Christmas OBSERVANCE AND CBC

As Pastor of this church, I have chosen to apply Romans 14:3-13 to my practice and attitude toward others in this assembly. I do not expect for everyone else in the church to view the celebration or non-celebration of Christmas in the same way that I do. I also do not care to distract from a legitimate recognition and public acknowledgment of the incarnation of God. God did come into this world as a baby. His birth was as real as my birth. I do not want to ignore the significance of the virgin birth of the eternal Son of God.

We cannot realistically ignore a holiday that is part of our culture. At the same time, we cannot celebrate a holiday in a way that is inconsistent with Christian principles. It is at this point we find differences among believers. Since some in the church do not see that Christ is exalted at all in any of the celebrations of this season and others believe they are honoring the Lord with their celebrations, it is necessary to respect the differences while keeping the celebrations out of the church gathering. There are varying degrees of understanding, maturity and convictions in a church, which requires the fruit of the Spirit to enable us to dwell together in unity in spite of our differences.

For those who visited this page previously you will notice a large portion of the material has been deleted. I have removed the material because it does not properly reflect some changes in my thinking. The reasons that I have given for not celebrating do not seem as convincing to me as they once did. Those reasons were based primarily upon origins of practice rather than solid Biblical instruction.  

It will continue to be the practice of Community Baptist Church to leave the celebration of Christmas out of the church. While I do not object to theologically accurate songs concerning the birth of Christ being sung in the church service at a time of year in which our culture forces us to think of it, there is no mandate upon the church of Christ to remember the Lord’s birth. The only celebration we are called upon in Scripture to engage in as a church is the regular remembering of the death of Christ, till He comes again. What individual believers and church members do in their homes is between them and their Master. Only give consideration that you truly honor Him in whatever you do.       

Exalting the Reigning Savior,

Kyle White, pastor

Updated December, 2014