Fighting to Hear and Share the Message of Christmas Matters!

Word from the Center
Written By Dr. Gregory Seltz

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A blessed Christmas day this weekend as you all hear again that “In the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:11-12).

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus came as a blessing to the world even though the world of the time didn’t deserve it. Even worse, that same, needy, sinful world was unreceptive to receiving Him as the gift that He was for them (see John 1:10-13). But aren’t we the same and worse? For we have heard, believed, and been blessed by the message. Yet increasingly the culture in which we live seems to be just as unreceptive or worse, corporately, more punitively skeptical. Instead of receiving the good news of Jesus like Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, or the shepherds, the culture in which we live is violently suspicious of the message of the Messiah like Herod was in Matthew 2.

People ask me often, “Why are we in Washington, D.C.?” I tell them simply, “Our LCRL work on the Hill is merely to preserve our constitutional right for ‘freedom of religion and worship’ so that we can exercise our faith freely and faithfully in public worship for ourselves, yes, but also for others too.” So, we’re here to protect your right to publicly “be Christ’s Church, teach the whole counsel of God” without fear of government coercion to the contrary. Why? Because ALL people need to hear this message of salvation. That’s it! In fact, that’s all we’re here to do . . . to take politics out of so many of these issues (government is not the solution to so many things) so that you can share God’s saving faith freely, lovingly with the neighbors God brings into your life. What could be so “dangerous” about that?

Not too long ago, it wasn’t considered dangerous, even by our cultural elites. Can you imagine a public school teacher or university professor, a politician, or a news person promoting the teaching of Christmas? Or at least telling the culture that it might be good to give a listen to this Christmas message, even if you don’t believe it? Do you remember the “news” guy Harry Reasoner? He worked at CBS News and co-hosted 60 Minutes. Listen to what he said, (quoted in a column by Cal Thomas in 2020 called, “The Power of Christmas”[1]):

Christmas is such a unique idea that most non-Christians accept it, and I think sometimes envy it. If Christmas is the anniversary of the appearance of the Lord of the Universe in the form of a helpless baby, it's quite a day. It's a startling idea, and the theologians, who sometimes love logic more than they love God, find it uncomfortable. But if God did do it, He had a tremendous insight.

People are afraid of God and standing in His very bright light. But everyone has seen babies and almost everyone likes them. So, if God wanted to be loved as well as feared, He moved correctly here. And if He wanted to know people, as well as rule them, He moved correctly, because a baby growing up learns all there is to know about people.

If God wanted to be intimately a part of Man, He moved correctly. For the experience of birth and familyhood is our most intimate and precious experience.

So, it comes beyond logic. It's what a bishop I used to know called a kind of divine insanity. It is either all falsehood or it is the truest thing in the world. It is the story of the great innocence of God the baby. God in the power of Man. And it is such a dramatic shot toward the heart, that if it is not true, for Christians, nothing is true.

So even if you did not get your shopping all done, and you were swamped with the commercialism and frenzy, be at peace. And even if you are the deacon having to arrange the extra seating for all the Christmas Christians that you won't see until Easter, be at peace. The story stands.

It's all right that so many Christians are touched only once a year by this incomparable story. Because some final quiet Christmas morning, the touch will take.

Did you hear that? The Christmas message challenges all of us. Give it a listen. Outlaw it? Remove it from culture? No way! Now, I’m not saying everything in the above quote gets the Bible right or the story of salvation right. But this is a hard-news guy saying that the Christmas message belongs in the public square. He’s awed by it in his own way, and he sure won’t punish those in culture who believe it and live it. He’s ready for you and me to engage him, to dialogue with him, to be free to talk about the whole counsel of God. And if the message is “dangerous?” To him, it is only dangerous because it can transform your heart to the love of God that is manifest in the person and work of Jesus. Wow!

So, how did the cherished right of religious liberty to hear and believe that message and to gather to worship that Lord become anathema in the culture in which we live? That discussion is for another paper. Just know this, there will always be forces that seek to silence God’s work and to destroy people who put their trust in Christ alone. Much like Herod’s overt violence against the Christ child that first Christmas (see again Matt. 2:13-18), there are many today who would joyfully, coercively silence the Christmas message for us and for all.

Today is not that day! Today is the day to hear God’s message of salvation for all its worth. And Christmas is a day to be like Joseph who gallantly protected Jesus and Mary that first Christmas so that others might also hear it, see it, and believe for themselves. We as believers in America have been given a tremendous blessing—the First Amendment—and a tremendous responsibility—the challenge to use our God-given freedoms to fight for our right to be the Church in this culture for the sake of the culture and the mission of the Church. But, as important as that work is, the MAIN MESSAGE AND BLESSING FROM THIS DAY is that no matter what is happening in our world, there is no Herod, no Caesar, no Pharaoh, no tyrant, no dictator, nor even a duly elected president or elected official that can stop the persevering power and blessing of the message of Christmas which comes by grace for you, for me, for all. Fighting to hear it and sacrificing to share it matters now more than ever! A merry and blessed Christmas to you all!

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

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[1] https://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2020/12/24/the-power-of-christmas-n2582043

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