BOLDLY Be Christ in Christmas

Boldly Be Christ In Christmas

12/1/2013

I have a confession. I tweet. (Father, forgive me....)

All silliness aside, I have recently found a wonderful group on Twitter called ChurchSocMed @chsosm (Church and Social Media) which hosts the #chsocm chat on Tuesday nights. Why am I sharing this with you right now? Well, during one Tuesday night chat I was intrigued by this hashtag on a tweet-"#BeChristInChristmas" from   a gentleman who goes by the twitter handle of @fatpastor. (As if his handle isn't intriguing enough!)

Fat Pastor (aka Robb McCoy) also has a blog by the same title. As I am ever the curious one, I visited his blog to see what he had to say and to find out more about the hashtag.  I found these articles:
"The Two Christmases #BeTheChristInChristmas."
  11 Things you can do to Be The Christ in Christmas.
Read both articles, as they offer great insights. I love this quote from his first article and it fits perfectly in this Blog Link-Up theme:

"No one can take Christ out of Christmas where the people of God are being the body of Christ."

I just have one thing I would like to add to his great list. My tip # 12 for Be the Christ in Christmas - Let's share the gift of our faith with our words - Let's evangelize!

Don't run away. It's not a scary word. Honest. And it is not something just evangelical protestants do either. We all evangelize every day.    Deliberately or not, consciously or not, we are evangelizers. There is a famous quote attributed to St. Francis "Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words." However, I don't believe that this is stated for us to choose one or the other. We are called to evangelize with both our actions and our words.

Pope France recently said "Let us ask the Lord, for the grace to become baptized persons who are brave and sure that the Holy Spirit who is in us, received at baptism, always moves us to proclaim Jesus Christ with our life, our testimony and even with our words." What we do, how we live and the words we speak will be how we will keep Christ in Christmas.

So, how can we evangelize this Christmas? Well, we most likely will not be going around door to door. Our opportunities can and will arise naturally; we don't need to look far for them. Especially during this busy time of year. I am going to suggest three  to get us started.

1. TALK "CHRIST"MAS
When we are stuck waiting (long checkout lines, sitting in a doctors office, etc), let us purposefully bring Christ into the conversation. Instead of asking "What are you asking Santa for this year?" Why not ask "What ways are you going to celebrate Christmas this year?" Thus, opening up the conversation to share how your family will be praying and lighting the Advent Candles each week at your house as you await the coming of Jesus on Christmas day or share how you slowly, over the weeks of advent, bring out each of the characters from your nativity scene up until Christmas day when you bring out baby Jesus, or share how you like baking a birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus each year.

2. INVITE OTHERS TO MASS
Many of us have family members and friends who are not active Mass or church-goers, and Advent and Christmas present excellent opportunities to reach out and invite them to Mass. We can be hesitant to talk about faith with our family and friends because we’re embarrassed and don’t want to be labeled as religious fanatics. Make it a simple invitation to attend Mass with your family this Christmas. Plant the seed. Let the Holy Spirit water it.

3. SHARE THE COMFORT & WISDOM OF SCRIPTURE
We can share His words and our gift of faith in the times when we reach out to others experiencing life's difficulties or struggles which seem even more painful this time of year. Bring your bible and share the love of Christ over a meal with a friend who is questioning her faith as she endures the heartache of divorce. Offer a phone call and share Christ's hope to the newly ( and even the not so newly) widow or widower who is struggling to celebrate the season without their spouse. Share the Bibles words of comfort and assurance with the couple who is struggling with the pain of infertility or the parent who mourns the loss of a child in a season that painfully reminds us of children.

There are many more ways and I invite you to share your ideas or stories below.

We evangelize because we are convinced that we have Good News of great joy to share. Sharing our faith openly and deliberately doesn't come without obstacles. But our concerns and challenges are nothing compared to those experienced by St. Paul and the early Christians or those of our brothers and sisters in Christ who worship secretly because they do not have the freedom to worship otherwise in their home country. Be bold. Remember you are called by your baptism to do this. The things you say and the way you say them might be the closest thing to the Gospel someone ever hears or sees.

This year to keep Christ in Christmas, Boldly Be Christ in Christmas.

