In many Chinese Christians' minds, Christmas is a major holiday which is like the traditional Chinese Spring Festival, a main holiday with symbolic significance.
Christmas does not only take a significant position in Christians’ minds but also catches the attention of businessmen because merchants can make a profit through promoting sales during the season. So when Christmas is approaching and each church is preparing evangelistic dramas, preaching the gospel, gifts, baptism, and courses for seekers; shopping malls are also busy with promotions and discounts, innovations, and various cultural performances. In terms of attracting people's attention, the Church's Christmas promotion is obviously far weaker than that of merchants.
In the Church, Christmas is celebrated every year and Christmas performances are arranged every year. Although the Chinese phrase "every year is like today" is used for blessing the hearer, the phrase would otherwise best be used to describe a church’s Christmas decoration - the yearly Christmas celebrations are in exactly the same model. Not only are Christmas evangelistic plays the same, but also the sermons. Even those who perform the celebration shows are the same faces for over a decade.
Originally, under the religious atmosphere of Christmas, there was true worshiping of God and feelings for Jesus. However, as time goes by, if the form of the celebration hasn’t been changed, the whole event will truly be a ‘form’ only. This is the same as those who preach the gospel without seeking the effect but just rushing to complete the due task. The purpose of preaching has shifted from meaningfulness to a form so that the participants are losing the will to change. However, compared with the Church which follows a form rather than the meaning, merchants are the most attentive carrier of Christmas messages. No matter form or connotation, they come up with new ideas every year.
Why is there such a big gap between churches and businesses? The reason is that different pursuits lead to diversity.
Businessmen bring forth new ideas, and by Christmas, they are like fully-equipped soldiers prepared for battle because they are looking for profits and they are interested in the business opportunities brought by Christmas. In terms of profit, merchants also follow the output ratio. The more investment, the higher the profit. For this purpose, merchants naturally spend all their money on Christmas advertising and promotion. All the staff in the shopping malls wear Christmas clothes and hats, draw big prizes, perform Christmas dramas and so on. The purpose of coming up with new ideas is to attract people by making them feel happy and peaceful with a desire to purchase items and improve the sales figures.
As for churches, they are different from merchants. They do not pursue commercial profits, so they have no profit. They have their own church. They think that they can't change the sanctity of the gospel in order to attract people like shopping malls, and they can't adopt the same way as shopping malls in order to create an atmosphere of consumption. Therefore, unlike shopping malls, they do nothing. The reason they give is that Christmas in shopping malls is secular. They are waiting for God to harvest everything.
It was the Church that threw away the sowing in the process of trying to avoid secularization leaving only God with a sickle and sighing at the overgrown fields.
The church can't be like a shopping mall, and in the end, the church is not like a church.
From not wanting to be kidnapped by secularized merchants, the Church has rejected all Christmas forms adopted by society and developed a Christmas form that has no Christmas connotations, which is the current status of Christianity. This anti-secularization tendency of Christianity eventually turns to the opposite side.
Form and connotation are different, and sometimes the form is even independent. A church plays the hymns using a piano, which is also used for commercial performances in shopping malls; the hymns sung in the church are similar to the music played in those shopping malls; the electronic devices used in churches are the same as those used in shopping malls. Whether it's piano, musical notes, or sound, it's a form that everyone can use. That's the case. So why doesn't a church share the gospel in a popular form?
In today’s world young people like to see and hear things in new and modern ways; express the predicament of the times with acceptable drama; in the way of jokes, ridicule the life that is inferior to form, which can be used in the church at Christmas. The church is not only sacred and solemn.
Shopping malls try their best to attract people, so what reason does the church have to shut out people who want to come in? Shopping malls pursue profit. Why can't the church pursue the benefit of the gospel? If you want more people to know the gospel, you must let more people enter the church. If you want more people to believe in the gospel, you must let them know the true meaning of the gospel. In shopping malls, it is to increase the quality of goods at reasonable prices. Why can't we increase the quality and touching gospel works in churches?
Jesus reminded us of the example of the three servants. The first servant earned 5,000 extra talents from the original 5,000 talents he had received from the master. While the one who took 1,000 and returned 1,000 should be punished. Those of us who only pay attention to the form and neglect the connotation of Christmas preparation is no different from the servant who finally returned the 1000 talents intact. Like that punished servant, we are trying to cope with Christmas tasks not to spread the gospel of God.
At present, Christmas is approaching, and those churches who have brought out last year's outfits should consider changing their form and content, and let some new faces, new images, and new forms appear on the Christmas stage of the church, and let the church also plant some new crops to honour Jesus who was crucified for us.
O churches, you can bear the heavy responsibility of the gospel!
