Regardless...

Regardless of how you feel about how Christmas and other holidays should be celebrated (and there are all sorts of shades and arguments on this one. The most interesting one I heard said we shouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving - yes, Thanksgiving - because Christians should be thankful all the time) it would seem plain foolish to overlook the stats below and not capture this moment for the Lord and His Cause:

Top Five Times People Are Open To Considering Matters Of Faith…

• #5 – After the birth of a baby (28%)
• #4 – After a natural disaster (34%)
• #3 – After a major national crisis i.e. 9/11 (38%)
• #2 – During the Easter season (38%)

• #1 – During the Christmas season (47%)

I am not sure where I ran across those stats but they were put out by LifeWay Research.  We would do well to remember and capitalize on EVERY ONE of those times.  Surely God would want us to EMBRACE this opportunity and do all we can to BRING people to church on the Sunday before or (this year) after Christmas!  Time, experience and research also say that the number one way a person will come is through the direct invitation of a family member or friend.

I've been saying for 25 years that I refuse to spend 364 days a year trying to get people to think about Christ and the ONE day that even the most vile person I know does think about Him, slap his hand and tell him not to. I celebrate that people celebrate the birth of the one I so adore!  How foolish it would be not too.

I also consider Romans 14:4-6 applicable to this. Yes I know it is talking about "special days" God ordained but in light of Revelation 2:13 I think that argument against other "special" days is weak. God told us about Christ's birth and up until that moment there was no more significant event in history - that God came to man as a man - yea, verily as an infant.  WOW!  So if I can take a moment for "thanksgiving" on the day my friends and neighbors call "Thanksgiving" or honor my mom or day on days the world calls "Mother's Day" and "Father's Day" or can enjoy a moment of foolishness of "April's Fools Day", surely to think about Christ's birth on a specific day, especially when it is splashed all around me, isn't sinful.  But I know I elicit a riot by suggesting such, so I'll move on :).

I'll leave it like this:  Make the most of this moment for the Lord! It will only be uncomfortable for a moment and they will likely either accept your invitation OR tell you they already have plans.

ONE MORE THING: Obviously some of this is "tongue in cheek" and clearly not technically correct but it is well put together and, well, I enjoyed some of it a lot - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA&feature=player_embedded