I’ll going to start right off I say that I love
Christmas. I love nearly everything
about it. I love the whole Santa Claus
thing: elves, midnight sleigh rides,
down the chimney, gifts for all the children around the world. Toys…oh, yes…toys! I love paper snowflakes. Christmas programs by children. Christmas movies on TV. Charlie Brown, Linus and Snoopy. Frosty the Snowman. Christmas trees. Green boughs and mistletoe. Multi-colored lights on houses. Christmas decorations in stores, on lamp
posts and mailboxes. The Christmas hymns
and the more “secular” carols (a surprising number actually written by Jewish composers). Crèches with Joseph, Mary, angels, donkeys
and cattle around the baby Jesus. And even the peculiar Indianapolis tradition
of turning the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument into the world’s largest
“Christmas tree”.
Many Christians will demure from the mixing up the
birth of Christ with all Santa Claus/winter wonderland business; but I see no reason
in getting superior about the matter.
In one congregation I once belongs to, a large number
of parents believed it was their holy duty to raise their children to be
unattached to material things and disdainful of our culture of American
consumerism. So toys were reserved only
for Christmas and for Christmas only—often times only grudgingly at that. For birthdays, presents consisted of clothes,
shoes, socks, and underwear. I don’t
know what they were thinking but oddly enough, these adults were absolutely
bewildered when during Christmas-Eve services their charges were practically
bouncing off the walls in wild excitement.
One can only wonder if, when these children grew up, they were somewhat
muddled about the “true meaning” of Christmas.
In seeking to discourage materialism, did the parents inadvertently end
up promoting it?
On another occasion, I came to meet an itinerant
Lutheran pastor. His undertaking was to
aid and nurse other Lutheran pastor who were troubled and emotionally exhausted
after many years in the ministry. Among
his other curiosities, he did not…as he put it…”keep Christmas”. He was not reticent in looking down his nose
at other Christians who did and he answered contemptuously when other
Christians asked why. As I understood
him, he believed the spiritual pursuit of holiness (“walking in the Spirit”)
mandated a rejection of all human traditions—Christmas being one of those traditions. Christmas, he believed, had been so imbued
with pagan Teutonic influences it was virtually a spiritual deathtrap. I’m sure this man had many fine qualities and
he was after all a precious lifeline for many distressed pastors; but for the
most part, those sitting the pews thought he was a jerk.
No. Getting all
superior over the “American Christmas” is misguided at best. You are liable to get yourself at least
labeled a Grinch. You run the risk of
actually being a Grinch.
Christmas in America (a.k.a. “The American Christmas”)
is one big thick sloppy mess. It is
uneven contradictory, spiritual, and materialistic. It celebrated by believers and unbelievers, crooks
and lawmen, spendthrifts and moneygrubbers, the generous and con-men
alike. It is another instance of an annual
national occasion being a mercurial concoction of the sacred and the mundane at
the center of its soul. It’s what
happens when human beings live together over time and over generations. It is that unwieldly thing called culture. Meanings appear, diminish, and
over-lap. However much one tries to keep
the bits of meat, fruit and vegetables separate on the plate, it all turns into
one mash in the stomach.
“Ah!” It is
said. “Put Christ back in Xmas!”
OK. We all know
what they mean by this. “Remember the
reason for the season!” Any good
Christian…and many a bad one for that matter..will have more than a little
sympathy for this admonition. But, in
truth, this reminder itself has become as routine and predictable as the
atheists’ annual lecture that Christmas is just an echo of earlier pagan celebrations
at the same time of the year and just as pointless. A bit of barbwire in the white noise of the
season.
The truth is—no matter how sincere—we can’t put Christ
back in Christmas. We can’t “put” Christ
anywhere. It is not in our ability to do
so and, left to our own devices, we wouldn’t really do so if we could. We couldn’t and wouldn’t choose such a God. He can’t be pulled off the shelf to give our
holiday meaning.
Such a God…Christ Jesus…must be heard. The only thing that cuts through the white
noise is the Proclamation. It is His
Word that goes out and does not return to Him empty. The true Christmas Spirit…the true Christmas
faith really…comes in the hearing. Come
and hear:
At that time Emperor Augustus ordered a
census to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. When this first census
took place, Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Everyone, then, went to
register himself, each to his own hometown.
Joseph went from the town
of Nazareth in Galilee to the town of Bethlehem in Judea, the birthplace of
King David. Joseph went there because he was a descendant of David. He went to register with
Mary, who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant, and while they were in
Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. She gave birth to her
first son, wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger—there was no room for
them to stay in the inn.
8There were some shepherds
in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking
care of their flocks. An angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly
afraid, but the angel said to
them, “Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring
great joy to all the people. This very day in David's
town your Savior was born—Christ the Lord! And this is what will
prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great army of
heaven's angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God:
“Glory to God in the
highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!”
When the angels went away
from them back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go to
Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us.”
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