Saving Christmas

I don't know about you, but when the Christmas decorations started popping up before Halloween, I became really annoyed. It is not even Thanksgiving and we are already seeing Christmas ads on TV and hearing carols on the radio!

Then there's all the drama in Christian circles about what is okay and not okay to observe and do: Santa or no Santa? Elf on the shelf? Jesse Tree? Is the Christmas tree a pagan symbol? On and on...

Well, Kirk Cameron (a childhood crush of mine), is out to save Christmas and make it a little less stressful for us all in his new movie Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas. Although a little corny in its execution and acting (I think intentionally so), the message is one I was grateful to hear. Cameron explains to his scrooge of a brother-in-law who has determined Christmas should be done away with altogether, how the symbols and traditions of the holiday are all a part of and reflect God's story and ours. He illustrates Biblical foreshadowing in the manger and the tomb, the swaddling cloths and burial cloth, in the tree and the cross. He shows how Santa is really a defender of the faith and gives us all permission to embrace and take back the holiday once again to let the light of Christ shine in each of the lights that we hang this season.

Now, I have already seen the haters online accuse Cameron of trying to make money off of Christmas himself and bowing to pagan traditions. The extreme Protestants that hate anything coming out of Rome are online saying he has been duped by the antichrist. They prove his point exactly. All of that criticism, division and bickering about Christmas and its origins does nothing to shine a light on Christ and the fact that God came to earth as an infant to eventually die for us all.

So, if you are struggling with all of the confusing messages around this holy season, take a break and visit a theater near you this weekend (check for a theater near you). You just might join Kirk Cameron in saving Christmas.

Disclosure: I was given the opportunity for an advance viewing of this film in order to give an honest review.