One day this week, I was thinking about the people who once acknowledged Christ in their lives and no longer do so. In particular, the people who have made a conscious decision to turn their back on God and, in some instances, declared themselves as atheists. Not so much the people who have slowly moved out of that relationship with God through a series of choices, hurts, pain, and disillusionment etc. – I have some sympathy for this group because I know that on so many levels, church has got it wrong and it has let many people down. I think these people love Jesus still, somewhere deep down but struggle with church. Let’s face it, who hasn’t!? No, this blog is addressed to those who once believed in God and now they don’t think He exists.

 The reason we have Christmas, as you know, is because we celebrate the birth of Jesus. That is the one and only reason Christmas exists, the one and only reason we have a holiday during December. There is great pressure to start calling it ‘Holiday,’ which is simply ridiculous! We are never asked to consider changing the name of any other religious holiday so why this one!? I think it’s because the powers that be (read that as you will) know that if we acknowledge that the Saviour did come 2014 years ago, then not only do we have to receive that information, we have to believe all of his life and all of the words that he said while he walked the earth. This is a step too far for so many. So ‘they’ would rather sweep the truth of what happened, when Jesus was born, under the carpet, call it ‘Holiday’ and have us all just have a nice time with family and friends. ‘Holiday’ actually means ‘Holy day!’ by the way – don’t you think that is slightly ironic when they’re trying to get away from it being anything like a holy day!

 It’s well documented that Jesus probably wasn’t born in December – we all know that – this is not a debate on that. The fact is, in the UK and all over the world, we celebrate the wonderful season – Christmas – because Jesus was born in Bethlehem and our world changed forever! This is when we remember! This is the event that we, as Christians, more than anyone else, can have a huge party! We celebrate, like everyone else, with our family, our friends, we give and receive gifts, we laugh and over-eat! (Perhaps the over-eating isn’t such a good thing! Haha!) Plus, we know the real reason!! What isn’t there to party about!

 Like I said at the beginning, if you used to celebrate Christmas as a Christian and today you find yourself somewhere outside of that due to a variety of reasons, may be due to no fault of your own, come back to the party, you are more than welcome to join us – I trust that would be your experience whichever church you went back to. If, however, you used to celebrate Christmas as a Christian and you’ve now decided that there is no God, can I kindly ask you to get out of our party – this is our time, you can’t have your cake and eat it. You made your choice and, as far as I’m concerned, you shouldn’t just be able to ‘pop into’ Christmas. There is no getting away from the fact that this is a religious holiday – you know it – so your ‘RSVP’ should read, ‘sorry I can’t make it.’

 My prayer is that you will re-consider your choice to deny the one who gave you life – your ‘invite’ will be re-instated in an instant.

 To Christians all over the world who may read this, can I say have a brilliant Christ-mas and a wonderful new year – if you know the reason for this time of year, you are doubly blessed so go and walk in that blessing! See you in 2015!