Christians in a transient culture

In my personal experience, most "Christians" who scream, "don't conform to the world's culture" don't mean it. What they REALLY mean is, "make sure you're conforming to the culture of days gone by, regardless of the wrongs it contained."
Where is the discernment? Are we content to look at past cultures through rose-colored glasses and always be a generation removed from the current culture that surrounds us?
What benefit is that? Is all the church stands for merely a throwback culture; a place people sick of dealing with trends and fashion waves can go and make themselves feel better because they now have a "moral" reason to not follow what's going on in the world around them?
Such an attitude won't last. Eventually, people will wake up. Eventually, they'll realize they don't need a moral reason to not conform to the prevailing social trends. They'll realize that they only need to have a different preference and enough backbone to stand out because they want to.
Such an attitude is happening today.
Such a wake-up call is making pastors sound like fools and Christians who hold to yesterday's trends and cry that it's "for moral reasons" look like idiots.
Why? Because it wasn't too long ago that anything below a woman's neckline was too much skin to show. Because now the same church that said a piano was of the devil, only fit for bars and pleasure halls is screaming that a church without a piano is sinful.
Because the church has set its foundation on a base that is as transient as the next social revolution, not the truths of Scripture.
You can cry, "thou shalt be modest," "thou shalt be above reproach," but any thinking individual will look at you and say, "that two-piece suit was grossly immodest a few generations back, and in twenty years, my jeans and turtleneck will look just as over dressed as you," and walk away; justifiably so.
The church is holding people to a standard that is changing, and yet preaches that we serve a God who never changes.
Such a double-standard will not win a generation that can think.
So are we to do away with standards? No. But we must make sure our standards are not transient. Rather than concern ourselves with whether a modest neckline is four finger widths below the collarbone or a span, maybe we should set standards that are more immutable. If I journey to the jungles of Africa where the women typically run around topless, suddenly my five-finger width below the neckline standard is grossly over-the top.
What is the solution? Admit we're wrong. Admit that not every "standard" is absolute. Yes, God does give us standards that are absolute. But there are some things, like what is modest, that He left to our disgression. If He wanted to give us standards for modesty, He could have easily given us the pattern for the garments He made Adam and Eve after the Fall.
He didn't.
In His Wisdom, He left some things undefined. Why He did so is a subject we can debate from now until eternity, but there is no point to it. We might as well debate how many angels fit on a pinhead for all the good it will do.
He did define this: "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." That coming gives us plenty to work on without worrying about such transient things as culture.

The Reason behind the Seasons

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him." (Colossians 1:16)

"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years'"
(Genesis 1:14)

I'm posting this, and just saying, before anybody else starts sending requests for me to "keep Christ in Christmas," and refuse to acknowledge "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Solstice," I'm not going to.

My God is greater than such petty drivel because He's always been there. Before Bethlehem, He was the reason for the season before time began.
The pagans are right. Christmas was originally a Solstice celebration. No honest examination of history can say otherwise. Solstice celebrations were taking place before the Birth of Christ.

However, it doesn't stop there.

Christ, as the self-existent, eternal Creator God, is the reason for the Solstice. He made it.
It's right there in Genesis 1, He made the stars "for signs, seasons, and years." That means the Solstice, an astronomical event marking the passage of time, the passing of a season, is His design. He built it into nature; He put it there for us to observe and celebrate if we chose.
Throughout Scripture we see this thread,
"the earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1.)

It doesn't matter if you're saying, "Merry Christmas," or "Happy Solstice." God was behind it. He made it. He's still the reason behind the season. He created  the Solstices, and He, not some pagan, set the Solstices and the phases of the moon aside to mark events, the passage of time.
How we as Christians choose to celebrate these events is crucial. We can acknowledge Christ as the reason behind them all, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all, or we can ignore His handiwork.
The world is going to celebrate without us. They are going to have feasts, light menorahs, acknowledge the passing of His solstice with or without us.
We have simple choices. We can ignore it, not celebrate, and by our silence keep the truth of the Creator to ourselves. We can pick petty fights over whether we call the Season Christmas, Hanukkah, or the Solstice, as if Christ were only the reason for the season for the Christ Mass, a Catholic holiday celebrating the Virgin Birth, and not the fact  that He made the Solstice; He was behind it. He also led the Maccabees; He was behind preserving His people. He made this world, and as the Great Giver, the One who gave the ultimate gift of Himself is behind the gifts and the presents.
He's behind it all, regardless of the name you give the Season, He is there, standing boldly, the Creator, the Giver of Salvation, the Preserver of His People, Jesu the Messiah. 

I can no more force my fellow man to acknowledge Christ in the season by insisting on calling it "Christ mass" than I can force them to believe in His redemptive work.
We would do well to take a page from the early church. Point people back to the Creator, not shove Him down their throats.
Next time someone says "Happy Holidays," or "Happy Haunukkah," remember, what God blessed the Maccabes' Revolt and miraculously kept the menorah lit? What Creator made the solstice? Yahweh.
All things were made by Him. He is the reason for the Solstice, He preserved the Nation of Israel; He's the Reason for Haunukkah. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son; He's the reason for the Virgin Birth. (And really, whether Christ was born on Christmas day or not is a mute point. We don't celebrate Washington's birthday on His birthday, either.)
No matter how you spin it, He's the reason. Stop nitpicking over names. He's behind them all.
EDIT: For those that want a more detailed look at what the Scripture says about Christmas: link

Today sucks. Tomorrow will be better.

Any attempt to promote yourself as a "Christian" environment; meaning a wholesome, safe, secure place is doomed to fail. This is because a "Christian" isn't someone who never does wrong. You are starting on a false premise.
A "Christian" is someone who does wrong, but accepts God's forgiveness and trusts in God's grace to give him the ability to do right.
A Christian environment isn't free of wrongdoing. A Christian environment openly admits that wrong has been done, and lovingly enables the wrongdoer to not do wrong again. A theif isn't beaten down and told "go find a job, don't steal." A theif is told, "hey, here's a job we need done that your talents fit. Work for us and we'll pay you a decent wage."
An environment that tries to label itself Christian, but hide wrongdoing from the public eye is going to fail. Not only is it going to fail, it will do more to mar the name Christian than if it just admitted they weren't perfect in the first place. Not admitting you're a sinner is just as much a slight to Christ as saying, "yeah, I'm a Christian, but I'm going to sin anyway."
The gospel is keyed to, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Anyone that's been through the Romans' Road knows the first "step" to Salvation is admitting you're a sinner in need of God's grace.
And anyone that's been an honest Christian knows that accepting God's grace doesn't immediately transform you, or any other Christian, into a sinless person.
To try and hide the fact that Christians are sinners from the world is to lie to the world about who Christians are, and lie about the real need for Christ.
We should strive for honesty with those around us. Because honesty is more powerful than a polished front.
I know, it's very utopian of me. But you know what, dreaming and striving for a better world can't be all that bad. I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime. But I do think my life can make a difference. Not just by living for today, but by living so I'll make a difference sixty years from today. By living for a brighter future. Because I know it will someday happen, He promised me it will. And I believe Him.