration of

Christmas we would find that the arrow

is pointing up for the amount of things

that we do that have no connection to

Jesus and that the arrow is pointing

down for the things that we do that are

distinctly Christian and that what that

means is that for me as a parent or for

you as a Christian you have to first

push yourself to make sure that your

celebration of Christmas is in fact

Christian and that isn't by doing away

with everything else but it might be by

saying for every one kind of secular

thing I do I'm going to make sure to

accompany that with an advent calendar

that points me to Jesus with scripture

readings that reacquaint me with the

story of Christmas with prayer with

church involvement with music that

reinforces the theological themes and

significance of Christmas uh look it's

Christmas day so most of us our

Traditions are in the books we've got

one day maybe a few more of opportunity

to inject Christ into the holiday that

is about his birth but we can't affect

today maybe you're listening to this

episode on the way to go gather with

family and you had not planned on

opening the Gospel of Luke and reading

the Christmas story you hadn't planned

on praying together and thanking God for

loving this world enough to send his

only son but why not do that and one of

the things I believe in here at the

church where I work is that anytime we

have a major event we should Circle up

after that event is over and ask some

questions the best possible time to

review an event of significance is in

its immediate aftermath and to say what

do we like what do we need to change how

could we get better so even if you can't

affect your plans today here's a little

encouragement in the next week find an

hour to sit with a cup of coffee and a

piece of paper and make a note to

yourself for next year about what needs

to go what needs to be added so that the

war on Christmas in our own hearts and

our own minds the war for our attention

the war for where we find our holiday

significance is one internally before we

worry about winning it externally Merry

Christmas hey thanks so much for

watching this episode of wake up lookup

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