In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how to keep the focus of the Christmas season on Jesus, as the birthday celebration it should be. “Keeping Christ in Christmas” has become almost a mantra in response to the ever-increasing consumerization of Christmas and how far we've seemed to drift from the historical event of Jesus's birth. And this has implications beyond how to tangibly keep Christ in Christmas. We also have to find ways to keep Christ in our giving and in our gatherings at Christmastime - the relationships that can make the holidays challenging for so many people and can take away from the joy this season is meant to hold.
There are a couple messages series that you may want to check out related to today's conversation. The first shares the title of today's episode, “Keeping Christ in Christmas.” It will help you take an even deeper dive into the various ways to keep Jesus as the focus of the Christmas season, with installments that look at: Keeping Christ in Your Celebrating, Keeping Christ in Your Relating and Keeping Christ in Your Giving. The installment on “relating” is particularly helpful if the holiday season brings more anxiety than joy. There was a book that he noted as well written by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend called Boundaries that would be a good one to read. Dr. White also touched on the significance of the season of Advent and all that can hold for our lives. For this, we'd encourage you to look at “The Advent Conspiracy.”
When talking about the idea of giving being a key way to keep Christ in Christmas - particularly by beginning our gift-giving with Jesus - Dr. White mentioned an annual effort that was launched by Mecklenburg Community Church in 1994. You can read more about the “Giving to Christ at Christmas” effort in a recent blog that Dr. White wrote HERE.
Finally, you heard Dr. White mention something called the Daily Headline News at Church & Culture - a collection of headlines from around the globe that are curated by Dr. White each weekday. The news stories shared here are to help give you a better picture of what's happening within our culture today, and how many of these cultural events impact the Church.
For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.