I’m struggling with Christmas. It’s all about celebrating Jesus, about Jesus being born and Jesus being God and Jesus saving us and saving the whole world.
And we celebrate Jesus— we remember his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection— by making Christmas wish lists, buying hundreds of dollars of presents for family and friends, wrapping it all up in fancy paper and bows, spending hours opening up the paper and bows only to see the exact items that we specifically asked for on our wish lists. And then we top it all off by eating lots of rich, fatty, sugary food that makes us feel sick and bloated and guilty.
I’m struggling because I want the gifts and food and all day family party just as much as the next person. It feels good, it feels familiar, it feels like Christmas. It’s how it’s always been and how it’s supposed to be. I like making a Christmas list and getting what I want. I like eating too much food because it tastes good. I like spending all day with my family doing fun things.
But what does it have to do with Jesus? Why do we do all these things and then say that Jesus is the reason for the season. It seems to me we’re lying, plain and simple. We don’t spend all that money on Jesus —we spend it on buying luxury items for people who already have plenty. We spend it on buying food that would feed twice as many people. We spend it on Christmas trees and ornaments and lights and garlands and wrapping paper and cards. What does this have to do with Jesus?
Why can’t we just be honest with ourselves and admit that actually remembering Jesus would kind of suck because it would mean giving away our things instead of getting new things. It would mean spending time with strangers who have nothing instead of spending a whole day with our family and friends. It would mean feeding the starving instead of stuffing our own faces. And you have to admit, that would really suck. I don’t like that; you don’t like that. So we don’t do that. We don’t celebrate Christmas because we love Jesus. We celebrate Christmas because it feels good.
And I’m not quite sure what we’re supposed to do with that. Inserting a short prayer, the story of Jesus or some group Christmas caroling doesn’t really change the focus much. It’s just what we do so we can say that Jesus was the reason for our celebration. It’s just what we do to appease our conscience when that little small voice inside tells us that something about Christmas isn’t quite right.
If the story of the Grinch came true and all of it was gone—the trees, the lights, the gifts, the food—would we still be celebrating? Would the Grinch be able to hear our joyful songs ringing through the air on Christmas morning? Would we still have the spirit of Christmas in our hearts without all of the physical symbols of Christmas present?
I’m really not so sure.
I had a professor in college that was a devout Catholic explain to me what Christmas was about, it made sense to me. I don't claim to be a Christian however I was raised Lutheran. In lots of cultures around the world, there is a day of giving, of spreading the wealth around, in some Indian cultures they burn all the person possessions when they die so that relatives will not fight over the belongs. This makes sense when it comes to a small tribe and you want to keep a group of people happy, better to burn the stuff then lose the tribe. Even in the book the hobbit, Bilbo gives presents to all his guests, instead of getting gifts, the older the birthday the better the gifts. In modern cultures I belive this to be christmas. Christmas was originally in September, as that's when Christ was born, it was later moved to the pegan holiday in december by the church. To be able to compete with the pagan holiday they adopted some of the pagan tradtions, thus reason for the Christmas tree's and other things that have nothing to do with Christ. It was a way for taking some of the thunder from the pagans by the early church. This is not right or wrong just what the church did in its early days to get followers and compete with other religions. I look at our modern Christmas, as a time of year when people will go out of there way to see there family and friends,there is 30% increase in travel for airlines, and drivers in the week before and after christmas. It's also a time of year when people who are stingy, arrogant, wealthy, and on a normal day will not help out or give back, will actually give back, be it by guilt for all the stuff they have bought for themselves, or by the desire to help people it has the same result. My family is in charge of tree of giving in silverton, and every year, by demand from my grandma who is in charge of it, we get roped into making sure the 700+ kids have something under the tree, they get clothes and at least a toy. Christmas for a lot of people is the only time of year that they will get something new, be it a toy or a shirt, and it was given to them by someone spreading the wealth around. I know it has become very commercialized, and advertised but at the end of the day, Christmas may not be explicitly for Christ as it has evolved over the years. I believe it dose have Christ spirit, and intent behind the holiday at heart, helping people and giving back to people. So be happy, that your family gave you presents and that what you wanted you got off your list, and that you ate too much, your helping spread the wealth, which is not such a bad thing.
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