I am struggling to understand where many people get their idea of when a season begins or ends in this culture. I’m primarily thinking about where Christ-followers get their idea of when a holiday season begins or ends in this culture. Do we get it from Hallmark and think Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving (or even earlier)? Or do we get it from the Tradition of the Church which for centuries has said Christmas begins on December 25th and ends on January 6th with Epiphany, which, among other things, celebrates the coming of the Wise Men? And why does it even matter?

I am coming to believe that the way we order our lives, including the way we celebrate holidays, matters very much. While it isn’t a matter of salvation, that comes through Jesus Christ alone, it is a matter of silent witness and mental orientation for ourselves and our children. If we are looking to the culture and defining Christmas in terms of when the merchants get the Christmas goods out, what does that say about what we believe Christmas to be about?

I find it ironic that many who scream the loudest about “putting Christ back in Christmas” are also the ones who follow the mall’s schedule in getting out the Christmas decorations. What would happen if everyone who was a Christ-follower celebrated Advent, the four weeks prior to Christmas, and then celebrated Christmas for the 12 Days, from December 25th through January 6th? If enough of us did this, would we impact the retail culture, not to mention our neighbors and co-workers?

Advent is a time of reflection and taking stock of our lives. Celebrating Christmas for 12 Days gives us plenty of time to fit in concerts and parties. It is so sad to me that we cram it all in to a few days and then one BIG day and then BAM!, it is over, to be put away in relief. What does that say about the importance of the Incarnation in our lives as Christians?

I want to challenge each and everyone of you who claim to follow Jesus to evaluate RIGHT NOW how you celebrate Christmas. Mark on your new calendars now what steps you are intentionally going to take to make Advent and Christmas of this coming year a more Christ-filled holiday, one that bears witness to the Church of Jesus Christ and diminishes in your home and heart the pull of the mall.

For example, those of you who lead worship, can you schedule the Sunday school program for during Christmas and not during Advent? Can the choir concert happen during Christmas and not Advent? Can you decorate your house/church gradually? Can you do Christmas preparations in Advent but then save the fruits of those preparations (baking comes to mind) until Christmas? Can you make Advent, i.e. December, a time of sanity and reflection and then really celebrate for the 12 Days of Christmas?

Maybe you can’t make major changes this year but can you make one or two changes this year? And then, another one or two changes next year? And begin thinking about what you will say to your non-Christian neighbors when you invite them to a Christmas party in late December/early January. Also, you may be bucking decades of traditions, such as the one that says “we always decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.” (What does that say about what we believe Thanksgiving to be about?) Take some time now to think about what kind of gentle witness you can be to others who will be impacted by your desire to shift things and step out of the cultural nightmare of December we call the “holidays.” For example, do you need to sit your family down in October and lay out some new traditions? This will not work if you announce it at Thanksgiving dinner!

Maybe you can gather some other folks and families who would join you in this radical approach. It is always easier to buck the tide with others.

I invite feedback, suggestions and thoughts to this idea.