Our Christmas "tree" the first year we were in Nigeria, 1991
I wonder, though, if we haven't carried things a little too far, at least in North America. Consider these points:
- The nativity was not celebrated in the early Church. One of the earliest references to such a celebration was in AD 200 and spoke of a group in Egypt celebrating it on Jan 6. Christmas itself, as a major celebration of the nativity in December, didn't start until the fourth century when Constantine set it to coincide with the existing pagan celebration on December 25.
- The nativity story is not an especially prominent feature of the New Testament, taking up only about 65 verses out of nearly 8000 (0.8% of verses). In fact, the story takes less than 3% of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the two Gospels where it is told. In contrast, the passion and resurrection are given over 600 verses, nearly 10 times as much. Even the Sermon on the Mount has twice as many verses.
- From the New Testament record, the early proclamation of the gospel, while including the importance of the incarnation, did not include or at least did not emphasize any of the nativity details.
- A conservative estimate would be that most churches spend at least one month a year focused on Christmas, and that they probably spend twice as effort and emotion in that month as in any other.
- As far as I can tell, at no point in history has Christmas been primarily a worshipful celebration of Jesus' birth. Considering its lack of Christian roots, this isn't too surprising. Various reformers including Martin Luther, Oliver Cromwell, New England Puritans and Congregationalists, and the Church of Scotland (until 1958) opposed the celebration because of its excesses, lack of biblical support, and pagan origins (or, in Luther's c
ase, Roman Catholic origins).
- The sentimentalization and romanticization of the story lead at best to a distorted view of the Christian message, and at worst to its dismissal as an inspiring tale. Knowledgeable Christians should be able to sort out the needle of the biblical story from the haystack of tradition, but I don't think we can expect that of everyone else.
- Christians' efforts to make Christmas more religious are often counterproductive, being seen by the rest of the world as shrill, ungracious, or laughable. There are times
when we will cause those reactions by proclaiming and living the truth, indeed we expect to be a bad smell to the world sometimes, but why pick a battle over Christmas, which has to be one of the least of all the issues on which the Church needs to be prophetic?
- An example of the ridiculous position we have put ourselves in is found in a chain-email I just received: "Jesus is better than Santa Claus," a little message with a point-by-point comparison of the two, such as "Santa lets you sit on his lap, Jesus lets you rest in his arms." I agree that Jesus is better than Santa Claus, and this message might use the Christmas season to provoke some people to think about that, but isn't it really breath-taking that, in defense of "the real Christmas," we have sunk to comparing Jesus to Santa Claus?
- Even people who want to focus on the nativity story are in trouble. Maybe some rare souls manage it, but I think most of us have trouble maintaining balance amidst the stresses, materialism, rush, expectations, performance, parties, and all the rest that goes with the season.
- All of these points lead to the concern, expressed in the title of this blog, that the overall effect of our emphasis on Christmas may be to "trap" Jesus in the manger rather than helping people experience him as the risen Savior and the Lord of all creation.
By now, you're probably sure that I really am the Grinch after all. Why not just relax and enjoy? In fact, that is exactly where I think we should begin, though I'm not sure what the best solutions would really be. So what I suggest is
- Relax and enjoy Christmas. Have fun at the parties. Sing about Santa Claus, holly and ivy, ships a-sailin' and all the rest.
- Stop worrying about the paganism and commercialism of Christmas. Live as you should live at any other time, of course, but don't be offended by what you feel is "desecration" of the "real Christmas." Christianity is not about celebrations and special days, even "Christian" ones, so it's not really possible for them to be desecrated. I'm pretty sure that Jesus is not concerned about people "not celebrating his birthday."
- Along with not being offended, don't let yourself feel, or be manipulated into feeling, guilty about how you do or don't celebrate. Romans 14:5-6 apply here: "Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds." By Christmas Eve, I'm usually so tired and over-filled with Christmas that I can't contemplate it any more ... and this year, I'm just not going to worry or feel guilty about that!
- The Christmas season can be an occasion for sensitively sharing the Gospel, especially if we can use it to get beyond the manger. People who know nothing of Christianity may be naturally curious, giving us a chance to explain more.
- Don't try to impose Christ on Christmas. It's a great time to remember the nativity story, but that's our meaning of Christmas, and has never been everyone else's. The Kingdom of God is not strengthened by our trying to dictate how the culture celebrates its holidays.
Anyone want to join me for the celebration next August 1?
Notes:
History of Christmas: see article by Ben Best which includes quite a bit, though he doesn't give his sources, and Wikipedia article.
Cherub and stars Christmas card by BridgeBuilding.com
Billboard photo by Megadem on Flickr.
