A friend of mine was recently asked what church he went to by a new colleague at work. Upon learning that he was LDS, the woman replied, "Oh, you people don't do Christmas, do you?" Many of us have encountered people with exactly that misconception. Yes, we are Christian and do celebrate the birth of Christ - pagan social aspects included. In fact, when it comes to "Christ Mass," the celebration, worship, and remembrance of Christ, we have it every week during our Sacrament service, similar to communion. Each person who has covenanted to follow Christ by accepting baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost is asked to renew that covenant weekly by partaking of the Sacrament. The ceremony of administering the sacrament may look pretty quiet and dull, but it can be an intensely spiritual moment of renewal and personal reflection on our relationship with Christ was we partake of the bread and water of the Sacrament (yeah, we've been using water for a while instead of alcoholic wine, but for us the water still symbolizes the blood of Christ). So while we put up Christmas lights, pass out presents we can't afford, eat too many sweets, and promote the slaughter of young Christmas trees in December (helping to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so I guess it's green), we also stay focused on the real message behind Christmas and do so every week of the year. Many other Christians do the same, of course. May we all make every week a true Christmas celebration, and go easy on the sweets and credit card expenditures in December.
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