Cyndi

In my next post I will share 10 Things we want others to know about our Catholic Faith.

"But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Nothing can take Christ out of Christmas as long as I strive to BE Christ in Christmas - BOLDLY be the Christ this Christmas on embeddedfaith.org

Keep Christ in Christmas Blog Link-up - embeddedfaith.org

I am taking part in a blogging link-up. This is my first time to try this, please bear with me as I make this required commercial:

I'm participating in the KEEP CHRIST in CHRISTMAS Blog Link-Up 2013 sponsored by the Catholic Bloggers Network.. Be sure to visit as many links as possible that may be found below.

Here are the Links for others participating in the Catholic Bloggers Keep the Christ in Christmas Link-up. Take a moment to allow them to share their faith with you! (will be updated as more join!)

37 Comments

Sue Elvis link

12/1/2013 12:36:25 pm

Cyndi,

Your post fits in so well with what I have been thinking about recently: Bringing Christ to others. I really like the idea of 'talking Christmas' when we see an opportunity. I do think there are many people out there who are longing for some 'God conversations'.

The Fat Pastor sounds intriguing. I just might have to follow the link and find out more!

Thank you for visiting my blog and reading my Keep Christ in Christmas post.

God bless!

cyndi link

12/1/2013 01:06:59 pm

Thank you Sue for your kind words. God Bless.

Anabelle hazard link

12/1/2013 06:44:09 pm

Cyndi, this is so inspiring. I love your suggestions and thank you for the links. I'm clicking over after this comment.

cyndi

12/2/2013 12:13:19 am

You are very welcome. Do check out the links as they offer some great ideas. thanks for visiting!

Heidi Knofczynski link

12/2/2013 02:11:53 am

Be bold! I love it. When I read your paragraph on sharing the comfort and wisdom of Scripture I thought: YES! Clothe you heart and mind with His Word, and you are equipped with what you need to evangelize! Thanks for inspiring us!

Blessings to you!
Heidi

cyndi link

12/2/2013 02:49:07 am

Heidi
Your words to me are a true inspiration. "Clothe Your Heart and Mind with His Word"...I am going to carry that with me all week! Thank YOU!

Tina @ Truly Rich Mom link

12/2/2013 10:13:01 am

I so love this: "We evangelize because we are convinced that we have Good News of great joy to share." Thanks for the reminder! :) And I love your suggestions for evangelizing others. Blessings and prayers from the Philippines! :)

cyndi link

12/2/2013 10:40:20 am

Blessings to you Tina.

Lauren link

12/2/2013 01:45:11 pm

Umm, I love this. I will totally be going to check out the FatPastor blog as well. It is so true that as Christians we are called to BE Christ to others yet I have never heard of anyone talk about keeping Christ in Christmas by BEING Christ in Christmas. I feel like this is simultaneously such a deep idea and such a simple thought. Will definitely be thinking on this one more.

cyndi link

12/3/2013 11:22:27 am

Thanks Laura... I loved the entire notion when I found it on his site originally.

Birgit J link

12/2/2013 02:14:57 pm

Great post! I'm ready to join you in being Christ in CHRISTmas! Wishing you and yours a blessed Advent!

Cyndi link

12/3/2013 11:23:28 am

Blessed Advent to you to Brigit!

Joanne link

12/3/2013 07:26:17 am

What are you asking Santa for this year?

Someone asked my 3 yr old that this weekend and she did not know how to respond! Fortunately my dad was there to say, they do St. Nicholas not Santa. It is so interesting (and unfortunate) how some people's focus of Christmas is the gifts and not the doing things for others and going to church.

cyndi link

12/3/2013 11:27:22 am

Being a Widow and Now that my only is officially an adult (19 -but still at home) I have had much time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. As the years go by for us it is less and less about the gifts....and more and more and the PRESENCE.

Nathan (and Maria) link

12/3/2013 08:17:19 am

You have a great conclusion to your blog post. A priest friend of ours once told us that we may be the only gospel someone else may hear so be a light that shines for Christ. Your blog was a great reminder of his comments.

cyndi link

12/3/2013 11:30:10 am

I'm glad you enjoyed. thanks . Happy Advent to you both.