- Translated by Charlie Li
圣诞节再思：年年雷同，教会该如何承担圣诞传福音的重任？
在基督徒心中，圣诞节是一个重大节日，就如我们传统的春节一样，是一个标志意义的大节日。
不仅在基督徒心中圣诞节的分量不同一般，在商家的眼里也同样非同小可。因为商家可以通过促销来赚取利润。因此，圣诞临近的这段时间，教堂里是忙碌的，排练圣剧、传讲福音、准备礼物、准备受洗、准备慕道班课程；同样忙碌的还有商场，促销打折、推陈出新、各种文艺表演。在吸引人眼球方面，教堂的圣诞吸粉能力明显弱于商家。
圣诞节年年都有，圣诞演出年年都排。尽管“年年如今日”是一句祝福，但是用以形容教堂装饰的圣诞节装扮，再恰当不过——年年搞的圣诞庆祝都一个样板。不仅圣诞圣剧内容重复，连讲道内容都一样，甚至那些出席圣诞演出的剧作人员也都是十几年如一日的老面孔。
本来圣诞节的宗教气氛之下还有对上帝的敬拜，对耶稣的感情，时间久了形式不变，也就变成一种形式了。这和那些传福音不问效果，只为应付传福音任务的行为一样，目的已经由内涵变成形式，从而失去了改变的意愿。但是，与教堂走形式而轻内函相比，商家倒是最上心的圣诞宣传载体。不论形式还是内涵，年年翻新。
为什么教堂与商家有如此大的差距？
究其原因，是追求不同而导致的差别。
商家推陈出新，到圣诞节个个像打鸡血一样，是因为他们追求的是利润，看中的是圣诞节带来的商业机会。在利润上，商家也遵循产出比，投入的越多，利润越高。在这种目的之下，商家对圣诞节的投入自然不惜血本，在内容上翻新，全体商场工作人员都穿圣诞服，戴圣诞帽，大抽奖，圣诞剧演出等等。这些新内容的目的就是要吸引人来，给人一种幸福祥和的消费欲望，从而带来商品的销售金额。
而教堂呢，他们不同于商家，他们不追求商业利润，因此他们没有利润这个目的。他们有自己的教堂，或者自己的教会，他们认为自己不能像商场那样，为了拉人而改变福音的神圣性，不能像商场一样，为了制造消费的氛围，而采取向他们一样的方式。因此，与商场不同，他们什么都不做。他们给出的理由是，商场的圣诞节是世俗化的。他们等待的是上帝收割一切。
正是教会在努力避免世俗化的过程中，把播种也扔掉了，最后只剩下拿着镰刀、望着杂草丛生的田地而哀叹的上帝。
教会不能像商场，最后教会也不像教会了。
由不想被世俗化的商家绑架，演变成对一切被社会采取的圣诞形式的拒斥，最后成为只有圣诞形式而没有圣诞内涵的圣诞公式，这是基督教当下的现状。基督教这种反世俗化的倾向，最终却走向了反面。
形式与内涵是不同的，有时候形式甚至是独立的。教会演奏圣乐的钢琴，在商场里被用来商业演出；教会里用的圣乐，同样与那些商场里播放的音乐类似；教会里使用的电子设备，也与商场使用的音响一样。不论是钢琴还是音符，还是音响都是形式，大家都可以采用。即是如此，那么教会为何不采用流行的形式来彰显福音的内容呢。
以年轻人喜闻乐见的形式，来表达对当下时代的思考；以轻松的戏剧，来表达时代的困境；以段子的方式，来调侃当下流于形式的生活，这些都可以被使用在圣诞节的教会里。教会不是只有神圣和严肃。
商场想尽办法来吸引人，那么教会又有什么理由将路过门口想进来的人拒之门外呢？商场追求金钱的利润，教会为什么不能追求福音的效益呢？想让更多的人知道福音，就得让更多的人进入教会，想让更多的人信奉福音，那就得让他们知道福音的真谛。在商场，是增加质优价廉的商品，在教会为什么不能增加更优质和打动人心弦的福音作品呢？
耶稣在三个仆人的例子中向我们提醒过，就是那拿了五千又赚了五千的要奖赏，而那拿了一千却还回去一千的要惩罚。我们这些只注重形式而忽略内涵的圣诞准备，与那个最后将一千原封不动返回的仆人相比，并没有什么不同。我们和她一样，是为了应付圣诞节的任务，而不是为了上帝的福音广传。
眼下，圣诞节已经逼近，那些又把去年行头拿出来的教会们，是不是该考虑一下换换形式，改改内容，让一些新的面孔、新的形象、新的形式出现在教会的圣诞舞台上，让教会也播种一些新的庄稼，来告慰那为我们钉上十字架的耶稣。
教会，你可承担着福音的重任！
圣诞节再思：年年雷同，教会该如何承担圣诞传福音的重任？
In many Chinese Christians' minds, Christmas is a major holiday which is like the traditional Chinese Spring Festival, a main holiday with symbolic significance.
