Monday Morning Music Ministry

12-23-24

Chreasters? What’s a Chreaster?

Oh, yeah; it’s a nickname for folks who go to church maybe twice a year, on Christmas and Easter. Maybe like some people my German relatives describe, who go to church three times in their lives – Baptism, wedding, and, um, their funeral.

Well, I am one believes that you can be Saved, and even a good Christian, without belonging to a church. We have Bibles and fellowships and electronic worship on TV, radio, the internet… Maybe we won’t be as joyful or fulfilled or spiritually provoked, but choosing to be a Chreaster is not a ticket to hell. Not necessarily.

If it is a symptom, however, of a casual or formal or non-existent faith… then that sound you hear, or should hear, is alarm bells. And this Chreaster Season is a good time to discuss it. Let’s chat, you or friends-of-friends and me…

Why do you have a faith in name only?

Do you deny food because you once experienced food poisoning? Do you avoid a great friend because he has jerks in his family? Have you not heard that Jesus stands at the door, humbly, and knocks? It is your part to let Him in; He will not invade your life. That would not bring the “change” He desires for you, and you need.

To follow Christ is not a command to follow every one of those who call themselves His followers. To be a Christian has little to do with hundreds of rules and traditions. It is to believe He is the Son of God; that He became incarnate – of human flesh to dwell among us – and that He died to take the punishment for our sins upon Himself; and that He overcame death so that we will too, as believers, and to live with Him for eternity.

Once upon a time in Western Civilization, Christianity was interwoven in the affairs of daily activities; essential to social contacts, the arts, and governance.

Henry Adams described in Mont St-Michel et Chartres how in the “Dark Ages” churches and cathedrals were at the geographical and social, not only spiritual, centers, of towns and cities. Townfolk worked their usual labors, and then worked to build or maintain the houses of worship. Books like The Canterbury Tales, bawdy as it was, revealed foundational concerns of all characters, in the church and its centrality. The book Robinson Crusoe, an adventure story, yet has heavy and constant evidence of the hero’s Christian viewpoints. Even the Deist members of the Framers, to a man, respected Biblical principles and relied on God’s Word as they structured the Republic.

Today there is no such a priori agreement that God is the center of our several universes, so to speak; nor an acknowledgment of Biblical standards as society operates today. And when no standards are agreed upon, there are… no standards to judge right from wrong. That post-Christian America is awash in moral anarchy should surprise no one.

But if the world has been turning against God, that does not require us to follow its corruption or error or suicidal tendencies. God (whoops) forbid!

The “Christmas” part of Chreaster is not the only time to turn things around and ignite or re-ignite your faith. But God and His people and their churches have made it a darn good time to discover or re-discover Him.

If I can share a secret, He has a present waiting for you.

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Click: Mary, Did You Know?