Angelina Costenaro link

12/3/2013 02:32:30 pm

I love that quote from St. Francis! My sister-in-law taught it to me a few years ago, but it's good to be reminded that we can evangelize with our actions and not just with words.

cyndi link

12/4/2013 04:31:45 am

One of my favorite quotes.

Monique link

12/3/2013 10:12:26 pm

What a fantastic post. I love the idea of evangelizing during the Advent season. Advent is a wonderful time to encourae our families to be even more like Christ. Thank you for sharing your beautiful post!

cyndi link

12/4/2013 04:33:04 am

Thanks for your kind words. I am glad that you liked the post. Blessings to you this Advent Season.

Nancy HC Ward link

12/4/2013 06:15:13 am

I like your site and the idea of ways to Be Christ in Christmas, especially #2. Christmas is a great time to evangelize. I remember that before my conversion, the only time Mary was a part of worship was at Christmas. So with non-Catholics this is a good starting place during this season when they also honor her. I'll look you up on twitter. (find me @NancyHCWard)

cyndi link

12/4/2013 07:03:37 am

Thank Nancy. I see you found me on Twitter! I hope to talk in my next post just briefly about some of the things we believe as Catholics....to help the layperson explain what it is that Catholic's believe. Very basic...too much theology can be a turn-off when talking to a non-Catholic...we need to start very basic. Thanks for coming and checking out my site!

Elisa link

12/4/2013 09:35:20 am

Thanks for visiting and commenting on my Keeping Christ in Christmas post. I found your post very relevant to the season, but also with several reminders that are useful all year, such as evangelizing with our actions. We DO need to be bold, especially this season, but also throughout the year. The Good News is worthy of our boldest announcements!

cyndi link

12/4/2013 01:58:21 pm

AMEN!

Emily Davis link

12/4/2013 10:09:23 am

Thank you for the reminder to invite people to Mass. It is right to do so, even if we THINK the person may say no. Blessings.
Emily

cyndi link

12/4/2013 01:59:22 pm

Keep planting the seeds!

Matthew link

12/5/2013 11:36:06 am

I completely agree with inviting others to Mass and talking about Christmas. I invited family and friends to a special performance of Handel's "Messiah" this Sunday and to come to the special Solemn High Mass for the Immaculate Conception.

Matthew Plese link

12/5/2013 11:37:27 am

PS: Do check out CatechismClass.com. I think it would be right up your interests - they have some Advent programming very discounted during this first week of Advent.

cyndi link

12/6/2013 12:01:31 pm

Thanks Matthew....I will take a look.

Mo link

12/7/2013 01:54:52 am

What a lovely idea, and 3 great tips! I try to evangelize as much as possible (especially during Advent!) without being too pushy. Quietly reminding friends and family that we'll be at Mass at this time and we'd love to see them there, openly talking about ways to keep Christ in Christmas...etc. Wonderful post, and thanks for sharing that other blog with us too!

Cyndi link

12/7/2013 09:12:19 am

Thank you for your kind words

Monica link

12/8/2013 02:33:44 pm

I love your ideas on basic ways to evangelize and that no one can take Christ out of Christmas where the people are being the Body of Christ. Beautiful!

cyndi link

12/9/2013 01:24:40 am

Thank you Monica. Merry "CHRIST"mas.

Christine link

12/9/2013 07:33:49 am

Wow - this is a refreshing and enlightening way to look at things. I love your ideas. Thanks for sharing this.

Martianne link

12/9/2013 08:33:55 am

One way I have been evangelizing this Advent is to take the time to write a prayer in the comments when someone on FB asks for prayer in their posts. It's been wonderful for me. I plan to continue this practice.

cyndi link

12/9/2013 01:06:25 pm

Martianne - what a wonderful way to share your faith. One thing I tried doing when I saw a post asking for prayers was to stop right then and say a prayer and then tell them that a prayer was just said. Similar to what you were doing...thanks for sharing.

Deborah link

11/22/2014 10:06:04 am

My family celebrates Advent with a Jesse Tree - ornaments and readings here: http://pinkscissorsdesign.blogspot.com.au/

Boldly Be Christ In Christmas

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