Embrace & Alternate: My Big Beef About Christmas
So last weekend I went to a lecture on the history of Christmas as a national American holiday. The speaker was a professor of comparative religion at the University of Washington, and it was very interesting and offered some new-to-me information. The lecture was a at a church, presented to a room full of mainline liberals mostly in their 40’s – 60’s. The general response was one typical of most Christians I know which is “Yes! Isn’t it awful how “they” have hijacked Christmas!”
I’m sick of that particular outrage.
According to the professor, Christmas has basically equaled time with family + commercialism since the 1800’s. The 1800’s people! How long are we going to complain about it being hijacked?! Isn’t 200 years enough? Besides, only half of that equation is shittty anyway. The warm lovely let’s-create-family-memories part may not be oriented around the manger bare, but at least it’s shalom-like in nature. And as for the marketing stuff, well we’re all sucked into that one way or the other. Seriously, have you seen the ads for the Singing Christmas trees and Live Nativities at the mega churches? And I, for one, have already received not one, but three holiday catalogs from Christian Book Distributors. Even people who give “experiences” like theatre tickets instead of physical presents like, say, a cashmere sweater are still participating in consumerism – it’s just a switch from consuming stuff to consuming experiences. And face it, Christians are just as into gift giving and red-and-gold wrapping as the next guy. Besides, it nice to give presents. It feels generous and loving and celebratory–again, all stuff that can move us a little closer to shalom, if we are present to it.
I don’t know. I guess I’d just like to go to one of these “what Christmas is really about” things at a church and hear someone talk about the things we can celebrate in our cultural expression of Christmas. What if we tried to embrace that which is good in our “national” holiday? What if we saw the god-active spots in our cultural celebration—a desire to be together, a hope for peace on earth, an impulse towards generosity – and we supported that whole heartedly. And what if we expressed alternatives to that which we cannot embrace? Where our celebration is soul-less let us offer something, not accusatory and prideful, but humble and soul-ful. Where there is excess let us offer simplicity. Where there is marketing, let us offer story. Where there is illusion, let us offer unvarnished bits of truths. Where there is debt, let us offer relief. Where there is need, let us offer charity.
I sometimes question the transformative nature of Christianity. So often we seem to get stuck in these cycles of blame, critique, and …well…just outright poutiness. But I never question the transformative power of Jesus, of purposing ourselves towards living like Jesus. If we seriously commit to being Jesus-y, well, things just have to change.
Let’s try it, shall we? Let’s experiment. Let’s play in the fields of grace. Go ahead, start a meme. What three things will you embrace about our culture’s expression of Christmas? (i.e. Where will you dance in the overlap?) What three things will you practice an alternative to? Here’s mine.
Things I’ll Embrace about my culture’s Christmas:
1. I will embrace spending time with friends and family in the home.
2. I will embrace giving charitably to those among us who are poor.
3. I will embrace expressing love towards friends and family through thoughtful gift giving.
Thing’s I’ll practice an Alternative to:
1. I will not flood my children with wish list items. (My children will get one gift from us, plus some things in their stockings.)
2. I will not run around like a chicken with my head cut off during the holiday season (we will limit our “Christmas” events and parties, we will not send Christmas cards, we will not go to the mall, we will make only two kinds of cookies, we will practice Sabbath.)
3. I will not go into debt (We accrue no credit card debt at Christmas by saving a bit each month of the year for our annual holiday expenses.)
Okay, I have to add one more:
4. I will focus on teaching my children the story of Jesus’s birth and introduce them to the story of St. Nicholas.
Tag! You’re it!
This past Tuesday was the Feast of St Nicholas, by the way. One of my favorite things about the life of St Nicholas, apart from his compassion and generosity, was his temper. This is one of those aspects of the man that didn’t carry over into his representation as Santa Claus. But at the Nicene Council, St Nicholas grew so angry with the blasphemies of Arius that he hit Arius in the face! The fathers of the council considered banning Nicholas from the remainder of the Council, but after several we told in dreams to let Nicholas remain, he continued to participate in the council. Of course, I’m not suggesting we go around slapping heretics in the face, but the story puts some flesh on the saint and makes him all the more endearing.
oh, whoopie! i started tapping my feet around while reading this post… it really excites me. i have always loved this season so much, yet had a really hard time integrating those feelings with all the negative hype surrounding it. you’ve provided me with a wonderful alternative. brilliant! thank you so much… it really makes me love christmas even more, to want to stand up for what is truly beautiful about it, and create (new) traditions (or return to original ones) that honor something different than the negative overtones of consumerism, busyness, and commercialization. YAY! Merry Christmas!!!
you know, sometimes you say things and I can’t bring myself to agree, but I never-ever tire of this theme, the transformative power of Christ. I love to read it and hear about it because it makes me (the middle-class American of Filipino descent who likes Motown, sushi, and–God help me–the Apprentice) want to clothe myself with Christ to see what he would look like in my world.
This is a wonderful expression of both/and. Thanks so much. I finally got to buying my first gifts today and then read this post and I think I can do Christmas this year. And maybe find some joy too, thanks to you and this new attitude. Thank you for this!!
I liked your meme so much I added your blog entry into mine and included my meme comments at the end. Thanks for your mindfulness.
I stumbled across your writing through morning-fog induced blog link hopping. Your statement about transformation reminded me that it’s possible. Thank you for putting your thoughts into words. I hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas.
Hi, Rachelle,
I just want to recommend a lovely book for next year with your girls (we started with my three when they were 10, 8 & 6) - a wonderful British colleague who researches and writes extensively on children’s spirituality recommended it - The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. It’s out of print here in the states, but can usually be found on-line between August and November. The closer to Christmas you get, the more expensive it is (3rd Place Books in Ravenna has a copy right now for $100, but I picked up three copies identical to the one they have in August on-line for about $7 each). It’s an Advent book with a chapter a day. Typical of Jostein Gaarder’s books (he also wrote Sophie’s World and The Solitaire Mystery) there is a story in a story. The outer story is about a boy named Joachim who receives a mysterious Advent calendar. Each day has a piece of paper behind the door (rather than a toy or chocolate!) with the inner story. The inner story is about a girl named Elisabet who ran away from a department store, following a toy lamb who couldn’t stand the sound of the cash register ringing anymore, came to life, and ran out of the store, beginning a diagonal journey from Norway in the 1940s to Bethlehem in time to meet the Christ Child. Every day new characters join the story, and a lot of history and geography get covered. The real kicker, then, is that in the outer story, there really was a girl named Elisabet who disappeared from the department store at Christmas time, and was never found. So you also get people in the outer story both believing the inner story, and thinking it’s a lovely made up fairy tale. Anyway, it sounds kind of weird, but it’s delightful, and quotes from this book pepper our family’s observance of Advent. The other thing I really appreciate in it is how all the “outsiders” in the Christmas story are brought along and included in a beautiful way.
Blessings on your advent (and Christmas - it’s almost here!) I, too, love all the family, story, and charitable aspects of Christmas, and really don’t want to knock them - just to hone in so that I’m not distracted by what’s not most important (without becoming weirdly preachy or pious!). cindy