As we approach the Christmas season, perhaps we should reflect on Jesus of Nazareth. Who was this man who, so long ago, sat down on a hill to teach somewhere in the MiddleEast?  Perhaps he was a dreamer, a fake, a prophet, or a good man. Perhaps he was, as orthodox Christianity proclaims, the Son of God.  According to orthodox Christianity, God came uniquely in this Jesus of Nazareth to save the world.

What could this Jesus, this carpenter from Nazareth, have to say that anyone cared to hear, then or now?  In a world inhabited by many gods, all at war with one another for the loyalty of man, he spoke of peace, of love, of a Heavenly Father who created all people and offered wayward children a way to come home.

In his temptation experience (Matthew 4:1-11), Jesus rejected using power for himself, to meet his needs, to feed his growling stomach, to make himself comfortable.  He rejected using power to wow others with superhero deeds for the sake of making the evening news.  Quietly, he healed others.  He rejected using power to conquer, to establish an earthly kingdom which would surely pass away as the world turned.

Instead, he opened his mouth and taught them saying how life really was, how eternity mattered, how God was Love. (Matthew 5-7).  The world has never been the same since this man Jesus sat down on a hill somewhere in the Middle East to teach his disciples.  How we celebrate Christmas depends on how we respond to his teachings, if we know them at all.

A crisis in Western civilization began following World War I.  You remember your history: The Great War, The War to End All Wars, The War To Make the World Safe for Democracy.  The war fought among themselves by “Christian” nations with the modern technology of the day, the technology that heightened the slaughter to an unimagined scope, the war that wiped out a whole generation of young men in Europe.

That was the beginning of the Post Christian Era, for the great disillusionment began.  “Christian” nations had ignored the teachings of this Jesus.  “Christian” nations used power for comfort, used power for pomp and circumstance, and used power to conquer.  They built their house on the sand and great has been the fall of “Christian” civilization.

Problems with Christianity did not start with the “liberals,” and does not continue with the “politically correct.”  The crisis of modern Christian civilization began when Christian nations talked about making the law of Christ the laws of the nations (though colonialism, of course), and then slaughtered one another in World War I (with colonial troops being slaughtered along with everyone else).

Following World War I, the old was out and the new was in, so we thought new thoughts and came up with Communism and Fascism and fought World War II.  For the United States came the stalemate in Korea, the debacle of Vietnam, the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, the victory of Desert Storm, and the emergence of Militant Islam and the War on Terror.  I remember Xmas in the 1950s.  Taking Christ out of Christmas didn’t start last week.

The issue is not the nativity scene on the courthouse lawn, but the Christ in our hearts.  Do you ever read the Christmas story with your family?  Do you pray together as a family?  Do you attend public worship?  Have you even thought about Christ as you prepare for Christmas?  You can’t have a Christian civilization without Christians, and you can’t have a real Christian civilization that ignores the teachings of Jesus.

How you celebrate Christmas depends on who you think Jesus of Nazareth was. Those of us who say we are Christians should be ashamed of the hypocrisy of cultural Christianity.  The pomp and circumstance of Christian Civilization died on the battlefields of World War I.  If you really want to make a difference in the world, pray with your children this Christmas after reading the Christmas story from the Bible.