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Transcript

Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? · Mud & Rib Podcast

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[music]
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SPEAKER_00: Hi, everybody.
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SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Mud and Rib Podcast.
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SPEAKER_00: We are going to be talking all things Christmas today.
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SPEAKER_01: Just Christmas or holidays or holy days or...
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SPEAKER_01: Christmas is coming, right?
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SPEAKER_00: It is.
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SPEAKER_00: You can see we have our Christmas tree.
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SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so cute.
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SPEAKER_00: We're going to be talking all things Christmas and holidays and festivals, possibly.
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SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned.
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SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about how to navigate family during holidays, which can be challenging.
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SPEAKER_00: And we're going to talk about maybe how to create some traditions that focus
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SPEAKER_00: on Christ-centered things, rhythms for your family, maybe that can be handed down.
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SPEAKER_00: And then the question of Should Christians be celebrating these types of holidays?
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SPEAKER_01: What to do when someone says your tree is satanic?
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're going to talk about that.
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SPEAKER_01: What do you think about that?
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Well, sometimes people do say that.
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SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right.
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SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to tell a story about some of my first Christmases when I came to Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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SPEAKER_01: So in my family,
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SPEAKER_01: I love Christmas,
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SPEAKER_01: but I love Christmas for presents, being with grandparents and family.
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SPEAKER_01: Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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SPEAKER_01: But I came to Christ at 20 years old as a young adult.
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SPEAKER_01: And I'll never forget being in a store at Christmas time and hearing songs
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SPEAKER_01: about Jesus and thinking, goodness, they're singing about Jesus.
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SPEAKER_01: And Jesus has changed my life.
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SPEAKER_01: I can't believe that.
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SPEAKER_01: And so there are people in our culture who are like me.
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SPEAKER_01: Who I was even in choir,
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SPEAKER_01: high-level choir,
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SPEAKER_01: through junior high mostly, that we sang songs about Christ, but I never knew Him.
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SPEAKER_01: And I think it's real important for us to remember that there are people around us
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SPEAKER_01: during this holiday season that don't know Jesus.
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SPEAKER_01: And this is a great opportunity to share the gospel with them and an opportunity
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SPEAKER_01: for us to celebrate Him.
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SPEAKER_00: That's really good.
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SPEAKER_01: I was just a new believer.
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SPEAKER_01: And it just dawned on me that Christmas is about the birth of Christ.
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SPEAKER_01: And we're talking about falling on our knees.
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SPEAKER_01: Oh, holy night.
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SPEAKER_01: It's just amazing.
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SPEAKER_01: It was just eye-opening to me that though I had been exposed to that,
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SPEAKER_01: we live in a Bible Belt culture, but I did not know Jesus personally.
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SPEAKER_01: And to hear Him being Is there a question that you think would make sense
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SPEAKER_01: to ask people during the holidays that might spark a conversation around Jesus?
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think that there's always some...
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SPEAKER_01: Practices that we can do to help us with questions,
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SPEAKER_01: but I also think we have to learn to seize relationship and opportunities
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SPEAKER_01: to allow things to come and not try to force it.
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SPEAKER_01: But I do think it's a good way to engage in conversations as, hey, tell me about.
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SPEAKER_01: Some of your family traditions around Christmas.
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SPEAKER_01: And then for us, everything has been redeemed for us to tell the Christmas story.
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SPEAKER_01: And I'm not a big Advent person,
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SPEAKER_01: meaning just talking about the days leading up to Christ as far as I was not born in
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SPEAKER_01: a liturgical or raised in a liturgical system that celebrated Advent in that way.
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SPEAKER_01: But Advent is a tradition.
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SPEAKER_01: Right.
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SPEAKER_01: Out of a true intention of loving them and wanting to hear and
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SPEAKER_01: then sharing your story with them.
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SPEAKER_01: That's good.
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SPEAKER_01: Pretty much kind of a, hey, what is your story engaging?
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SPEAKER_01: And then you get to share your story.
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SPEAKER_01: That same principle applies for the Christmas traditions or seasons.
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SPEAKER_00: So let's start with this question.
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SPEAKER_00: I mentor a lot of young women and a lot of them are newly married.