But, YHWH condemned paganism, especially sun worship, and said HIS people should not worship HIM with pagan practices. That's the commandments. Christmas is pagan sun worship. Does anyone, in context with HIS Word, believe that if Jesus were here today that HE would celebrate a pagan festival?
ReplyDeleteYou are right that the christmas thing keeps Jesus as a babe instead of who HE really is. It is a plan of the enemy to cause people to believe and base their lives on a lie rather than the Truth that will set them free. Satan began his modus operandi of lies and deception in the garden with Eve and is still at it today.
Now do you see why Jesus says, "Come out of her, MY people?" HE'S talking about Babylon and the church is in Babylon with the pagan practices being observed instead of the Biblically mandated Feasts of YHWH.
See www.torahperspective.com for more info, if you like. Blessings!
-Banner Kidd
Hi! Great post, as a Christian and a mega Christmas buff, I agree, people need to relax and enjoy Christmas instead of getting uptight over whether it's too commercial or whether there's too much Santa and not enough Christ. There's plenty of room for both, and Christ came before Christmas, and yes, the holiday set aside does coincide with Saturnalia, an old Roman pagan one, but who cares? No one really knows what day Jesus was actually born, but who cares? It's the fact we have Christmas at all, that we're fortunate enough to live in a society that has such a wonderful celebration, I love everything about Christmas - except the whining excuses of religious chain letters designed to play on emotional Christians and set them in a panic over nothing, or the grumps who complain about everything being too commercial. They don't complain half as much about commercialism the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteI detest any and all flavors of chain letters, especially "friendship" "They're Killing Christianity! Pass it on and SAVE IT!" "Save Amy Bruce" and all Christmas chain letters. The last time somebody sent me a mockout on Partridge in a Pear Tree, that I'd received 20 times before within the past 10 years, I screamed inside my head.
I'd have the same rolling eyed, vexed reaction if anybody sends me the "Santa VS. Jesus" schlock.
What people don't realize is that Santa is based on a real saint, Nicholas, who lived in Asia Minor in, the 6th century I think, and he gave to the poor. That's what he's noted for. And, he was a Christian if I remember the history right.
One year, I got a letter, it wasn't a chain letter, but hopefully it will never become one. It was an email on a list somebody had invited me to. Turned out to be some serious puritanical fundie types there, and one of them posted something about Santa actually being Satan, because it was totally revealed if you switched the last two letters of his name.
GAH! It was an anti-Christmas email anyway, telling us how Christmas really wasn't important, it was pagan in origin and we really shouldn't celebrate it.
I stormed off that list and won't accept any more invites back should anyone try again.
Merry Christmas.
Capri
Capris said, "There's plenty of room for both, and Christ came before Christmas, and yes, the holiday set aside does coincide with Saturnalia, an old Roman pagan one, but who cares?" The answer is God cares. Read HIS Word to learn how HE sees it.
ReplyDeleteAnd Capri said, "No one really knows what day Jesus was actually born, but who cares?" The answer is, God knows and God cares. HIS plan of redemption through HIS Son Jesus is outlined in the Feasts of the LORD as outlined in Torah. In them you see the real Messiah. The lies of the enemy with his deception in paganism leads one to a messiah that is not in the least like the obedient, Torah abiding, blemish free, Lamb of God who, because of HIS perfect Torah observance, being the Lamb of God, is able to take away the sin of the world through HIS passover sacrifice of HIMSELF. The remainder of the feasts speak of HIS ongoing plan of redemption and in observing them, by faith, HE imparts Truth to those who do so.
It really does matter what God thinks. We are all too busy with what we think and believing, or so it seems, that God will accept what we think and do because HE knows our heart. Yes, HE knows our heart. Do we? Do we have a heart that is willing to set aside tradition in favor of HIS Word or do we have a heart that holds to tradition over HIS Word and expects HIM to accept our ways. The ways of man end in death, even though they seem right to him.
I pray you will consider the Truth of the Word that does not change, just as HE who spoke the Word does not change - Malachi 3:6.
I'm with you in celebrating on another day, such as August 1. Let's plan on it. As for the above posts, I'm going to keep out of the debate. Looks like you need a discussion board. :)
ReplyDeleteRachel Held Evans has a good post on this topic over at her blog this year (2010), http://bit.ly/dFV7ok, with LOTS of discussion.
ReplyDeleteJen Hatmaker has a very good commentary on how to celebrate Christmas (http://bit.ly/w4U0dh) with lots of comments to add to the discussion. This assumes that your family is going to celebrate it and try to keep it Christian. The main points include how to de-emphasize gift and Santa and how to choose gifts that do not depend on "slave labor" in their production.
ReplyDelete