to return to your place in the text.To read endnotes, click on the the note number, then click on the
Admittedly, things can be confusing right now. You are
familiar with the cartoon, "Family Circus." At Christmas time,
Big Sister comes to P. J. and says, "Want me to tell you a story,
P. J.? Jesus was born just in time for Christmas up at the North
Pole surrounded by eight tiny reindeer and the Virgin Mary. Then
Santa Claus showed up with lots of toys and stuff and some
swaddling clothes, the Three Wise Men and the elves all sang
carols, while the Little Drummer Boy and Scrooge helped Joseph
trim the tree. In the meantime, Frosty the Snowman saw the
star..."(1) As I say, confusing.
Another cartoon. "Marvin." Marvin is on his knees praying.
"...and a tricycle and a basketball and..."
Marvin's friend comes up and asks, "What cha doin', Marvin?"
The boy replies, "Praying to Santa Claus."
The little friend says, "Don't you know anything? You can't
pray to him!"
Marvin responds, "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize Santa was
secular."(2)
Hmm. As we say, confusing. It is even confusing in the
church - congregations regularly wrestle with how to go about the
celebration. We look at the calendar and see that December 25th
is still a week away, but all month long there has been the
temptation to jump right over Advent and directly to Christmas in
our music and worship. The Mall does it; why not us? Then there
are the obligatory annual reminders that "Jesus is the Reason for
the Season," and to "Keep Christ in Christmas," despite the fact
that we know he has never left it. We come into church on a
Sunday and beat ourselves up about excessive spending, excessive
partying, excessive scurrying, excessive EXCESSES, then go out
and repeat the process all over again.
The reason for all the confusion is that we are celebrating
TWO holidays at this time of year, not one. They are related -
both are called Christmas - but they are very different; one is
sacred, the other, as young Marvin would ruefully note, is
secular.
If it is any comfort, the confusion goes way, way back. If
you look up the origins of Christmas in the encyclopedia, you
will find material like this:
Yes, the celebration became a big deal, despite the fact
that the church insisted then (as it does now), that the REALLY
big deal is Easter. By the 5th century, the Festival of the
Nativity had taken on such importance in the Christian world that
it signaled the beginning of the liturgical year. This continued
up until the 11th century when the period of Advent was added to
the Christmas cycle and the first Sunday in Advent from then on
became the start of the new liturgical year, a practice which, as
you know, continues to this day.(5)
Along the way, Christian beliefs combined with existing
pagan feasts and winter rituals to create many of the long-standing traditions of Christmas celebrations which we continue
to observe. Christmas trees, decorations, parties, gift giving,
and so on. Mistletoe? Ancient Europeans believed that the
mistletoe plant held magical powers to give life and fertility,
to bring about peace, and to protect against disease. Northern
Europeans associated the plant with the Norse goddess of love,
Freya, and developed the custom of kissing underneath mistletoe
branches.(6) We Christians stole the practice, and I, for one, am
forever grateful!
Of course, the celebrations can become excessive. For a
brief time during the 17th century, the Puritans banned Christmas
in England and in some English colonies in North America because
they felt it had become a season best known for gambling,
flamboyant public behavior, and overindulgence in food and drink.
Sound familiar?
What it all amounts to is this: CONFUSION. Yes, as people
of faith at Christmas we celebrate God's incomparable gift of
Jesus, the one who bridges the gap between earth and heaven, our
Redeemer, our Savior. But as products of our culture, we also
celebrate the secular appurtenances that have grown up around the
festival. Both are called CHRISTMAS, but they are very
different. One holiday has fir trees, tinsel and trappings, and
these days begins with TV commercials as soon as the Back-to-School specials are done in September. The other holiday has a
humble birth, lowly shepherds, heavenly angels, God in human
flesh, and begins on Christmas Eve. TWO Christmas celebrations.
Very different, but I would insist that they need not be mutually
exclusive. If we can learn to separate them, then we might
actually come to enjoy both. They can complement one another
rather than compete with one another.
Now, with that in mind, hear again our scripture lesson:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." For God so loved the world that he GAVE...
What could be more "Christmas-ie" than giving? Christmas is the
one time of the year when our thoughts tend more toward GIVING
than to GETTING. Even the most selfish among us find our
thoughts turned toward others. We go out of our way to consider
family and friends. We even do things for people we normally
forget: food baskets for the poor, toys for tots, and so on. You
remember what happened to Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol -
after being the stingiest man in all of literature, because of
Christmas, he changes. And finally, he vows near the end of the
story to "honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the
year."
Did you happen to see "Ally McBeal" this past Monday?
Strange show...as usual. One of the law partners was
representing a second-grade school teacher who had just lost his
job because he believed that he was Santa Claus. The attorney
asked, "Mr Claus...in preparation for your testimony, just a
couple of questions. It's December 11th, have you started making
toys?"
"Santa" laughed. "Are you nuts? I'm retired."
"Well, who makes all the presents?" asked the lawyer.
"Toys-R-Us. Parents buy them now. They also take care of
the distribution. I have been basically pushed into a forced
retirement."
The lawyer asked, "So you don't really count anymore?"
"Of course, I count," Santa replied. "I'm something to
believe in. Flying reindeer, stockings stuck on the mantle
piece. The magic of Christmas, the fantasy of it all. Of
course, I count. These times, they need me more than ever."(7)
Hear, hear!