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SPEAKER_00: And so this is for the newly married, but also it could just be you've been married a long time.
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SPEAKER_00: I've never figured out how to navigate this.
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SPEAKER_00: But let's talk about kind of how do you navigate family?
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SPEAKER_00: Because once you,
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SPEAKER_00: you know,
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SPEAKER_00: we had certain traditions with our kids and then our daughter got married and
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SPEAKER_00: then I had to be a grown up and say, OK, you've got your own family.
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SPEAKER_00: You need to do your own things and not be selfish.
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SPEAKER_00: I think that would be a good place to start with that navigation
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SPEAKER_00: of how do you change things up once you become married?
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SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that there are traditions that Your parents may have handed down
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SPEAKER_01: that are something that you want to honor because they're good,
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SPEAKER_01: solid patterns that you want to hand down.
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SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by that is good, solid patterns or traditions have a spiritual significance.
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SPEAKER_01: Because holidays are supposed to be holy days is truly the intent of where
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SPEAKER_01: that word comes from.
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SPEAKER_01: It's holy days.
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SPEAKER_01: And we know in the Jewish calendar,
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SPEAKER_01: there are seven festivals of these holy days to reflect upon these pastures.
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SPEAKER_01: Patterns that we practice that have deep spiritual purpose and meaning that we want
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SPEAKER_01: to see handed down through generations.
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SPEAKER_01: So one, if you have a family that's been handing down those generations,
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SPEAKER_01: why would you not want to continue them to hand them down?
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SPEAKER_01: That's part of the purpose of patterns and practices and traditions.
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SPEAKER_01: However,
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SPEAKER_01: if you are not in a family that did that,
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SPEAKER_01: then you want to build some new patterns and traditions in your family
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SPEAKER_01: to raise them up in a celebration of the Holy Days.
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SPEAKER_01: If there are some who don't want to celebrate any holidays or festivals and
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SPEAKER_01: that you're free to do that.
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SPEAKER_00: Right.
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SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying that.
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SPEAKER_01: It's a great time to turn those days into reflection upon Christ,
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SPEAKER_01: upon our spiritual journey, upon our purpose.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
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SPEAKER_00: One of the things I really appreciate about our daughter is her
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SPEAKER_00: and her husband together talked about the different things that each
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SPEAKER_00: of their families have done and which of those rhythms or traditions do they want
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SPEAKER_00: to do with their kids and then what are some new ones that they want to do together.
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SPEAKER_01: That's really good.
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SPEAKER_01: And so I like that.
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SPEAKER_00: And so let's just talk about One of the things I want to just say up front is
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SPEAKER_00: that it's okay not to travel to all of your family over the holidays.
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SPEAKER_00: If you want to do that, that is totally fine.
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SPEAKER_00: But it is also okay not to do that.
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SPEAKER_00: And I think for us, that became really challenging because Guy's parents separated and divorced.
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SPEAKER_01: I remember being like the Beverly Hillbillies and having gifts
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SPEAKER_01: and stuff sticking out of our Honda.
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SPEAKER_01: Civic everywhere, including a car seat.
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SPEAKER_01: So I think it was, we did that for a couple of years.
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SPEAKER_01: We tried to run around everywhere.
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SPEAKER_00: And that's my point is that your parents got divorced not long after we started having kids.
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SPEAKER_00: And we started for a couple of years, we tried traveling to your moms, to your dads, to my moms.
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SPEAKER_00: And how were we going to honor all of our parents?
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SPEAKER_00: And after about two years, we both sat down and just said, this is not feasible.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was too much.
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SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're a young family and we're trying to run all over the place
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SPEAKER_01: and running ourselves ragged, trying to go everywhere.
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SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's important to know we want to honor our parents and we want to be
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SPEAKER_00: with our family.
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SPEAKER_00: But we have to remember that when you marry and have your own children, you are your family.
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SPEAKER_00: Now you are the family.
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SPEAKER_00: And so that is where things have to be prioritized.
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SPEAKER_00: And you have to look at what is best for your family.
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SPEAKER_00: And is that going to your parents' house, the grandparents' house every holiday?
