Tis the season

I love Christmas season, but I must say that I despise the smorgasbord of senseless songs, decor, and newsreports. More directly it is dung that needs to be trampled under somebody else's feet. I'm tired of smelling this putrid smell every time I turn on the radio, TV, or see some "holiday spirit" in front of someone's house.
First, radio stations that play "christian" music prove the point that parachurch organizations not held in accountability to a covenant church are simply not faithful to God's Word. Listen for yourself on any given day, much less Sunday. I don't want to hear White Christmas, Jingle Bells, or Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on a channel that is supposedly committed to "exalting Jesus as Lord". As a youth minister, I love to play wacky games like bobbing for gold fish (many fish die in the process but do not stop the game). However, sticking to the mission and purpose of the ministry is vitally important. The main problem is having a message that is "safe for the whole family". The Gospel is not safe for the whole family. When church membership is a good thing to put on your resume, then we've got a problem. When the safety net does not include anything about the bloody Gospel that gives life to me, then we've got a problem. When I can sing along with the Christian church, Nazarene church, Methodist church in the same tune, then we've got a problem. None of us attend the same church yet we're in one accord on the radio station. I don't want safety. I don't want bubble gum theology. I don't want Peter Gabriel singing to me about the Father eyes or Los Lonely Boys asking me how to get to heaven, and I surely don't want A CHRISTIAN STATION AIRING THESE SONGS LIKE THEY ARE GOOD CHRISTIAN SONGS!!! Let's make music to the praise of God's glorious grace and redeem the creativity that God has uniquely given to His creation. Let's explore whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise. Surely in this wide expanse we can enjoy the finest Christian made music and art that is not a likeness of the world's music.
Besides the radio stations playing, I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus, the battle for Christmas is not only faught on the radio stations but in Christian homes with being Christians on the wrong side. Churches wage war over Halloween because every dutiful Christian knows that creepy goblins, bloody monsters, and witches with brooms have 666 stamped on their costume. Yet, when Christmas time comes we blow up a ten foot Santa Claus in our yard! What message are we sending when the TV crews do reports asking "will you say 'Happy Holidays' or 'Merry Christmas'?" Santa and Frosty do not look like the reason for the season. We have to remember that we are to provide a defense for the Gospel. What defense do we provide when people merely watch us? I don't think Santa is evil, but the signs of the times have raised this controversy to a level that Christians must be proactive. In the same way, I didn't have a problem with Halloween, but the day that we now live requires churches to answer to pagan history. We cannot celebrate Christmas with a syncretistic twist.
Stand up church and redeem the times with the truth of the Gospel and be the light in a dark world. We must give an account for the reason that we celebrate Christmas. To quote Peter Frost, Christmas without Christ is just mas - Spanish for more. More problems than before.