Put Christ Back into Christmas? Really?

I am serious!
Put Christ back into Christmas?
Are you sure?
Do you really want to do that?
This is the time of year when that battle cry emerges: Put Christ back into Christmas. Either that or Keep Christ in Christmas. Same thing.
Posters proclaim it; bumper stickers declare it and even billboards broadcast it.
Keep Christ in Christmas!
But do we really want that to happen?
Seriously?
I mean - think about it, think carefully.
Sure, at the heart of Christmas, if we truly understand this celebration, is the birth of a Child Who is the Promised One, Messiah, Savior.
A Baby!
And we can certainly get into a proper mood to focus our attention on a Baby.
And that makes this a kind of "birthday."
So, Happy Birthday.
And isn't that keeping Christ in Christmas.
Make sure those Christmas cards include somehow that Baby.
Make certain that Nativity scene is evident under your tree or else somewhere very prominent.
And by all means make sure that some of that Christmas music is all about things like, "Silent Night" and "Come All Ye Faithful."
Why we can even take time to go to church to really say and show we mean it, "Happy Birthday!"
But is that really putting Christ or keeping Christ in Christmas?
Remember, that Child grew up.
And when He grew up, He did cause some trouble.
We dare not forget that this Christ came to dwell among us to introduce us to a Kingdom . . . a Kingdom far different from the one we live in now, the one we are used to, the one we can even get comfortable being in.
He came to call us to the Kingdom of God.
And that meant He would challenge some of the things we could currently call important. He would challenge some of the things we currently call values.
He would tell us of a Kingdom of peace - where war is not an answer or even an option.
He would teach us of a Kingdom where power would be found in service and meekness and humility.
He would reveal to us a Kingdom where even sparrows are sacred because, well, all of God's creation is sacred and we need to see that and live its implications.
He would show us that mercy and forgiveness are more noble than vengeance and anger.
And on and on the litany would go of the things He would teach us and show us and call us to be.
Keep Christ in Christmas?
The only way we can truly do that is to commit ourselves to His way rather than any other way. He did come to show us something, to bring us something. That is very real!
No compromises!
His way must be the only way.
Even if that means standing in opposition to some, maybe even many, of the present currents and movements and thinkings.
In His own time there were many who did not like what He brought when He came to dwell among us.
It's no different today.
We can easily welcome a Baby.
But what that Baby became when He grew up?
It's easy to shop for gifts, to wrap them and give them.
It's easy to decorate - lights, tree, candles and such.
It's easy to bake and cook and entertain.
And amid all of that it is also easy to focus on a birth and a Child.
But if we really want Christ in Christmas then it should also mean to stand with Him as He calls us to be a most unique people, God's own People, builders of, teachers of, leaders into a Kingdom very, very different from what surrounds us today.
And being that kind of people will not be easy, never has been.Because so many really do not want things "His Way."
Keeping Him in Christmas?
That means giving Him the greatest gift we can give - ourselves!
No if's and's or but's!
Totally!
So are we really ready for that?
Do we really want to Keep Christ in Christmas . . . and in our lives?
The whole of our lives?