The Spirit of
CHRISTMAS
Growing up, Christmas in our home was always
a busy time of year. All would awaken early on “Christmas Sunday” (the Sunday
before Christmas) to the sound of my older sister belting out “Noel” in the
bathroom, running the final rehearsal before her big choir lead. The grunts of my elder brothers could also be heard, as they carried an assortment of heavy
“Christmas Musical Supplies” outside under the sharp guidance of my mother. My
Father, of course, would already be gone ahead to prepare communion for the
church. And I would be dressed in swaddling clothes, or as a lowly lamb, or, in
my senior year, as Mary herself, in authentic Israeli garb (my mother’s best sheets
and Aunt’s robes and belts.)
All the way to the church we would rehearse lines and recite our Christmas speeches, stomachs turning inside out at the thought of public speaking.
But, for all its stress and strain, Christmas
Sunday was always special. Anointed, even. And the performances were
always perfect- no matter the mistakes- because the hearts of many were touched
through our small productions. I recall a man, recently released from prison
and visiting his family, falling at the altar in surrender during a play’s final
musical selection. And because of moments like that one, when the whole church raised
their hands to God in praise, I came to love CHRISTmas.
But oh, how
Christmas has changed over the last few decades!
Rare are the
Christmas plays, nativity scenes and reenactments of the Christmas Story. Nearly
extinct, are the Christmas suits, Christmas Speeches, and Christ centered
Christmas songs! As the grandparent generation dies and a less ‘traditional’, faithful,
and spiritual generation comes into parenthood, such experiences have been
deemed trivial and have been replaced.
Christmas is still being celebrated…in fact its bigger than ever! But the heart of it, its essence, has become misconstrued. This needs no statistics to validate, though many can be applied. All one need do is scroll the timeline of any social media network:
Matching pajamas? Check.
Beautiful family portraits? Check.
Sexy Christmas selfies? Check.
Glamourous Christmas photoshoots? Check.
“I deserve it,” posts? Check.
“Woe is me,” posts? Check.
But Jesus, Jesus- has been
left unchecked from the priority list - even by the Saints!
What happened
to the Church’s Christmas?
Before we begin, we all know that Jesus was
not actually born on December 25th. Christmas is not about the actual
day He was born, but rather to celebrate that He WAS born. And while the
origins of Christmas may be debatable, the purpose of Christmas for the Church
is very clear. If you’re looking for an article that either resists or supports
the validity and necessity of Christmas, you’ll have to keep looking. This
article isn’t that.
But, for clarity sake, my own stance is this;
that because Jesus feasted, remembered, and celebrated, so will I. And because
His birth was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, I have great
cause for such celebrating. December 25th is just as good a day as
any to celebrate Him, perhaps even an advantageous day when considered from
a witnessing perspective.
But it was from this thought which sprung the
question of this article, are we?
Celebrating Him,
I mean?
Is the church still
celebrating Jesus on Christmas? Is His birth still the reason for our
Christmas season?
Or, has somewhere
along the line, the adventurous tale of God’s visitation to earth lost its awe
to us...and (as spoiled children receiving too many gifts) we throw it aside into
a pile of others with just a simple, ‘thank you?’
My stern answer
is yes. Yes, we’ve forgotten Him, yes, we’re desensitized, and no, He’s
not the central focus of Christmas anymore, not even for Christians. Please
understand that I am speaking from a blanketed, collective, majority rule, and
not to you (unless it is you). It is to us, I speak.
And however awful
these truths are, (terribly awful), pointing fingers is not the point.
Awareness is. For we did not simply forget the importance of glorifying Jesus
in this season and become self-glorifying and indulgent by chance. No. It was
through much more intention than that. Satan planted seeds that would grow into
weeds, weeds that would attempt to choke Christ out of a generation. That Christless
generation presents Christless Christmas, the fruit of seeds sown long ago. And
while caroling and hot cocoa sweeten the exterior, at the center of it is satan,
or santa, depending on how you spell it.
Santa Vs Jesus
Let us examine the
superficies.
Firstly, the story of Jesus has never
been given the glitz and glamour treatment that that other character is
constantly given. Growing up I’d often long to see stories of Jesus, his birth,
and his super-natural childhood in a tv series, or David and his incredible war
adventures, or Joshua, or Samson, or Esther play out on the big screen with a
big budget.
But though God himself was being born as a human,
and the heavens literally opened to reveal a host (an innumerable
amount!) of glorious angels singing… and there was a giant, glowing,
supernatural star moving through the sky and shining down as a spotlight… and there
was an angry, vicious, wealthy, King carrying out a positively diabolical plan to
murder babies… Hollywood has never invested in telling this story. But many
have naively presumed that Bible stories are simply “too boring” to be made
into feature films.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
One day, while
watching a Marvel comics film, I realized that I was, literally, watching a scene
from the book of Revelation. Later, while watching another comic film, I recognized
the story of Jesus playing out and it hit me - we’ve been watching the stolen skeletons
of Bible stories play out for years in blockbuster films- stolen themes and
stolen messages manipulated and sold without rights. And as generations of
Christians who do not read the Bible rise alongside the now majority mass who
identify as non-religious, this blatant plagiarism is lost to unbelieving
hearts.
They will never
tell the story of Jesus because they used it to create their Superman.
And as the crowds
grow to watch them bring ‘superman’ to life, crowds to hear about the true
Superman wane, his biography told as a myth, discarded as an old relic. Through
deception they worship a false god, while the true Superman, Jesus, who really did exchange his life for ours, remains uncelebrated.
In conclusion, if
one asks Santa, or Satan? The answer is that they are one and the same. Santa, as
the Easter Bunny and the Snake from the garden, is just another disguise that Satan
puts on to steal God’s glory.
One
look at that twinkling eye, glaring red suit, omniscient and omnipotent presence,
transposed letters in the name (santa), riding through the air (Ephesians 2:2),
and debilitating thirst to take over Christmas, should be enough to set a
Saints tooth on edge against Santa.
The world simply does
what they do best- sell it to us- but the church must not become the top
consumer.
As the enemy is intentional in planting
seeds of carnality and deceit, we must intentionally promote and plant seeds of
truth. We must each allow His glorious story to shine as many Christmas lights
in the darkness.
He gave us the first and greatest Christmas gift, His son. If you look closely, you will see His blood in the stripes of the candy cane. You will see His crucifixion in the Christmas tree. As the salvation army rings their bells, you will remember that He was not born into luxury, but poverty.
And He desires for us to be a light, that
star in the darkness that will lead wise men to Him.
If we dig deeply enough, we can find His
skeleton in the frame of many Christmas traditions.
Will you join me in
peeling away layers of distraction, self-indulgence, and materialism to spread
the joy of Christmas again?
Merry CHRISTmas,
Noisy For God
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