Merry Christmas

I’ve spent today wrapping presents and listening to Christmas music, one of my favorite traditions. Christmas is full of tradition for most of us. We have years of Christmas memories to call up. For example, I thought presents were to be wrapped on Christmas Eve, because that’s when Dad wrapped his. I’ve since improved on that tradition, early is better. 

Traditions become the rule, if we change things will it still feel like Christmas? In our home there was one way to do Christmas morning, and we continued those traditions long into adulthood. When we were little, stockings were opened first thing (usually to keep us out of everything else and to allow the adults a cup of coffee). Then we ate breakfast. Then we had devotions. We’d gather in the living room, where all those presents were nested under the tree. Dad would read the Christmas story, and then he’d ask our grandfather to pray.  Grandpa loved to pray. He’d pray for hours, or so it seemed when we were waiting for those presents. We still eat breakfast first, open stocking gifts and then have devotions. Dad took over as grandpa, and we took on the task of devotions. We varied the topics as we grew older, but it always came first. A lively burst of "Happy Birthday" to Jesus follows the prayer. And, finally, presents.  Helped us learn delayed gratification. The tradition reminded us that Christmas was more than presents.

The first Christmas was so much simpler, a stable, a manger, some shepherds, a baby. Of course, between the lines was the stress and pain of an impending baby, an overcrowded town, no room except for a stable. There were animals, and smells and dirt. There were angels, but they had to tell the shepherds not to be afraid before they could say why they had come. Stressful, crowded, scary, and simple. Later there would be gifts from strange men who’d followed that star, but initially the gifts came in the form of adoration – “Unto you is born this day…a savior.”

So much is made today of making Christmas too religious. Ironic. Issues are made of manger scenes in town squares and other such public displays of religion. This season it was a city council woman who resigned because the council had voted to begin calling the big, green, decorated tree in the town square a “Christmas tree” again. She said she resigned to stand for those who would be offended by labeling the tree such, and making it religious. (I heard in the end she took back her resignation).  How does a decorated fir tree make anything religious? I don’t believe there were any decorated trees that first Christmas.

I once overheard some women looking at Easter cards, and one woman said, “Look, they are even making Easter religious.” Well, no, it began that way and you just hadn’t known. Sad, really. And who are all these offended people anyway? Are people offended with Hanukkah menorahs?  Do they resent the fasting of Ramadan? Why Christmas? Obviously, because those other occasions haven’t been too secularized by the Western world, commandeering it for their own use. (Although a Jewish friend said the West makes a bigger issue of Hanukkah than Israel, perhaps to have a reason to give their children gifts during the over hyped Holiday Season?).  Oh, and we shouldn’t say “Merry Christmas” anymore; we should offer “Happy Holidays” to be more inclusive.

Christmas is central to Christianity. Christians celebrate the birth of The Christ, Jesus. No ordinary birth, God came to live among us, taking on human flesh, with the ultimate goal of dying in our place. Emmanuel means “God with us”. Unlike every other religion, Christianity asks us to step into a relationship with God. We don’t have to earn our salvation; in fact, we can’t. But God came to take our place, so we can have a relationship with our Creator.

All of the beautiful, family traditions pale when we look at what actually happened in that stable. No matter how many beautiful gifts we receive, nothing can compare with the life we receive from God when we recognize and accept his Son. The fun and fellowship of friends and family is only a taste of the fun and fellowship we can have with our God. When was the last time you heard fun and God in the same sentence? Well, I believe that’s what God had in mind – not some stodgy, rule driven religion.

I don’t have to get sucked into the drama of whether we can have a crèche or what we call the tree. It takes nothing away from what Christmas truly is. Christmas, Christ Mass, begins in our hearts, where we worship a God who loved us enough to come and live as one of us, so he could take our place and die for our sin. We could take away all the lights and trees and pageants and carols and presents and hoopla, and it would still be Christmas. The other things are just the trimmings. Don’t lose sight of that. Perhaps it's time to add something new to your Christmas. Spend some time reading the story of the first Christmas. Who knows, maybe it'll become an honored tradition.

Merry Christmas.