Reclaiming Christmas from the World

When I was younger, Christmas was ABSOLUTELY my favorite time of year. I loved the presents, family getting together, the Christmas TV specials (I became a big Burl Ives fan), the Christmas carols, decorations, the presents . . . sorry, I already mentioned that. As I got older and started having a family, Christmas became much more hectic, yet still satisfying. Instead of mostly receiving, I was in the position of giving. It was great to see my kids get excited and introduce them to all the Christmas traditions of my past and to make new ones of my own.  My wife and I were married on December 17, so our honeymoon was the week before Christmas and that makes this time of year doubly special.

However, somewhere along the way, I lost my Christmas spirit. I started to get jaded and frustrated. The bombardment of materialism and gift buying and giving started to get to me. My parents divorced almost 4 years ago, so I joined my wife in having a split family. That was painful. When we got together with family for gift exchanges and all the little family Christmases that you have, everyone just gave presents and didn't say much about it. It all began to seem odd, what with all the parties, gifts, shopping, food, and expectation of what? It all began to ring hollow to me.

                                                                                       

I began to see Christmas as a great materialistic romp through a humanistic fantasy. At my daughter's Christmas program last year at her school, the choir sang about the true meaning of Christmas: Getting together with family and friends. Ugh. What if your family is broken up? What if there is pain there? For many people there is. Yet, we hold out this fantasy of Christmas wishes and dreams. We have our holiday Christmas specials and pageants that just make no sense. I remember seeing Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey on their Christmas special (shortly before the divorce). Jessica sang "O Holy Night" like she was singing a song about sex with sultry looks and gyrations. I turned to my wife and told her that I thought I was going to throw up. I think I did a little in my mouth.

Well, overall, I started to become something of a Scrooge. I'd see people be happy over Christmas and I'd just assume they were misguided. Not out loud, mind you, but the thought did occur. I hated it. Why was I so miserable? Why couldn't I just enjoy it and be happy? I was happy with my kids and my family. I encouraged our church to try and recapture the spiritual meaning of the season. I decided that we, as a church, were NOT going to cancel our worship service last year on Christmas Sunday when many larger churches were doing that very thing. But, in reality, I was just ready for the whole charade to end. I wouldn't admit that to anyone, because the fastest way to get judged in America is to say that you don't like Christmas. Just ask Ebeneezer.

I think that on some level, as I have stated, I was responding to the materialism of American consumer culture. It was just getting to me. Paul Littleton has a great post from the other day about how we are the church in exile. This world is not our home, yet we take on all of it's trappings. In this context, we go along with the secular version of Christmas and try to find happiness in it. We pretend that this world is all there is and that Christmas is just about being kind and feeling good. Of course, I know that Christmas is really about the birth of Christ, but try as I might, I could not tap into that. The Home Shopping Network had hijacked it and I was fairly disgusted.

This year, I started a study on the Incarnation of Christ. Our family intentionally slowed down the Christmas decorating and celebrating. I've been reading Scripture and praying about what it means for Christ to have come into this world and into my life. I've been teaching what I have been learning. I've been asking God to reveal Himself to me and to show me what it meant for Jesus to enter this world. Breakthrough! Instead of feeling pressed back by the world's definitions, I have begun to see this season as a great opportunity to answer questions for people and point them to what they are really seeking. I've begun to pray that Christ would incarnate into my life and every situation. I've meditated on what Jesus came to do and I have asked Him to do it in me in a fresh way. I've begun to look at the season in a whole new way and joy is being restored. The pain that I have felt of broken families and loss has begun to be shouldered by the God-man who took on flesh and became our Immanuel, God with us. What a blessing! What a perspective! It is all beginning to come alive and joy is returning.

But, it is not a joy that comes from this world or the plastic that we are to ingest from our culture. Instead, I am seeing the miracle of the coming of Christ in ways that go beyond words or manger scenes. Things that I've known to be true are coming alive in my heart, not as a "Reason for the Season," as though Christ was just the underlying excuse for all the celebrating. Rather, I am seeing the world aflame with the purposes of God, as Jesus stepped into space-time to bring salvation to all the world. The words of the great carols are resounding in my soul more and more as I think upon the power of the inexpressable, uncontainable God, limiting Himself to dependent baby human flesh. What a miracle!

This might all seem elementary, and these are things I've known for all my life. But, it is amazing how much worldly expectation you can attach to spiritual things. Christmas belongs to Christians, not the world. They are going to get it wrong 100% of the time. We endanger ourselves when we give our celebrations and our hearts over to the world to redefine and destroy. We endanger our faith when the validity of our celebrations rest on the good will of a secular world in saying "Merry Christmas" or in hosting our Nativity scenes. Christ lives within us. He has come. If He has come, shouldn't we go and tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, that Jesus Christ is born? Shouldn't we incarnate Christ into our dark world? Shouldn't we bring His peace, joy, hope, and love to a world in desperate need?

On December 26, in the midst of new toys and gadgets, America will wake up with a profound materialistic hangover, covered in wrapping paper and credit card debt. There will be a let down that is only alleviated by more shopping for after Christmas sales and the celebration of New Year's. But, we will arise with hope in our hearts and praise on our lips. Our Savior has come and He lives within us. He still wants to come further and deeper into our world and He has chosen us to bring His Kingdom. How can our Christmas be about that? How can each present we give be a representation of the gift of grace that was given to us in Christ? How can each time we light the tree, we remember and proclaim that Jesus is the light of the world?

I'm all for Christmas again. But, I'm a Christian and I celebrate it differently from the world. I celebrate the Incarnation of the Son of God onto a planet frozen in sin and death. He brought life, light, and salvation. May God be praised forever. Immanuel - God with us.

   

Comments

[Gary Snowden]

Great post, Alan. The mystery and miracle of the incarnation of the Savior really is at the heart of Christmas. You've expressed those thoughts clearly and well.

[Paul]

Alan,

I hear you loud and clear. Two things. One, check out this site. Second, one of the things that has helped me not only for Christmas, but for the whole year, is to stop thinking of time according to the American calendar of events and to begin to think of the calendar (or time) according to a spiritual calendar of events. It's going to sound "high church" to some, but one of the things that gets my spiritual blood flowing this time of year is to celebrate Advent, which in the church calendar is the beginning of the year. You spend four weeks preparing for "the coming." Then, instead of emphasizing the secular calendar with Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, etc., you can follow up Advent celebrating things like Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. In a way, then, you live out God's story through the calendar year. I've found that it keeps me in a spiritual "rhythm" and reminds me that I live by God's story, not by a nationalistic story or some other story (I'm still a proud American, by the way. I've just found something more important to reckon my time by).

[OK. Rock throwing can commence......now.]

[Paul]

Oops. I didn't link to the site, did I? It's here: http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/

[Dorcas Hawker]

Alan -

I had a bit of a long response to your posts about Christmas, so I did a separate blog posting on my blog. Just thought I'd let you know. Thanks for the inspiration!

Dorcas