‘Tis the Season! (1)

“‘These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.’” Leviticus 23.4

A blur of holidays
“It’s the holiday season!” as the late Andy Williams sings jubilantly every year about this time around our house. It’s a family tradition that, day after Thanksgiving – no sooner, mind you – we break out the Christmas records. Yes, records – Susie and I have had most of these vinyl disks for all 45 years of our marriage, and we play them day-in and day-out throughout the month of December. The holiday season wouldn’t be the same without them. We’ve added some Christmas CDs to the daily offering, but the vinyl discs remain the staple of our holiday celebration.

We’ve tried listening to local radio stations which boast 24-hour “holiday music.” However, that has been a disappointment, but not because they haven’t delivered on what they promise. They are indeed playing “holiday” music all day long – music that celebrates the fun and nostalgia associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas, but without any of those pesky “religious” messages that tend to make people (and advertisers) upset. If a Christmas carol ever appears on the log of one of these stations, it is almost invariably played for melodic and sentimental value, not the message – instrumental versions only. That way you tug at the heart strings of nostalgia without offending any sensitive secular ears.

Wouldn’t want to do that during the “holidays”, you know.

No, the holy days of Thanksgiving and Christmas, like the megalopolis the runs from D. C. to Boston, have become one continuous blur of holiday fun, a national celebration of bingeing and splurging, with as little emphasis as possible on any transcendent realities.

Diversions, distractions, self-indulgence
Holidays in America have come to be regarded as entitlements. They’re all about us, seasons of diversion, distraction, self-indulgence, and time off work. Even the great religious celebrations of the national calendar – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter – are regarded by most Americans as opportunities to get some good bargains and enjoy a little time for relaxation, not for spiritual reflection and renewal, but just for doing whatever we want.

Sort of like the way most Christians observe the Lord’s Day.

So successful, in fact, has been the transformation of America’s “holy days” into mere “holidays” that we have multiplied them to the point of absurdity. Every month features one holiday or another, days set aside to “honor” one group or event or ideal or another, but all engaged primarily for the opportunity to get some time off work for a little R & R.

Americans love their holidays because they love themselves, and holidays provide some of the best opportunities for escaping our normal routine and rut for a little well-deserved, as we see it, rest and recuperation.

There are so many holidays on the national calendar that we can’t keep track of them all. And the ones we know best are in the process of losing their original meaning and significance. Watching The Weather Channel not long ago, I had to shake my head as the meteorologist paused to “honor”, on Veterans’ Day, all those who had given their lives for our country, since that, he opined, is what Veterans’ Day is all about. Well, no – that would be Memorial Day. If educated TV personalities don’t know the difference between these holidays, what hope can we have that “Secretaries’ Day” or “Administrative Assistants’ Day” will be properly observed? And how do we properly observe such “holidays” anyway, except to grab a day off work for a day at the mall, or whatever?

The value of holy days
The “holy days” of the calendar have lost whatever transcendent value they may originally have had. Now they’re just all about us, and the more of them we can conjure and observe, the better.

But let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. We need holidays – holy days, actually – and God has shown us how to make the most of them. My purpose in this series is to take a closer look at God’s idea concerning how holy days can help to make us, well, holy.       

Next steps: Talk with some friends about the difference between “holy days” and “holidays.” Ask a few Christians and a few non-Christians to offer their opinions. Share your own thoughts about this question, and follow the conversations wherever they might lead.

T. M. Moore

We’re taking a 3-week intermission from our series on The Disciplined Life to review three archive series on the meaning of Christmas. This week’s study, ‘Tis the Season, is part 1 of a 3-part series on Christmas, As Advertised, and is available as a free download.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.