We have lost Christmas, culturally speaking, that is.

 We have lost Christmas, culturally speaking, that is.

The declining influence of the church and the Christian faith is showing up in the celebration of Christmas.  That is expressed dramatically in a recent survey by cloudcovermusic.com.  The retail industry, generally, and some stores specifically, live or die by sales during the Christmas season.  So everything that can in any way be associated with enhancing sales is researched.  In their recent project Holiday Songs Survey: U.S. Listening Habits, Cloud Cover illustrated for us how we have lost Christmas.  

Of the top ten holiday songs, only two were related to the birth of Christ, which happens to be the same number of songs related to romantic affection and far less than warm feelings about community.  Generationally, the last generation to like sacred Christmas music was the Boomers. Among Gen X and the Millennials, 2/3rds are either indifferent or negative about faith-oriented Christmas music.

The retail industry is taking note and will no doubt apply this research to their in-store playlist.  Survey respondents report that religious music doesn’t enhance the shopping experience.  Of those surveyed, 38% report that the presence of religious music ‘discourages me from shopping there,” and 21% said that religious music “makes me angry.”

Once upon a time churches looked at Christmas music as a positive outreach opportunity.  A great big Christmas music event, concert, cantata, etc., was seen as a way of connecting to non-believers and opening a door to evangelistic outreach in the year to come.  That will not work anymore.  We may attract a large crowd of believers from various churches that will gush about how great our program was, but we will almost certainly not impact our lost neighbors.  We can be very busy and self-satisfied but with minimum impact.  

So how did this happen, and what do we do?  It happened because the church became so soft, warm, and fuzzy that we taught people to be drawn to the ‘baby Jesus’ without giving thought to who He was.  In the revolting movie Talladega Nights, the main character offers a prayer to baby Jesus.  That prayer and character represent much of what has happened in the church.  

The solution will not be fast, but it is tried and true.  In the Advent readings of the liturgical calendar, we see readings associated with the second coming of Christ.  This may seem odd, but the best way to prepare for the celebration of the first coming of Christ is to meditate on His second coming.  When Jesus returns, the songs will be songs of praise, worship, and adoration.  We will hear nothing about a “White Christmas” or “It's cold outside.”

If you want to do some extra reading for preparation for Christ, may I suggest the book of Revelation?  Which is the subject of my devotions this month at Beyondharan.blogspot.com.