Especially this year, we need Christmas!
Today, I want to talk to you about sacred vs. secular traditions. As I mentioned on yesterday's introductory episode, this series, the “We Need Christmas” series, is going to deal with both. And we're going to find the commonalities between the two.
WHERE DOES THE WORD "CHRISTMAS" COME FROM?
"Christmas", the word itself comes from Christ's mass. This was a celebration of the Eucharist in the church in honor and remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ. So this puts Christmas clearly on the sacred side of things.
SECULAR TRADITIONS DEVELOP
However, over the years, a bunch of traditions have developed in and around Christmas that don't quite have as much sacred meaning to them. They are more accessible to people who are either not of the Christian faith or just don't have any faith at all. Yet, they are attracted to the holiday because of the beauty and the spirit of the holiday.
HOW "SECULAR" FEELS ABOUT "SACRED"
Some of the people who strictly celebrate the secular side of things absolutely hate it whenever any of the sacred gets involved. But I would say the majority of people in the secular side of things understand the origin of the holiday, and they don't have any problem at all if others want to appreciate and celebrate the sacred side of things.
HOW "SACRED" FEELS ABOUT "SECULAR"
Likewise, those people that celebrate the sacred traditions. There are a few of them that really hate all the secular traditions and despise it and wish they didn't exist. But I would tend to say most of the people that embrace the sacred side of the traditions also kind of like some of the secular traditions as well, and blend the two together. And why not? The reality is the traditions are not as far apart as you think.
IS SANTA TOTALLY "SECULAR"?
Take, for example, Santa Claus, and we'll go into this deeper down the road. But Santa Claus, you would think of as being a purely secular side of things. Right. But if you trace some of the origin back from the legend and the story, some of that traces back to Saint Nicholas. Definitely on the sacred side of things.
IS GIVING GIFTS TOTALLY "SECULAR"?
What about gift giving? With Black Friday and numerous sales, TV commercials that start in October telling you what you need to buy for Christmas. All the "must have gifts" you are told about. Clearly, gift giving is on the secular side of traditions right?
Until you think about it from the sacred side that Jesus was God’s ultimate gift to mankind, right? The birth of Jesus was a gift. And ultimately, as Jesus went through his crucifixion and resurrection, he gave us the gift of salvation. So from a sacred side of traditions, giving a gift is sort of a remembrance of the gifts that God gave to us and the gift that Jesus gave to us and salvation. So that's just two examples of things that you may think are fully, squarely secular that can also have a common thread in the sacred.
TODAY'S CHALLENGE
So my challenge to you is this: if you're on the secular side of things, look at some of the sacred traditions and see what in them you can find to help you become a better person. This could be ideas, ideals, or things that exist in the words, poetry and hymns. Find those takeaways from the sacred that work for improving your life.
If you're on the sacred side of things, look at some of those secular traditions and think about the connecting roots to the sacred that are within them.
THE ROOT PURPOSE OF THIS SERIES
Here's a secret. That's what the series is about. It will be showing you each side of these traditions and connecting them together. Because in our lives, that's where we all should be right now.
We may have different ideas. We may have different thoughts. But we need to focus on what connects all of those together.
FOLLOW "WE NEED CHRISTMAS"
You need to follow the series. The posts are available in video form and blog form. Go to https://NEEDChristmas.com. You'll be able to see the videos and read the blog posts there. I even have a few resources there for kids and for grown ups of different books, movies, games, and music related to Christmas.
If you want to follow on social media, that's great. I want you to follow SoloPro. That's my production company. Follow SoloPro and you'll be able to see all these videos as they come out.
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/goSoloPro
- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/solopro-nsp/
- Twitter - https://twitter.com/GoSoloPro
- Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/teamsolopro/
- TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@teamsolopro
- YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@needchristmas
WRAP-UP
This is the time of year we can all start to get together, appreciate and enjoy the holidays.
Come back tomorrow and I'll be talking about Thanksgiving, for those of you who think I forgot all about it.
Hey, guys, we need Christmas and have a great day.
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