It's Christmas

The other day, I was listening to a podcast and the hosts were answering a question about celebrating a "secular Christmas".

First of all, how can you have a secular Christmas? No matter how much you want it to be so, Christmas isn't secular. Celebrate the season, the holidays, Yuletide--all great secular events. But the very concept of Christmas requires a Christ, ergo faith. Hence, not secular.

Second, they talked about how you could still tell the story, which is an important tradition for a no longer religious person. But, when you strip out the faith aspects, the story (according to the hosts) boils down to this: there was a refugee family who had a child in very uncomfortable circumstances, and it's important to remember that.

Sounds lovely. But here's the thing. How does that story--a refugee born far from home in bad circumstances--warrant the celebration of Christmas? A season of joy, and hope, and happiness? There is only joy in the story because of Who that baby was. And He wasn't just another refugee. He was the Savior. The person who literally saved the world. Who enables us to obtain immortality and eternal life. He wasn't just another of the billions of human beings who had a hard life. He was Jesus Christ.

I get that not everyone believes that. And I'm sad, because they are missing out. But, you can't have Christmas without Christ--a divine Christ. And that's a fact.