But there's a right way and a wrong way in being counter-cultural. The right way is to stand up to the world and make the necessary sacrifices inherent with living an authentic Christian life. The wrong way is to run up the white flag and take the easy way out, while still claiming to be Christian.
The following story falls under the latter:
From the DailyMail.uk: Church to Hold Christmas Celebration in April (bold mine)
Christmas is coming early to one Manchester church this year - because the vicar says his congregation is too busy in December.
Members of the Levenshulme Baptist Church will be sitting down to a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, crackers, and party hats on Sunday, just four months since the birth of Christ was last celebrated.
Reverend Ian Spence came up with the idea as he believes getting his flock together to mark the occasion is more important than the date it is held on.
In his experience, his congregation is usually too busy visiting relatives to get together on December 25.
And despite initial scepticism, not least from his wife, Rachel - who is also a minister at the Elmsworth Avenue church - he says members of the congregation are all looking forward to celebrating Christmas early.
He said: 'I think my wife was slightly bemused when I first suggested a second Christmas, but my sons are really excited.'
The couple have two sons, Reuben David, four, and Jacob Peter, two, who will be getting a visit from Father Christmas.
Rev Spence, who's been a minister at the church for four years, said: 'Jesus probably wasn't born in December or April - we don't know when he was born - so this is probably as good a day as any.
'I came up with the idea because many of our congregation are away visiting relatives on December 25, so we don't get to celebrate together.'
Do-it-yourself Christianity - when doing it real becomes too hard. To me, this has nothing to do with celebrating the birth of Christ - who came into the world to save us from sin - but has everything to do with making the faith convenient. Too busy at Christmas? Okay, we'll celebrate in April. What about Easter? How's October look for you?
The farther one gets from the Catholic Church, the stranger the variances seem to be. Granted, there are abuses and silliness occurring within the Church, too - but this is the weirdest one I've ever come across. "We don't know when he was born" - well, there's a great video called "The Star of Bethlehem" that attempts to shed some light on that mystery, and it's rather compelling. If you haven't seen it, get a copy. Pretty cool use of astronomy (not astrology - that's the bad stuff!) to figure out the birth - and death - of Christ.
Granted, this pastor isn't advocating changing Christmas, he's only making the faith convenient. Which is bad enough in and of itself. And once you start making things "convenient" on stuff that might or might not be true - "Jesus probably wasn't born in December or April" - then it becomes easier and easier to allow for slacking on the Really Important Stuff.
And then it's inevitable - they're no longer being counter-cultural. They blend in with the rest of the faceless folks who are making excuses, admitting conveniences and stumbling about searching for the truth and the meaning and means of a purposeful life. They fail to witness to the world the joy of being Christian, even if it means making sacrifices. Especially because it means making sacrifices.
I have family members who attend a "rock-n-roll Bible school" [trans.: mega-Church], and during Christmas season, the ecclesial community leaders schedule services four to five days prior to Christmas as a convenience for their members. You know, because people go on vacation, or they have family over, or there are company parties to go to. One of my family members told me "Hey - Christmas is about kids and families, you know. That's what's important."
Um - no. Unless the 'kid' you're referring to is Jesus Christ, and the 'family' is Mary and Joseph. What does such thinking mean for those who don't have families, or no kids? Does it suck to be them? Pretty shallow thinking. Shifting the focus onto ourselves violates a couple commandments, as I see it, and fails to properly recognize the sacrifices Jesus and the Holy Family made every day of their lives. For our sakes. It smacks of selfishness and acquiescing to the demands of comfort, rather than putting Christ first and submitting to the discomfort of sacrifice.
The folks who aren't willing to rearrange their schedules for Christ's sake probably aren't willing to rearrange their souls for Him either.