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe that is it.
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SPEAKER_00: And that's great.
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SPEAKER_00: I would love for that to be the case.
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SPEAKER_00: But that's not feasible for our kids to do that every year.
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SPEAKER_00: And so I think we just have to give ourselves permission.
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SPEAKER_00: Like we've talked about in a couple of podcasts where we talk about this all the time.
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SPEAKER_00: You have to decide what's right for your family.
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SPEAKER_00: I think the thing is sometimes we walk in so much guilt about that
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SPEAKER_00: or our families maybe are dysfunctional.
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SPEAKER_00: And so we just wrestle so much with what do I do?
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SPEAKER_01: So what I hear you saying is, is that for some of us.
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SPEAKER_01: There are traditions and things that we do during these holidays
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SPEAKER_01: that sometimes is motivated by guilt and maybe dysfunction.
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SPEAKER_01: And it's okay for us to take a stand upon our own journey where when a husband
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SPEAKER_01: and wife come together,
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SPEAKER_01: that they are the two shall become one and they're supposed to leave and cleave
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SPEAKER_01: to one another.
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SPEAKER_01: That's right.
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SPEAKER_01: That's right.
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SPEAKER_01: But at the same time,
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SPEAKER_01: if your family has healthy patterns through generations,
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SPEAKER_01: it's okay to honor that too.
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SPEAKER_01: But you're saying we ought to have the freedom to stand as our own family
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SPEAKER_01: and have patterns and traditions That honor Christ the way that we feel like
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SPEAKER_01: that we should do.
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SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's exactly right.
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SPEAKER_00: And some families,
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SPEAKER_00: and I so admire and respect this,
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SPEAKER_00: just they really love to be together and they love to do all
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SPEAKER_00: of their holidays together.
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SPEAKER_00: And I love that.
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SPEAKER_00: That may not work for everybody.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you just a couple of examples.
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SPEAKER_00: So one, in my family,
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SPEAKER_00: growing up, my mom never really let us in the kitchen and she did all the cooking.
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SPEAKER_00: And she was worn out by the time Christmas came.
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SPEAKER_00: And after we got married and we started going to her house for Christmas
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SPEAKER_00: a few times, and even for any other holidays, she was trying to do all the cooking.
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SPEAKER_00: The younger of us were used to, hey,
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SPEAKER_00: everybody bring something to make it easier on the host
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SPEAKER_00: so they're not doing everything.
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SPEAKER_00: And my mom lost it because that's not the way it had always been done.
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SPEAKER_00: But I was determined that that was not going to be the pattern that I wanted for myself.
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SPEAKER_00: Because I knew it would wear me out.
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SPEAKER_00: And so that was just a small example of something that we changed in our family and
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SPEAKER_00: that now we all share in the responsibility of cooking for the holiday.
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SPEAKER_00: The other thing that I was thinking about is that when we first got married,
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SPEAKER_00: we were a part of a more traditional church.
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SPEAKER_00: And so we had Christmas Eve services.
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SPEAKER_00: And the first time I told my mom we were not going to be with her on Christmas Eve
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SPEAKER_00: because we had a responsibility to be there.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh,
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SPEAKER_00: you would have thought that I stuck scissors in her eyeballs because it was really
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SPEAKER_00: a lot of heaped on guilt to me because we weren't going to be there.
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SPEAKER_00: And that was a real challenge for me.
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SPEAKER_00: That was a real breaking point for me,
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SPEAKER_00: figuring out how we are going to be a family and not to let my family get in
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SPEAKER_00: the middle of that.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I remember that.
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SPEAKER_01: That was pretty challenging for you emotionally.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was really tough.
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SPEAKER_00: I also think about...
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SPEAKER_01: Was it tough or was it Duff?
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SPEAKER_00: It was tough.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm not really.
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SPEAKER_00: The words are not coming to me today.
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SPEAKER_01: You're doing great.
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SPEAKER_01: Except for the Duff, Hillary Duff.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh, my gosh.
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SPEAKER_00: The other thing I was thinking about is, I mean, you got me sidetracked on that one.
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SPEAKER_01: Well, let me just ask you a question about that.