Christmas does not only take a significant position in Christians’ minds but also catches the attention of businessmen because merchants can make a profit through promoting sales during the season. So when Christmas is approaching and each church is preparing evangelistic dramas, preaching the gospel, gifts, baptism, and courses for seekers; shopping malls are also busy with promotions and discounts, innovations, and various cultural performances. In terms of attracting people's attention, the Church's Christmas promotion is obviously far weaker than that of merchants.
In the Church, Christmas is celebrated every year and Christmas performances are arranged every year. Although the Chinese phrase "every year is like today" is used for blessing the hearer, the phrase would otherwise best be used to describe a church’s Christmas decoration - the yearly Christmas celebrations are in exactly the same model. Not only are Christmas evangelistic plays the same, but also the sermons. Even those who perform the celebration shows are the same faces for over a decade.
Originally, under the religious atmosphere of Christmas, there was true worshiping of God and feelings for Jesus. However, as time goes by, if the form of the celebration hasn’t been changed, the whole event will truly be a ‘form’ only. This is the same as those who preach the gospel without seeking the effect but just rushing to complete the due task. The purpose of preaching has shifted from meaningfulness to a form so that the participants are losing the will to change. However, compared with the Church which follows a form rather than the meaning, merchants are the most attentive carrier of Christmas messages. No matter form or connotation, they come up with new ideas every year.
Why is there such a big gap between churches and businesses? The reason is that different pursuits lead to diversity.
Businessmen bring forth new ideas, and by Christmas, they are like fully-equipped soldiers prepared for battle because they are looking for profits and they are interested in the business opportunities brought by Christmas. In terms of profit, merchants also follow the output ratio. The more investment, the higher the profit. For this purpose, merchants naturally spend all their money on Christmas advertising and promotion. All the staff in the shopping malls wear Christmas clothes and hats, draw big prizes, perform Christmas dramas and so on. The purpose of coming up with new ideas is to attract people by making them feel happy and peaceful with a desire to purchase items and improve the sales figures.
As for churches, they are different from merchants. They do not pursue commercial profits, so they have no profit. They have their own church. They think that they can't change the sanctity of the gospel in order to attract people like shopping malls, and they can't adopt the same way as shopping malls in order to create an atmosphere of consumption. Therefore, unlike shopping malls, they do nothing. The reason they give is that Christmas in shopping malls is secular. They are waiting for God to harvest everything.
It was the Church that threw away the sowing in the process of trying to avoid secularization leaving only God with a sickle and sighing at the overgrown fields.
The church can't be like a shopping mall, and in the end, the church is not like a church.
From not wanting to be kidnapped by secularized merchants, the Church has rejected all Christmas forms adopted by society and developed a Christmas form that has no Christmas connotations, which is the current status of Christianity. This anti-secularization tendency of Christianity eventually turns to the opposite side.
Form and connotation are different, and sometimes the form is even independent. A church plays the hymns using a piano, which is also used for commercial performances in shopping malls; the hymns sung in the church are similar to the music played in those shopping malls; the electronic devices used in churches are the same as those used in shopping malls. Whether it's piano, musical notes, or sound, it's a form that everyone can use. That's the case. So why doesn't a church share the gospel in a popular form?
In today’s world young people like to see and hear things in new and modern ways; express the predicament of the times with acceptable drama; in the way of jokes, ridicule the life that is inferior to form, which can be used in the church at Christmas. The church is not only sacred and solemn.
Shopping malls try their best to attract people, so what reason does the church have to shut out people who want to come in? Shopping malls pursue profit. Why can't the church pursue the benefit of the gospel? If you want more people to know the gospel, you must let more people enter the church. If you want more people to believe in the gospel, you must let them know the true meaning of the gospel. In shopping malls, it is to increase the quality of goods at reasonable prices. Why can't we increase the quality and touching gospel works in churches?
Jesus reminded us of the example of the three servants. The first servant earned 5,000 extra talents from the original 5,000 talents he had received from the master. While the one who took 1,000 and returned 1,000 should be punished. Those of us who only pay attention to the form and neglect the connotation of Christmas preparation is no different from the servant who finally returned the 1000 talents intact. Like that punished servant, we are trying to cope with Christmas tasks not to spread the gospel of God.
At present, Christmas is approaching, and those churches who have brought out last year's outfits should consider changing their form and content, and let some new faces, new images, and new forms appear on the Christmas stage of the church, and let the church also plant some new crops to honour Jesus who was crucified for us.
O churches, you can bear the heavy responsibility of the gospel!
- Translated by Charlie Li
Reflection on Repetitive Christmas Celebrations: Why Do Churches Refuse Varieties?
