Christmas in July may be gimmicky, sure.  It seems that stores are cashing in on the Christmas in July theme.  Christmas is such a hot commercial success—why not make it happen more than once a year.  I kid you not, I just saw a “Black Friday in July.” Christmas season begins with Black Friday, then IT IS ON….The official retail start of the Christmas holiday.  Christmas has become incredibly good for business, and it is how retail companies define success and failure.

We don’t agree with it, but we end up buying into it.  We buy into so much that we have our wish lists and determine if the value of the gift we are giving is relative to gift we’ll be receiving.  Then there is the ubiquitous Christmas card charade.  You may look over the list of cards you received last year, and make sure that the cards you send out this year goes to everyone on that list.  Then you send them out- and it happens every year—you get a card from someone that you had no idea would be sending you a card.  So, you have to fire them out a card in hopes that they’ll get it by Christmas.  Or, if you are like us—you feel the mounting pressure to have a creative and fun Christmas photo with a quirky message to send out.  God bless those of you who are creative and organized enough to craft a family newsletter.

Christmas in July, is Christmas without the pressure.  Seriously, I was going to come over to the church and decorate for Christmas.  I was going to put up tinsel garland, and have a nice fake tree- and get it all trimmed up nice—but then it was so hot, and I knew I’d have to crawl into a stifling attic and I began to feel the pressure- and I said, “Hey, no, that is not what this is about.”  I just want to experience the pure bliss of Christmas without the stress.

Christmas is about giving and receiving.  It is simple: this is how it works.   Christ gave himself for all of us.  We know that.  We can read the scriptures.  Christ gave himself for us.  It is our Christmas job to receive that gift.  I mean, we really need to receive the gift.

For some it means being saved.

For others, it may mean making Jesus Christ the Lord of your life.

For others still, it may mean ‘trying your hardest to live the best life possible based on the example that God gave us in the prophet, teacher, healer Jesus.’

Then comes our giving.  Christ already gave the gift whether we like it or not.     To receive it means to accept what Jesus Christ did for us.  If we accept and receive that gift, then we will be more willing to give our gifts back.  We will want to give ourselves over to Christ.  That is the true giving and receiving of a Christmas in July—free and pure from Madison Ave.  The way Christmas really should be.  So Christmas in July is not such a bad idea.