Before you applaud or unsubscribe, maybe you too should consider becoming “WOKE.” As I understand it, WOKE is a term used to describe an awakening that takes place when an individual who has not experienced life the same way another individual has experienced it due to factors such as race, socioeconomic status and historical factors, views life through the lens of the people who do not share the privileges they have simply because they were born in a different environment.  While this term has become a battle cry for social Marxism (here comes the unsubscribes and the applause) this term based on the definition I have created above, can be a great way to view December 25^th and Jesus’ birth. 

December 25^th is not Jesus’ birthday. 

After people much smarter than me looked at the available historical information, there is no text or handed down lore that places the birth of the one Christians call their Messiah on December 25^th. This on its own makes the celebration of Jesus’ birthday on December 25^th wrong. Once you add in the information we do have including shepherds in the fields tending sheep, the time of year was almost definitely not what we northern locals call winter. Now that you are looking through the eyes of the poor people in the Middle East two thousand plus years ago you must think based on my previous definition that you are now WOKE. Maybe?  

Christmas is a pagan holiday. 

I guess you could say that but it would be more accurate to say Christmas was placed on a day that also is part of what was a pagan holiday. We celebrate Jesus’ birth, the Holy One on an unholy day. I hate to say it, but we most likely celebrate your birth on a day attached to unholy celebrations or actions. If you are born on September 11^th, do you put off your birthday celebrations or not even celebrate your birthday because it is the same day that is celebrated by not so good people as a blow to the western world? What about Halloween, do you avoid it because it has links to evil, well some of you do but the truth is, dressing up (costume party) and getting candy (going to people’s houses and begging for food) in itself is not forbidden in the Bible. Still, I can see the desire to avoid evil as an honourable goal. Now that you are looking at celebrating on a day or in a way that could coincide with others celebrating unholy actions or beliefs, you must think based on my previous definition that you are now WOKE. Maybe?  

Stained Glass windows and church statues are idols. 

If you have ever been in a church that has a rich history, you will often come across beautiful pieces of art. The colourful stained glass that depicts the history of the Bible especially the life of Jesus the Christ draws the attention of the believer and nonbeliever. Statues and paintings, candlesticks and chalices, beautiful furnishings and decorative crosses make a statement but what statement? Are they not graven images that are being worshipped? Are they not against the commands of God to avoid idols? I guess you can worship anything. Some Christians worship at the altar of money, others the altar of possessions, and others at the altar of celebrities including pastors and politicians. Are not all these gods whether carved out of stone or carved out of human achievement? Now that you are looking at this differently, you must think based on my previous definition that you are now WOKE. Maybe?

 Are you WOKE this Christmas? 

WOKE is a term used to describe an awakening that takes place when an individual who has not experienced life the same way another individual has experienced it due to factors such as race, socioeconomic status and historical factors, views life through the lens of the people who do not share the privileges they have simply because they were born in a different environment. I have not covered the drums or other musical instruments or styles of music that are considered unchristian by some who see them as part of a greater evil used by the world to corrupt, or alcohol used to destroy lives through addiction. To become WOKE you must see the other person’s point of view, see life through their lens.

That is what WOKE started with, but it has become so much more. WOKE now means you not only understand their perspective as best you can, but you agree that they are right. 

With no demand that you agree, let me try to help you become WOKE (I know it’s not the best choice of words) this Christmas. If any thing or person is worshipped in place of or as part of worshipping the true God, you have strayed into realm of evil. This isn’t the WOKE part. The WOKE part, the understanding nothing is evil unless it is conceived or hijacked for the purposes of evil. As a matter of fact, the opposite can apply. To reclaim something for the purposes of worshipping God as long as it is not in any way worshipped or made necessary to worship God is a great way to take what God created for good and man took and used for evil and make it good again. 

As I look at Christmas and stained-glass windows, statues and music and all other types of things that some people have deemed evil for Christians, I try to look at them through the lens of those who have experienced life differently due to race, socioeconomic status and historical factors. Yah that’s right, I am trying to be WOKE at Christmas. The placement of Christmas on the 25^th of December replaces a pagan festival with Christian celebration that in turn allows for the creation of the church calendar which is a great way to travel through the life of Jesus from birth to death and resurrection, to ascension and Pentecost.  The use of stained-glass windows, statues and music to communicate the truth of the Bible has made real the message contained in it to those who for the most part, until very recently, were illiterate. Now you are a WOKE this Christmas too.