One of the benefits of staying where I am in Alexandria, VA with my friend is that he is a book addict. His collection of over 5,000 books gives me plenty of variety in reading material. Just before Christmas I found an interesting title and decided to enjoy it during the season...The Battle for Christmas. It was written by a Jewish professor of history from MA. Very interesting.
Where I pastored I used to ask my congregation "Why do we have Sunday School?" Believe it or not, Jesus didn't have perfect attendance at Sunday School. In fact, it didn't even exist until about 175 years ago. If we are supposed to be living in a dynamic life daily with the Holy Spirit, what would He be suggesting to us is the 2012 version of Sunday School? Alas, that is for another blog.
Good pastor that I am with leanings toward being a prophet I ask you, "What are the origins of Christmas and why do we celebrate that holiday today as we do?" Consider this stepping on your toes.
You might reply, "Jesus is the reason for the season." Ummm, let's look at that carefully. First thing, Jesus probably wasn't born around late December. In fact, it was probably earlier in the year, maybe sometime before October. Why? Because the shepherds wouldn't be out in their fields tending their flocks in late December. It was too dang cold. Oops! Where did all this hoopla come from in late December?
Christmas celebration as we know it today had its roots in Europe but let's look at the history from the 1600's in America just to keep it short (400 years short). Christmas celebration in late December actually was banned in early New England. That's because it was a time of intense rowdiness, drunkenness and free sex. Yes, in New England in the 1600's. In fact, the birth rate climbed pointedly in September and early October.
It was the end of the harvest when there was an abundance of food and drink. A time to relax and let it all hang out. Certainly not the type of celebration that would focus on the birth of Christ.
Without giving away the whole book, let's just say that even in the 1700 and 1800's there was a move to clean up the holiday, de-liquor it and rein in the rowdy gangs of young men and women. Santa Claus got brought into the picture first as St Nicholas. But he was too "bishopy", which the real St Nicholas was. So he morphed into a jolly, old man made famous by the 1800's story of the night before Christmas.
And yes, back then, the commercialization even got its start. It got promoted as a great time to give gifts by the merchants who wanted to survive (and there is a history to that that doesn't tie directly to the Wise Men). The Christmas tree got added, children got included. But so were the servants and slaves as important parts of feeling good about treating those fairly who had been taken advantage of the rest of the year.
Well, now that I have burst your bubble, where do we go from here? As followers of Christ in 2012 and beyond how do we refocus our celebration on the birth of Christ? As the prophetic voice of a new Kingdom, how do we speak into our culture and put the focus where it belongs?
The argument could be made that we should continue to celebrate the real reason for celebration...the birth of Christ...observing it in the more likely time it actually happened. Problem is our holiday (read holy day) wouldn't be sanctioned with a day off by our bosses. People might even look at us as weird (remember the prophet going through the streets naked? Or wearing an ox yoke?). We might even be celebrating it in August.
Or we could start by doing Christmas differently during the season that everyone is focused on it. Or we could not do Christmas at all. (Discuss this in your small groups or maybe at Starbucks) Should we focus all our goodwill (and that is rooted in the 1600's way of doing Christmas) just during the latter few weeks of the year? Or as Christ's family should we be generous year round in His name? How are we as followers of Christ to interpret His kingdom for those who need to hear the Good News? Do we live like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, splitting our personalities between acting righteous during Christmas and acting like...(can't think of a good word here that won't offend) the rest of the year? Isn't it time for us to celebrate Christ's birth year round?
Let's try it this year. De-emphasize Christmas during the latter part of the year and heavily emphasize it the rest of the year in the way we treat others, the way we spend our money, the way we do our jobs and the way we relate to the world. We're supposed to be trend setters and that's because we are followers of Christ and not the world. Can we start a new trend that has roots beyond the 1600's back to a little town in Bethlehem?
