Manufactured Holidays

Call me a Grinch, but there are only three holidays I really care about. The first is Easter (celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ), the second is Christmas (celebration of the birth of Christ) and the third is Thanksgiving (getting together with family and remembering how God has blessed us, even if annoying "in-laws" show up.)

Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Independence Day are also important to me as I am given the opportunity to remember how blessed I am to live in such a great country that has remained free due to the selfless sacrifice of men and women who died in combat. However, the latter three holidays have little effect on my daily routine. I still work and honor my responsibilities on those days.

However, on Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving, I step back from the rat race (so to speak) and draw closer to my family and church. Scattered throughout the rest of the year are smaller holidays that appear as speed bumps in my daily routine, some of which are manufactured holidays.

The first manufactured holiday is New Years Day. Sure, a new year means a new beginning. However, when you wake up on January 1, you are still the same person with the same challenges as you were on December 31. Perhaps the changing of a calendar year gives you motivation to do things better, and if that works for you, then great! I'm still going to bed on time.

Then there's Valentine's Day. This holiday in particular gets my goat because the premise in marketing the sales on Valentine's Day is ridiculous. "Let her know you love her." Sure thing. It's not as if you can expect your wife to know you love her by your working two jobs, buying a home, fixing her car, supplying her needs, taking time to take her out on dates, and making sure she has the best life possible the other 364 days of the year. If you fail to go all-out on Valentine's Day, all that stuff will go out the window and she'll think you don't love her. Really? Please! (I'm thankful that Jessica actually "gets it." I do celebrate Valentine's with her, but she doesn't base our love on whether we have a "perfect romantic evening" that night.)

St. Patrick's Day is cool if you are in the third grade. Seriously, I'm 33. If you are over 18 and try to pinch me for not wearing green, you are responsible for what happens to you next.

Tax day is not a holiday. Even if you get a refund, you had to jump through hoops or pay a tax preparer to get it done.

Then there's Mother's Day. The premise is a good one. It's a day that we set aside to honor our mothers. However, often times the premise gets taken as far as the Valentine's premise. "If you don't do something super-special on this particular day, then you don't love your mother." Hogwash. I spend all year trying to do things to make my mother proud of me. On Mother's day, I have to officiate church services and do the ministerial thing. I'll give Mom a call. Would I celebrate with her if I were back home, sure thing. But just because I don't paste a Facebook status, write a big gushy blog post, send a card, and preach a sermon on how great mothers are, doesn't mean I don't love my mother. So there.

I have no problem observing and even enjoying these holidays. The only problem I have is that so many of our holidays honor ourselves. We want to celebrate our history, culture, love lives, family members, veterans, etc. When these holidays roll around, we want church services to center around them. So, a service that is meant to honor God gets reworked to honor man. It doesn't set well with me.

In the Bible, the holidays ALL centered around God. There were holidays that commemorated God delivering His people from their oppressors, or that celebrated how God reconciled Himself to man by atoning for man's sin. We don't celebrate that way in America.

So what am I getting at here? Celebrate what you want and have a good time. However, don't expect me to preach holiday-themed sermons at Grace Pointe, and don't look for that "My mother was so great blah blah blah repost this if you agree" statement on my facebook page. If you want to, go ahead. I won't think any less of you for it. My calling, however, is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and teach people about God. Sundays are about Him, not us, our position, nor our accomplishments.

Happy Mother's Day. Tell Mom you love her, then go to church and worship God.