The word \u2018celebrate\u2019<\/i> means to rejoice, delight in, revel,<\/i> and appreciate.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Jack Hayford writes: \u2018There is so much done in the name of Christmas that is neither pleasing nor honouring to Christ. Even so, I find myself doing battle\u2026 with\u2026 religious superstitions which argue against almost every observation of Christmas\u2026 against giving\u2026 against decorations, trees, or just plain fun, as though such participation defiled something holy. Such harsh debunking is nothing more than \u201choly humbug\u201d. A Christmas tree\u2026 is a specific statement\u2026 By means of this tree we are saying: We believe in celebration.<\/i> We serve the God who \u201cgives us richly all things to enjoy\u201d<\/i> (1\u00a0Timothy\u00a06:17 NKJV) and who through history assigned\u2026 sacred appointments of feasting and rejoicing\u2026 \u201cgreat gladness\u201d<\/i> (1\u00a0Chronicles\u00a029:22 KJV)\u2026 Although no one can make a \u201cBiblical case\u201d for Christmas trees, we gather around ours with joy. We see in its living branches a symbol of everlasting life given us because of Jesus\u2019 death on the tree\u2014whose naked crossbars Xed out death and ushered in forgiveness\u2026 and eternal hope. The lights\u2026 gleam a testimony of His Light-of-the-world glory. The ornaments reflect the decorative splendour with which His kindnesses adorn our lives. The star beams hope, with a heavenward ray, reminding us that from there He shall come again to receive us.\u2019 <\/p>\n
As you gather together this Christmas, don\u2019t forget to celebrate the One who said, \u2018I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows Me\u2026 will have the light of life.\u2019<\/i> (John\u00a08:12 NIV)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The word \u2018celebrate\u2019 means to rejoice, delight in, revel, and appreciate. Jack Hayford writes: \u2018There is so much done in the name of Christmas that is neither pleasing nor honouring to Christ. Even so, I find myself doing battle\u2026 with\u2026 religious superstitions which argue against almost every observation of Christmas\u2026 against giving\u2026 against decorations, trees, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}