The culture in our country is spinning quickly into a post-Christian one. We live where political correctness limits our liberties to a frightening degree. We live in a time when a young woman can post a request for a Christian roommate on her church bulletin board and find herself cited by her state Department of Civil Rights for unfair discrimination. In this chilling environment, any vestige of openness to the Word of God is welcome to us.

We do understand that for most people, the holidays are all secular. Food, loot, and self-indulgence rule the day. But, and it’s a big but, everyone in America still has some inkling of why we celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Not only that, but most of them have tender memories of their childhood, home and family memories, of those holidays. They are emotionally open in a way they are not most of the year.

Every year we host caroling parties at our house. We invite a few families over, meet in the front yard so we don’t have to take off our coats, and walk around our neighborhood, knocking on doors and caroling. Our neighbors love it. Yes, we walk up to strangers’ doors and sing things like this:

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

And others like this:

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel  

And they don’t call the ACLU or the police, they say, “Oh please, sing another one!” What’s not to love about that? Afterwards, everyone comes to our house for hot Christmas tea and Christmas treats. One year, several families met once a week at a different home in a different neighborhood to carol – what fun!

Seriously, in a culture as increasingly hostile to Christianity as ours is, our family has decided to make sure that the traditional public expressions of Christianity at the holidays are not neglected! Hence, our caroling party, and our annual trek to the Sing-Along Messiah.

So what sponsored this polemic in early November? This did. Imagine this: hundreds of people meet up in a department store in downtown Philadelphia and take over the entire store singing loud and vehement praise to God Almighty – and no one got mad! How did it happen? It’s a culturally acceptable expression of the holidays. For the moment. Listen to it. Be amazed. And use your freedom while you still have it!

Oh, and are you wishing you had that Christmas Tea recipe, full of fruit juices and spices? Keep your eyes open for our annual Christmas sale, when we’ll be sharing it!