I have been thinking a ton about Christmas lately. I know it IS that season and all, but the thoughts are far from the normal things like who is getting what, if I have enough time to do all the baking I want, how to plan out the weeks of vacation so as to promote peace instead of chaos and so on.
This year it has been more about the theology of Christmas and how it is celebrated. Piggy-backing on the last rant post I had, I've been thinking about why our family celebrates in the ways that we do.
I love Christmas just as much as the next person, perhaps even more, but what I'm realizing is that I like the traditions and hype of the traditional holiday, much like I like Valentine's Day or even my own birthday. The thing is, Christmas as we know it in North America has really fallen into 'just' another holiday that capitalizes on manipulating feelings and people trying to outweigh their greed by trying to give more.
Hear me out. I'm not saying everyone who celebrates Christmas is like that, but our society really is changing the holiday, isn't it? I kind of love the society holiday, I really do - the eggnog, the movies, the lights, and even the tree. Thing is, I love the birth of Jesus more. I doubt that Jesus' disciples really celebrated Christmas. They might have acknowledged his birthday, sure, but more in a 'Oh, now you're older' sort of way, not with giving each other gifts and setting up a recreation of the stable he was born in. I doubt they even did that after his death and they understood (or were beginning to) the magnitude of what Emmanuel really means.
Jesus' birth in and of itself is pretty spectacular, especially considering all of the miracles that went along with it, but without the cross, it is not as significant as we make it out to be. Even within the story that we reminisce about each December alludes to the cross - in the gifts of the wisemen - a gift given to anoint a dead body. It's sobering isn't it, among the ribbons and bows? Death.
I think the traditions that were started are dandy (and I do so love them), but we've built on them and, I think, obscured the reasons they were started in the first place. For instance: St. Nicholas.
I think St. Nicholas would be appalled by the flimsy Santa Clause that is based loosely around him. Santa twists the story of giving into manipulating children into being good all year in order to earn toys or favor. St. Nicholas, and the story that sparked us having the tradition of stockings, gave to people who were undeserving and poor. He mirrored the gospel so well - the idea of even when were still sinners Christ died for us. None of this being good for goodness sake, but rather, accepting that we ARE sinners, and need a saviour. The Saviour that was born as God incarnate in a stable in Bethlehem.
I'm not saying we do away with fun and presents and eggnog. I'm saying we need to have fun and enjoy our families and maybe spoil them on December 25th. I'm also saying that December 25th is not the only day we need to celebrate Christmas. To relegate the celebration of God coming down into human form to just one day is, in a word, pithy. We need to live EVERY day in light of Jesus' birth. We need to live EVERY day in light of Jesus' death. We especially need to live EVERY day in light of Jesus' resurrection.
Our celebrating of Christmas, I submit is not too overdone one iota. Our celebrating is too weak and insignificant. Let's up the ante. Let's really show the world how significant our Lord's birth was by not just giving gifts on one day, or being extra kind because of a season. Let's also not scare our kids with elves or threats of less toys because of their behaviour. Like us, they don't deserve favour or more toys because they are good! They need to understand the Gospel - that we are all sinners who are offered God's free gift of forgiveness through Jesus shed blood. We don't get that gift because we are good, we get it because GOD is good.
Celebrate Christmas! Celebrate it everyday!
May you see the Gospel more clearly as you celebrate.
XO and Merry Christmas,
J
soli deo gloria
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