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SPEAKER_01: So how did you feel?
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SPEAKER_01: Trying to work through that stuff with your mom not being happy with you coming
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SPEAKER_01: with me to where I was the associate and youth pastor at the church
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SPEAKER_01: for Christmas Eve.
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SPEAKER_01: So to me, talking about this now, looking back, it sounds silly.
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SPEAKER_01: But I know you had tons of feelings.
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SPEAKER_01: How did you feel?
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SPEAKER_00: I did just because, yeah, there's a longstanding relationship between me and my mother.
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SPEAKER_00: I felt guilty.
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SPEAKER_00: And then I felt torn between my mom and you.
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SPEAKER_00: But I didn't really want to do it.
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SPEAKER_00: I wanted to do what we were supposed to do, us together.
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SPEAKER_00: The other thing is that I discovered that it often gets worse before it gets better
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SPEAKER_00: when you try to set some type of boundary.
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SPEAKER_00: And I had to be okay with that.
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SPEAKER_00: It was really challenging.
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SPEAKER_00: The first year,
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SPEAKER_00: my mom just kind of saying snide comments,
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SPEAKER_00: things that I just struggled with feeling guilty about and having to put those aside
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SPEAKER_00: and say, that's not true of me.
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SPEAKER_00: I know who I am.
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SPEAKER_00: And having to really talk truth to myself and not feel guilty.
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SPEAKER_00: And over time,
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SPEAKER_00: after several years of that becoming a pattern and sticking
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SPEAKER_00: to what we knew was right, it got better.
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SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't easy in the beginning.
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SPEAKER_01: I bet.
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SPEAKER_01: You know, Willie Nelson saying, mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
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SPEAKER_01: I would say, cowboys, don't let mama get in the way of your marriage.
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SPEAKER_00: I was going to say, what does this have to do with Christmas?
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SPEAKER_00: You and all your lingo.
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SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying that I want to respect your mother and mothers in general,
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SPEAKER_01: but when we come together, it's you and me.
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SPEAKER_01: Yes.
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SPEAKER_01: That's where we need to stand on.
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SPEAKER_01: This is about us and your family nor my family.
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SPEAKER_01: I'm not married to my mama and you're not married to your mama.
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SPEAKER_01: You're married to me.
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SPEAKER_01: Now, we want to honor our parents in this, but we have a responsibility of building oneness.
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SPEAKER_01: And there are certain things that can get in the way of that that comes
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SPEAKER_01: from even our immediate family.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_00: And it helped me a lot for you to kind of take a stand and say,
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SPEAKER_00: no, this is the right thing to do.
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SPEAKER_00: And it helped me to lean into that and not lean into the things that my mom was saying.
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SPEAKER_00: And so it does help when one of the spouses needs to be able to say,
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SPEAKER_00: no, this is what we need to be doing.
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SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I don't mean to be insensitive, but that's the truth.
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SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I've had several challenging locker talk at Right.
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SPEAKER_01: And that is your first commitment.
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SPEAKER_01: And it's a covenant modeling to be image bearers from our home.
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SPEAKER_01: And that's super important.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that helped us a lot in our marriage.
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SPEAKER_00: So that's one area that was definitely a big help was for you to have that view.
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SPEAKER_00: And one of the things I was also thinking about is,
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SPEAKER_00: let's say maybe your family is not very spiritual when it comes to the holiday.
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SPEAKER_00: It's more of just a cultural Christmas, but you want to change that for your kids.
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SPEAKER_00: One of the things that you can do is you can have your, we do things a little different.
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SPEAKER_00: When we got married,
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SPEAKER_00: your family had always done Christmas on Christmas Eve,
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SPEAKER_00: meaning like opening gifts, a big meal, things like that.
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SPEAKER_00: And so we kind of adopted that tradition in our family is
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SPEAKER_00: to do our bigger celebration on Christmas Eve.
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SPEAKER_00: And then we just have a meal on Christmas Day.
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SPEAKER_00: And so you could always do something where you have Christmas Eve with your children
14:58
SPEAKER_00: or your family and do the opposite with your children.
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SPEAKER_00: Extended family.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: You're a little confused.