Christmas text: "For God so loved the world that he GAVE..."
And who is the personification of giving in our culture?
Our kids know if we don't. SANTA CLAUS. Christian pulpits
occasionally object to putting too MUCH emphasis on St. Nick, and
there is no question that it happens. But if Jesus has to share
these celebrations with anyone, I am glad it is Santa because
that jolly old elf with the strange wardrobe and need for a
haircut makes the idea of giving come alive in ways that no
pulpit ever has. The sacred and the secular meet. God bless
Santa!
Back to "Ally McBeal." The scene has shifted from the
lawyers' office to the courtroom. The attorney defending the
action of the school system in their dismissal of "Santa Claus"
asks, "When students come in and ask what day it is, what do you
tell them?"
"I tell them it's Christmas."
"Everyday?"
"Everyday."
"And is it Christmas today, sir? December 11th."
"Well, that depends."
"On what?"
"Well, on whether you're willing to consider the needs of
children, whether you're willing to remember the weakness and
loneliness of people who are growing old, whether you're willing
to stop asking yourself how much your friends love you and ask
whether you love them enough. Then you may keep Christmas...
everyday."
Indeed. Of course, depending on our ages and ways of seeing
the world, our image of Santa varies. But the picture of that
broad, happy face "and a little round belly that shook when he
laughed like a bowl full of jelly" continue to bring us joy no
matter how old we become. It is an image of giving, of
generosity, of unselfishness, of love, that is without parallel
in all of mythology. That is why I say, "God bless Santa!"
Yes, there is a parallel between the myth and the fact. It
cannot be pressed too far, but this spirit of giving that we
celebrate in Santa Claus finds its root in the OTHER celebration,
the REAL Christmas story. It was totally generous, totally
unselfish, totally loving for God to give us Jesus...our Savior.
As scripture has it, "when the time had fully come, God sent his
Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law,
that we might receive the full rights of sons."(8) Children who do
not have to worry about "better watch out/better not cry,"
because he seems to come to us most especially at the point of
our tears. Children who need not concern ourselves that "He's
gonna find out who's naughty and nice," because he already
knows...all the things that make us fail to live up to even old
Scrooge's promise about honoring Christmas all the year. He
comes to us and invites us to accept the gift he offers. The
Christmas verse is, "For God so loved the world, that he GAVE his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life."
Giving IS what Christmas is all about. God has given us a
wonderful gift. Jesus. Celebrate the gift. And celebrate the
other Christmas as well, the one that features Santa, our
culture's personification of giving - sitting there in the center
of the mall with kids on his lap, standing on a street corner
ringing a bell beside a kettle, going "Ho, Ho, Ho" as he rides
his sleigh into the night sky of your TV screen - because Santa
is about giving too. God bless Santa.
Which holiday are you going to celebrate this year? Both, I
hope. Both are wonderful. If you are like me, before December
24th, you are going to the parties, sending Christmas cards,
decorating the house, and probably spending more money than you
had planned. But when the holy night arrives, you are going to
leave the noisy party and join the commemoration of something
beyond imagining - the incarnation, the coming of the Lord of all
the universe in human flesh in the person of the Babe of
Bethlehem. Amazing! "For God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish but have everlasting life" Enjoy the celebrations. Enjoy
BOTH Christmases. And God bless us everyone!
Amen!
1. Bill Keane, King Features Syndicate 2. Tom Armstrong, King Features Syndicate 3. Encyclopaedia Britannica, © 1994-1998 4. Luke 1:30-31 5. "Origins of the Religious Festival," via internet, http://www.chin.gc.ca/christmas/presentn 6. Microsoft Encarta '99, CD-ROM, © 1993-1998 7. "Ally McBeal," 12/11/00, written and produced by David E. Kelley 8. Galatians 4:4-5
The reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on
December 25th remains uncertain, but most probably the
reason is that early Christians wished the date to
coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the
"birthday of the unconquered sun" (natalis solis
invicti); this festival celebrated the winter solstice,
when the days again begin to lengthen and the sun
begins to climb higher in the sky. The traditional
customs connected with Christmas have accordingly
developed from several sources as a result of the
coincidence of the celebration of the birth of Christ
with the pagan agricultural and solar observances at
midwinter. In the Roman world the Saturnalia (December
17th) was a time of merrymaking and exchange of gifts.
December 25th was also regarded as the birth date of
the Persian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of
Righteousness. On the Roman New Year (January 1st),
houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and
gifts were given to children and the poor.(3)
OK. You have probably heard all that before, or at least
variations of it. But, to be accurate, the choice of December
25th as the date to celebrate the holy birth is not as mysterious
as some would have us believe. You see, there is another
festival which the church has observed for centuries (and even
before any celebration of Christmas) called the Feast of the
Annunciation. It is observed on March 25th and commemorates the
Angel Gabriel's visit to Jesus' mother: "Do not be afraid, Mary,
you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give
birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus."(4) Do the
math. Nine months from March 25th is December 25th. Voilá!
Christmas. Is that really the date of Jesus' birth? Probably
not, but at least you can see where it came from - it is MORE
than simply a "Christianizing" of Saturnalia.
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