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| Christmas tree lighting at Victoria Gardens |
The Christmas we know and love
The Christmas lights are all hung, the radio stations have switched to perpetual Christmas music, and Starbucks has begun serving their coffee in those red Christmas cups; guaranteed to warm your heart, long after the coffee has gone cold. There is no doubt that Christmas is a powerful cultural phenomenon in
the US, with people spending insane amounts of money (estimated $584
billion in 2010) and time devoted to this tradition. What also awakens is the annual culture war between "Serious Christians"
and those "Godless Multinational Corporations, bent on taking Christ
out of Christmas!". This tug-of-war comes up every year, and only seems to intensify.
Some examples of this cultural vs. "Christian" wrestling match that seem to pop up each year are these:
- Stores avoiding calling their sales "Christmas" sales, instead opting for "Holiday" or "Winter" sales, or just "sales".
- Cashiers being warned to not wish customers "Merry Christmas", but rather, "Happy Holidays".
- Statehouses and companies renaming Christmas trees: "Holiday tree", or removing the trees altogether
The Reaction:
Christmas lovers (over) react and boycott stores, buy and wear buttons that say "It's OK to say Merry Christmas", and agonize over how they will buy that "special someone" a Kindle now that they've boycotted Amazon.com. This battle has made it so that saying "Merry Christmas" is almost as telling as saying "I eat at Chick-fil-A". It is easy for Christians to feel as though we are being marginalized
for believing that Christmas is about something
more than Black Friday sales (which celebrates beating out our fellow man for discounted "stuff") and consuming copious amounts of eggnog. The truth is that Christmas
is about more than this historically recent gift-buying madness.
Perspective
The miracle of Jesus' birth was an amazing culmination of centuries of prophecy, where God showed up as He said He would. It shows a God who is interested in proving His faithfulness and glory, and demonstrating his miraculous and wondrous nature. Jesus shows up on the scene and begins his 3 year earthly ministry around age 30. He performs many miracles that demonstrate His being God incarnate. Let's take a step back for a moment and forget about the tradition
that has sprung up around Jesus' birth in what we today call "Christmas"
(Jesus' actual birth month - ???, Holiday - 300 A.D., Christmas trees - 1500
A.D., Santa Claus - 1850 A.D.). Let's imagine it another way.
What if Jesus observed all the depravity around Him, and decided he
wouldn't lay down His life for us. Taking a long, hard look at a people who by nature turn away and reject God, realizing we aren't worth the effort, and leaving the scene. What good is "Christmas" to us now? With this perspective, how is Christmas (Jesus' birth) any more significant than any of the other pre-resurrection miracles performed? I would argue that without Easter (Jesus' rising from the dead after taking our sin upon Himself to gain our freedom from it), Christmas is irrelevant to man. Without Easter, Jesus' birth is simply one of many miracles that show a God of power and glory, who rightfully left us to our own devices. It is EASTER that is actually significant for the Christian! EASTER that has brought us life! EASTER that demonstrated not only God's holiness, but also His faithfulness and compassion!
All this to say: Enjoy your Christmas lights; Enjoy decorating your Christmas tree; Enjoy your red Starbucks cups. Just don't give undue significance to a holiday or tradition that displaces the actual significance of who Jesus is and what He has done on our behalf through His death on the cross and resurrection.
Merry Christmas!
