Why some Christians don’t celebrate Christmas

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 24th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Christians skipping Christmas.

Among the holidays, Christmas reigns supreme in the United States. This year, Gallup says six in 10 Americans plan to spend more than $500 on presents, nearly four in 10 are spending $1,000 plus.

REICHARD: But not all Christians are onboard with Christmas, or any holiday, for that matter. WORLD’s Grace Snell talked to one such family and brings us today’s story.

AUDIO: [Psalm leader chanting, congregation responding]

GRACE SNELL: At Providence Presbyterian Church, everything is business-as-usual today. The congregation chants responsively from Psalm 109—their voices echoing under the vaulted ceiling.

AUDIO: [Psalm leader chanting, congregation responding]

There’s not a trace of Christmas here: no Advent wreaths, candles, or nativity scenes. Not a single ribbon, present, or bow. Instead, a large, white pulpit takes center stage.

SHELTON: Our New Testament reading is Luke, Chapter 17…

Logan Shelton is the church’s pastor.

SHELTON: Preaching of the Word will come from verses 11 to 19…

Shelton—and other Christians like him—don’t believe in celebrating Christmas. He stands in a Reformed lineage that rejects any kind of special holy days based on their interpretation of the principle: “Sola Scriptura.”

Scripture Alone.

SHELTON: The Bible is sufficient—which Protestants readily confess. The Bible is especially sufficient when it comes to acts of worship, and the Bible has made no provision for any special holy days in the New Testament, other than the Sabbath.

It’s an idea known as the “regulative principle.” Christians holding this view seek to worship God only as He expressly commands in Scripture. Believers embracing a contrasting “normative” view believe anything not directly at odds with God’s Word is acceptable.

Boycotting Christmas may sound radical. But the idea isn’t new. It’s actually a deeply-rooted element of early Presbyterian thought and practice. Here’s what an assembly of English and Scottish Puritans had to say about holidays in 1645 when they gathered at Westminster:

SHELTON: There is no day commanded in Scripture to be kept holy under the gospel, but the Lord’s Day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called “holy days,” having no warrant in the Word of God, are not to be continued.

As late as 1899, the Southern Presbyterian Church’s general assembly denounced Christmas celebrations as “contrary to the principles of the Reformed Faith.” But plenty of other Protestants: Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans, to name a few, viewed holy days not only as permissible—but spiritually beneficial. A time to focus afresh on particular elements of the gospel story.

And the stance of most Presbyterian churches softened over time as denominations mixed and mingled.

Shelton grew up celebrating Christmas—like virtually every other American kid. He still remembers excitedly unwrapping a go-kart from his parents. But his views on Christmas started changing after he enrolled at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

There, he read a lot of old Puritan books. And he couldn’t escape the authors’ strong aversion to holy days.

Shelton’s perspective started to shift. But canceling Christmas seemed too radical at first. Instead, he tried something pretty counterintuitive: taking “the Christ” out of Christmas.

SHELTON: I think my gut check reaction was, try to make Christmas secular after the same manner that I would say Fourth of July is secular. I wanted to try to put Christmas in those categories, because then it wouldn’t be a disruptive change.

But, that didn’t really work.

SHELTON: What I ultimately found was that that line was a little bit too fine, because Christmas is not purely secular.

So, in 2020, Shelton and his wife decided to phase out Christmas. Their first son was just a toddler, and they wanted to set the tone for their growing family.

2020 was a “transition year.” After that, they quit cold turkey. Lights, Christmas tree, and all.

It was a tough call to make. Shelton knew the decision would be hard for his parents. And he hated to disappoint them. But, more than that, he wanted to be true to his convictions.

So, while neighbors gather around Christmas trees and tear into brightly-wrapped packages, the Sheltons head to a local Chinese restaurant—one of the few places open on the 25th. Or they use the day to travel and see family.

SHELTON: As much as we can, we try to shift all the good things that we liked about Christmas to New Year’s Day...

The Sheltons don’t advertise their Christmas convictions. They just quietly do something different. But people tend to catch on—and that makes for some interesting conversations.

SHELTON: “What do you do on the 25th?” “Well, on the 25th we’ll be driving”— “Wait, you’re going to be driving on…” And so it just kind of, like, kept getting more in specific questions and to where I finally say, “Well, you know, the truth is, we don’t observe Christmas.

Most people are shocked or surprised. And they’re curious to understand why.

SHELTON: For a lot of evangelical Christians, this is all they’ve ever known. They’re not even aware of the fact that, for example, there were laws against celebrating Christmas in Puritan Massachusetts. It’s a very dramatic paradigm shift.

But things are just the opposite for the Shelton kids. Life without Christmas is all they know. That makes for lots of teaching moments with Shelton’s older two boys. Levi is five and Will is three.

SHELTON: Now, are there any other special days that God tells us to observe besides the Lord’s Day?

LEVI: No, not Monday, not Tuesday, not Wednesday, not Thursday, not Friday, definitely not Saturday, because everybody watches football…

SHELTON: [Laughing] Definitely not Saturday. Everybody watches football.

The Sheltons don’t celebrate Christmas Day.

SHELTON: But does that mean we don’t celebrate the birth of Jesus?

LEVI: No.

SHELTON: When do we celebrate the birth of Jesus?

LEVI: On Sunday!

SHELTON: Every Lord’s Day, right?

Fifty-two days for all Christians—regardless of their holiday convictions—to celebrate the greatest gift: God made flesh. God with us.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Grace Snell.

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