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SPEAKER_01: There was a lot of drinking on Christmas Eve of eggnog spiked with stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: With your family?
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SPEAKER_01: And then we opened gifts.
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SPEAKER_01: The big meal came the next day.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: That's not how we did it.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: No.
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SPEAKER_00: We just adopted part of it.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: So I want to ask you, I think this is a good segue.
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SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about some of the...
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let me just add one thing.
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SPEAKER_01: Guy thinks he's really special because his birthday is December 25th.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: Why are you throwing me under the bus all the time?
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SPEAKER_01: I am special, aren't you special?
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SPEAKER_00: He complicates things by having a birthday the same day we're trying to celebrate Christmas.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Me and the King of Kings.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, who better for a guy that follows Jesus to celebrate a birthday with than...
15:54
SPEAKER_01: The King of Kings.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Some of the things that we've done is I know Guy used to laugh at me,
15:58
SPEAKER_00: but I, you know, no matter what you do about Santa, that's totally up to you.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: We never really told our kids there was a Santa.
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SPEAKER_00: So if your kids are listening,
16:08
SPEAKER_00: you might want to stop listening now, just giving you forewarning.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: But if you,
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SPEAKER_00: we never told our kids there was a Santa,
16:14
SPEAKER_00: but they just kind of picked up on that and we just went with it a little bit.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we just, but we put the words, you know, Santa Claus can spell Satan Claus.
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SPEAKER_00: But also it can be about St. Nick.
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SPEAKER_00: The point is, Guy, is that I would never buy the best gifts and give them from Santa.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: I wanted them to know Jesus is the one.
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SPEAKER_00: God is the one that provides these things for you.
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SPEAKER_00: So the better gifts came from the family, and we talk about God providing.
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SPEAKER_00: And so that was one thing that we did.
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SPEAKER_00: But also on Christmas morning,
16:48
SPEAKER_00: we traditionally do cinnamon rolls and sing happy birthday to Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: That's one thing we've done.
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SPEAKER_00: Almost always until we had grandkids and it just got a little more complicated
16:58
SPEAKER_00: with what movies we were going to go see and stuff like that.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: But traditionally, we have gone to see a movie on Christmas Day just as a time to be together.
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SPEAKER_00: We have ornaments that specifically talk about the names of Jesus,
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SPEAKER_00: and we will put those on our tree.
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SPEAKER_00: Our tree is already decorated, but we'll put those on our tree Christmas Eve.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: And we'll read a scripture that goes with the name Jehovah Jireh.
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SPEAKER_00: Shepherd, Lamb of God, you know, things like that.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: And the kids will help us.
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SPEAKER_00: Our grandkids have helped us when they were here.
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SPEAKER_00: And just taking that time on Christmas Eve to really focus on this being about Jesus
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SPEAKER_00: and not about the gifts.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so sometimes I will read from Luke the story of the birth of Christ.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Our kids have read before.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then sometimes we'll do Charlie Brown in Christmas.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: We've done that where he actually in there, Linus, I think it is, does the Christmas story.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: It's just amazing.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: We love that.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: So that's some of the things we've done.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there's so many others, but that's just, I mean, we could go down a long list.
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SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear what other people do, but those are just a few of the things that we've done.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: To create those traditions.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Presently, you and I are doing some Advent reading.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: And specifically with the Bible Project,
18:12
SPEAKER_00: which I highly recommend, by the way, it's just so good.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: And it just helps to take the focus off of everything being about gifts
18:22
SPEAKER_00: and really being about Jesus.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: And we really try to slow our life down during this time and let it be a time
18:29
SPEAKER_00: of real reflection and reset.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: And instead of it being the hustle and bustle,
18:35
SPEAKER_00: we try never to wait till the last minute to purchase gifts because we don't want
18:39
SPEAKER_00: to be out scrambling.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: And so those are just some of the things that we've done.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: And I mean,
18:44
SPEAKER_01: I understand for some of us,
18:49
SPEAKER_01: the Consumerism that is around Christmas just gets under our skin.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: And I get that.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: I understand because consumerism, it just can create some greed and selfish thinking.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: And this is a time to give away.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: And so to
19:12
SPEAKER_01: give ourselves to freely give as we freely received is a powerful thing.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: And Christmas can be a reminder of that.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: I give this gift to you because God's given gift to me and freely I give it
19:23
SPEAKER_01: because freely I've received.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: What a powerful example.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: That is.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: But for some of us, we can't get past the consumerism.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: And if that's where you are and that's your conviction,
19:33
SPEAKER_01: we'll talk a little bit about that because there's some people who don't want
19:37
SPEAKER_01: to celebrate holidays.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Is that wrong?
