Reading The Church in a Age of Crisis by James Emery White, I came across these words:

An analysis of 48,000 hours of programming by the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) found that 90 percent of holiday programming did not have a significant spiritual theme; seven percent had a religious or spiritual theme but did not refer to Jesus or the biblical story of his birth. Jesus was the focus of only three percent of all Christmas programming.

I’ll confess that A Christmas Story has become one of my favorite movies. The nostalgia of the time and the way it reveals how Christmas often works runs deep and familiar. But when I watch it along with millions of others, I remind myself that while it is a Christmas story, it is not the Christmas story.

But it is for our nation.

And more than our Christmas narrative, it reflects the new state of faith. (White, p. 19.)

I can’t help but wonder how God want to use this information to shape the ways we communicate about Christmas in this age.