Mom always made a huge fuss at Christmastime, arguably the most Jesus-forward holiday on the Christian calendar. She went a bit nuts to be honest, but you won’t find me complaining. I loved everything about it.
I’ll admit that the presents were fun, but I can only remember a few of them over the years; a bike with green tires and a speedometer, an airport play set, a .22 caliber rifle, etc. My memories are much more populated with trees, lights, songs, family, road trips, midnight mass, opening 1 present on Christmas eve, and best of all, mom and dad slowing down a bit to spend time with us.
To this day the smell of a Christmas tree throws me back a million years. I still can’t force myself to get a fake one.
As a good Catholic family, we celebrated advent, and were well-versed in the Bible’s Christmas stories. I loved those too. We’d gather around the advent wreath, light whatever candles that marked our point in the journey, sing the best Christmas songs, hold hands, pray, and be together.
But for me, Christmas was never about Jesus. Even as a seminary-trained former pastor, a once professional Christian, it still isn’t. Its never been about the presents either, much as the Grinches of the world try to convince us that they’ll be the ruin our kids.
Christmas has always centered around the moments when I was closest to family. Those are my best memories. Bar none.
I reckon it’s the same for the rest of my Christmas-loving comrades. The people I know who love it the most also had parents who came down to earth for a moment, making huge, indelible memories.
I can’t say that Christmas for me is completely devoid of Jesus, but I’m no more focused on Him during the holidays than any other time of the year. I believe certain things about New Testament Christianity that have invaded every part of my life; marriage, friends, family, parenting, money, politics, etc. I don’t always show up like I should, but each year finds me a bit more overthrown by it all.
But for many in America, Christmas is about anything but Jesus, and that puts a real burr in our saddle, another reminder that the non-Christian world is clueless when it comes to things that really matter.
You can imagine how this lands for the non-Christian Christmas lover, wondering why their way of celebrating Christmas makes so many Christians mad, DURING CHRISTMAS. If we’re supposed to be focusing on Jesus, why are we so focused on everyone else?
We should be happy. This is the time of year when the whole world, believer or not, is singing OUR songs:
This, this is Christ, the King
Whom Heaven guards and angels sing
Haste, haste to bring Him laude
The babe, the son of Mary
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Silent night, holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His Gospel is Peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name, all oppression shall cease
In addition, non Christians will attend church in droves on Christmas Eve, hearing sermon after sermon on the person of Jesus Christ. How in the name of Zeus’ fanny pack can this make us angry? Yes, for many, Jesus isn’t the reason for the season, but our world is more focused on Him at Christmastime than any other time of the year. Shouldn’t we be celebrating?
The Bible tells us so:
“Party with those who party…” ~ Romans 12:15
In seminary, I had the privilege of studying “mission” under the great Mark Young, now the president of Denver seminary. I loved to sit back and watch this guy slaughter sacred cows en masse, as us Christian folk tend to many. He helped us understand what it truly meant to spread the hope, peace, compassion and forgiveness of Jesus and avoid the many barriers that religious culture and tradition might put in our way.
He led me to a place of freedom where I could love and serve the church, but ask hard questions about how we show up in the world. If my rants and critiques are bugging you, talk to him.
Anyway, it’s during Christmas that Christianity’s attempts to mold the world into our image are most blatantly apparent. We want the world to be “Christian” far as we understand the term, and can be frequently found forcing our ways upon people who aren’t interested. Jesus warned us about this, with His “pearls before swine” narrative; what fool would try to force-feed something that doesn’t look like food?
In our confusion we miss His meaning. To us, the “pearls” are holy precious things while the “pigs” are God’s enemies. “Keep your religion to yourself” we hear, “those pigs are too dumb to know better.” It fits well with our clueless, “circle the wagons” brand of religion, keeping us from a deeper understanding of Jesus’ message. In our defense, it’s pretty sarcastic, and not very flattering: the “pearls” are religious customs and artifacts that have little meaning to God, while “pigs” are the people we’re supposed to be reaching, or in this scenario, and frequently in the teachings of Jesus, “feeding.”
“Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
There are few passages in scripture that better illustrate our failing relationship with the non-Christian world and the reality of their negative posture towards us. We accuse them of not focusing on Jesus during Christmastime while they’re hungry for some evidence that we’re focused on Him at all.
But we’re tired. We’ve been on the defensive for so long. We feel threatened, cheated, misunderstood, and long for a day when we’ll have some influence. It’s no wonder we’re pointing fingers, focusing on the faults and failures of others while refusting to take a look at our own garbage and all of the opportunities for peace and hope that lie underneath it.
This Christmas, let’s instead think about how our lives might revolove more around Jesus next year, so much that the world around us can’t help but notice. Let’s spend more time with people who don’t think, live, or vote like we do. Let’s serve, listen, engage, and encourage – not just the people we go to church with, but our neighbors, co-workers, and social media connections.
For many of us, that will require a big shift. But if Jesus is present in our lives, i.e., if the God who created the universe has somehow magically taken up residence within, big shifts will happen. They’ll mark our lives. Change is what God wants, and is a bigger sign of faith than things like morality, Bible knowlege, church attendance, etc. The Bible itself has called us to make an impossible turn away from the icebergs of contention, judgment, retaliation, etc., and point our bow towards the non-Christian world to connect, love and understand them with the same ferocity that God has shown us.
When the Christian life is aimed elsewhere, it doesn’t matter who the reason for the season is. The point of our existence as Jesus followers is to wallow in the peace, love, hope, and joy that resides within Jesus then spread it like wildfire regardless of what it might cost us.
I’m not alone in this. Some of the greatest Christian thinkers have expressed something similar:
“The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ… If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.” ~ C.S. Lewis
“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others . . . not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
“Our witness – good or bad – is the overflow of our lives.” ~ Alistair Begg
“If he have faith, the believer cannot be restrained. He betrays himself. He breaks out. He confuses and teaches this gospel to the people at the risk of life itself.” ~ Martin Luther
These guys aren’t talking about forcing our beliefs on others, or regurgitating things about Jesus to people we’ve never met. They’re referring to the fine art of sharing our lives with others, being in such proximity that the life we have with Jesus is difficult to ignore. The opposite of this is condemnation, finger pointing, judgment, spiritual and political segregation, and in general shouting from a distance what we think the non-Christian world should be up to. Pearls as these may be, the world is in need of something different, much more akin to the stuff that Jesus has laid in our hearts.
But it’ll always be easier, and far less risky, to instead hurl garbage – the last thing we should be up to at Christmastime.
Another hit. Great thoughts on Christmas!
Thanks.