19:40
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't think it's wrong.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: You know,
19:44
SPEAKER_01: one of the things that we do, I mean,
19:46
SPEAKER_01: we as far as I include myself in that,
19:49
SPEAKER_01: but as followers of Jesus and people who want to follow the word,
19:54
SPEAKER_01: sometimes we think our way is the only way.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: Rather than say, what we're talking about is a way, right?
20:01
SPEAKER_01: This is a way traditions that we're saying, this is a way that we did it.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: And you can like it or spike it, treasure it or trash it, whatever you want to do with it.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: It's just giving people ideas.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: And that's key.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: And I will also,
20:15
SPEAKER_01: when we're ready,
20:16
SPEAKER_01: I can share a couple of scriptures that talk about Scripture is pretty clear
20:20
SPEAKER_01: that we are to extend grace and freedom to people to either celebrate the holidays
20:26
SPEAKER_01: or not.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: And we can talk about all the anti-Christmas and anti-Resurrection Day
20:32
SPEAKER_01: or anti-Easter people that just don't believe you should celebrate that.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: And I just believe that's a form of judgment.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: And that's a problem.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: And I can even point Scripture to you, and I will later.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why don't you go ahead and do that?
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Let's go ahead and talk about that now,
20:46
SPEAKER_00: because this is,
20:47
SPEAKER_00: you know— This is a big topic where some people just have a real opinion about this,
20:54
SPEAKER_00: and so I think it's good to have a clear biblical view.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a couple passages, just two of them.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: We'll look at,
21:00
SPEAKER_01: let's say,
21:01
SPEAKER_01: I think it's Colossians 2,
21:03
SPEAKER_01: 16 and 17, and then we'll turn to Romans, I think it's 14, here in just a second.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: Colossians 2,
21:11
SPEAKER_01: 16 and 17 says,
21:12
SPEAKER_01: Therefore,
21:13
SPEAKER_01: do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard
21:20
SPEAKER_01: to religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: These are a shadow of the things to come that were to come,
21:31
SPEAKER_01: and the reality, however, is found in Christ.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: So it's great.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: Remember,
21:37
SPEAKER_01: we're talking about a culture that has significant religious festivals and to go
21:44
SPEAKER_01: into those and look into those and even celebrate some of the Hebrew festivals
21:49
SPEAKER_01: and their meaning is significant.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: But it is not required in your faith.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: If you want to treat them as holy days, there is nothing wrong with that.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: And it is good as long as you're focusing on the Holy One and His holy work in your life.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: But it's also okay to say that every day is a holy day and to trust Him through that.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: So that's one.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: That's from Colossians.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Then the second one is Romans 14.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: Let's do 5 through 10.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: One person considers one day more sacred than another.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: Another considers every day alike.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: And whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: For none of us live.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: And none of us dies for ourselves alone.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: If we live, we live for our Lord.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: And if we die, we die for the Lord.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: For this very reason,
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and
23:18
SPEAKER_01: the living.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: You then, why do you judge your brother or your sister?
23:23
SPEAKER_01: Why do you treat them with contempt?
23:26
SPEAKER_01: So what happens is,
23:27
SPEAKER_01: is we can make our holiday traditions and patterns the way and judge
23:32
SPEAKER_01: and treat our brothers and sisters with contempt.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: Your way of celebrating is not the only way to celebrate.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: The way to celebrate is to do everything by trusting, surrendering, and worshiping God.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: And that's the key.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: Are you free to trust Him and worship Him in what you do?
