South Highway Five Church of Christ

Secularism, pluralism, and political correctness notwithstanding, I have no problem whatsoever with saying "Merry Christmas!" President U.S. Grant declared it a federal holiday in 1870. Santa Claus, a Christmas tree, and the sharing of gifts have been enjoyed by my family as long I can remember. But we never regarded it as the birthday of Christ. In fact, the religious traditions involved in Christmas came long after the Bible was written.

There is no reference at all in the Bible to any special observance of Christmas and December 25 as the day of Christ's birth. Interestingly, the widely respected reference work edited by McClilntock and Strong reads, "The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of new Testament origin. The day of Christ's birth cannot be ascertained from the New Testament, or, indeed, from any other source" (Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. 2 p. 276).

The word "Christmas" was not coined until the eleventh century. Prior to that it was simply known as the "nativity festival." Another respected reference work is Baker's Dictionary of Theology, edited by Everett Harrison. In the article on "Christmas" (p.117), the first sentence reads: "The early Christians did not observe the festival of Christ's birth..." It also states that "[T}the nativity festival was...given its own day, December 25th, between the years 325 and 354."

Our sincere desire is to practice Christianity as taught in the New Testament of Christ - to be Christians only and to be the church of Christ we read about in the Bible. And so on Sunday, December 25, the church of Christ meeting at 1940 South Highway Five will assemble and worship as we always do. We will sing, pray, read and teach the scriptures, partake of the Lord's Supper, and give as we've been prospered as we do every first day of the week. And everybody is invited.