23:52
SPEAKER_01: That's what He wants us to do.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: So anything that is not done in faith is sin.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: So everything we do, we must be able to trust God.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: In the process.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: So one of the dangers is making a way, the way.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: The only way is Christ Himself.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: He is the way, the truth, and the life.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: If you want to celebrate a day that is holy, you make those days holy.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: You redeem.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: God is in the redeeming business.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: So to me, that day for me is a special day in which I celebrate Christ.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: And my life reflects that.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: So if I'm understanding correctly, the day in itself is not necessarily holy.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: No.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: We just view it as something that is holy because of the way in which we go
24:39
SPEAKER_00: about celebrating it.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: That is correct.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: Because holiness,
24:41
SPEAKER_01: people are holy because of Christ's holy work in our lives,
24:45
SPEAKER_01: that he has totally forgiven us.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: He's filled us with his spirit.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: And if that day helps us reflect upon that and walk that out, that is a good thing.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: If it is a stumbling block to us, that is not a good thing.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: So that's what I'm saying is for you,
25:00
SPEAKER_01: you may see it as Satan's day because it is a stumbling block to you.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: But I believe the scripture tells us that we are free.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: That everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: So then the question is, what is beneficial for you to live out your life?
25:23
SPEAKER_01: And so the days you celebrate,
25:25
SPEAKER_01: do they help you celebrate Christ's death, burial, and resurrection?
25:28
SPEAKER_01: Do they help you walk out your faith and holiness?
25:30
SPEAKER_01: If they do, keep doing them.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: If they don't, stop doing it.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: But don't say that everyone who participates in that day is of the devil.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think it's really important that as we are church together,
25:46
SPEAKER_00: family together,
25:48
SPEAKER_00: that we don't come to the place where we make that a line in the sand
25:53
SPEAKER_00: where we can't be community just because we see things differently about a holiday.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the big struggles during this time is that you have our faith is built
26:03
SPEAKER_01: upon Father Abraham and the Old Testament is teaching us about the goodness of God.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: And leading us to a place to where we're restored back to the garden.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: And so there are all these festivals that we celebrate.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: But the Bible is saying that these festivals do not have to be celebrated today.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: What needs to be celebrated is Christ.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: But if you want to, that's great.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: But don't let them be a distraction.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: And don't make them into a law.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: That's really good.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: We wanted to keep this kind of short today.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: And so we've gone longer than what I thought we would, but I shouldn't be surprised with us.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: But as we kind of close this out,
26:44
SPEAKER_00: I just want to say that as a mother who has a daughter who's married,
26:48
SPEAKER_00: I've had to say, no,
26:50
SPEAKER_00: you got to remember what it was like for you when you got married
26:53
SPEAKER_00: and started your own family.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're a mom out there and you're in a new season
26:58
SPEAKER_00: of having your children married to someone, Then,
27:01
SPEAKER_00: you know,
27:01
SPEAKER_00: we have to ask ourselves,
27:03
SPEAKER_00: where do we need to be helping support them be their own family?
27:07
SPEAKER_00: I think that's just really important.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: And I say that because there's so many other sides to that because there's
27:11
SPEAKER_00: so many people that they get together and their whole families every year
27:13
SPEAKER_00: and that's what they want to do.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And that works great.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: That's just not been my experience.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: And so I don't want to make my kind
27:20
SPEAKER_00: of negative experience be your negative experience because there are both sides to
27:24
SPEAKER_00: that.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: But I just know that that can be a real struggle.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And I think one of the things is that we often try to control people to be a part
27:32
SPEAKER_01: of what we think is right or what we think they should do.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: And to try to control people is wrong.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: What we need to do is put ourselves under Christ control and point others
27:43
SPEAKER_01: to place themselves under Christ control.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: And then there's incredible freedom for where the freedom of where the spirit of the Lord is.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: There is freedom.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: And we want his spirit to be in control and to experience That's good.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: So if you are listening and you choose to celebrate Christmas,
27:57
SPEAKER_01: our encouragement to you is find your way to do that in your family that represents
28:01
SPEAKER_01: and reflects on who Jesus is during this time.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise,
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Merry Christmas.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Merry Christmas, everybody.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: God bless.
28:45
[music]