So this is Christmas...
John Lennon, in his song Happy Xmas (War is Over) sang, "So this is Christmas, and what have you done?" The way he sang those words has always haunted me. Especially the opening line. "So this is Christmas." John, not known for his overt Christianity, sings the song as if he is asking those who do believe in this time as sacred to the Christian story, "So here it is. So what? What have you done with it? What does it mean to you?"
He then sings that the war is over "if you want it." Again, I wonder if it is a question directed at us alleged followers of Christ: do we really want peace? World peace? A Prince of Peace? Or are we only wanting peace when it suits our interests?
I don't know if that is what he meant, but it troubles me all the same.
That's because I find myself asking similar questions as Brother John. Are we sleeping? Are we paying attention? Does this season have any deeper meaning than shopping? I don't know that it does. I mean, I believe it does, but the belief that it does applies to my faith, not to the commercial, materialistic, capitalistic frenzy that is the Christmas season which, by the way, it isn't yet. Christmas season doesn't begin until December 24th/25th. But that, again, has to do with the church tradition not the secular holiday that Christmas has become.
Christmas miracle movies and stories are all about vague miracle-ish events that take place to bring families together, to get people home for the holidays, to give angels their wings, or to give Scrooge a new lease on life. They have little connection to Christianity anymore - if they ever really did.
For Christians, the Christmas season is a time of reflection and celebration at the intervention of God into the lives of humanity in the person of Jesus. Interestingly enough, some of the early Christians did not wish to celebrate Jesus' birth "as one would Pharaoh or a King." It was thought that Jesus was an uncommon person and to celebrate his birth as we might a dignitary or world ruler would be to cheapen the faith. It was also not as big a deal as it has become - two of the four Gospels in the New Testament don't even talk about Jesus' birth.
But the celebration did take root, and for a long, long time it was marked with reverence and profundity. Advent (the season before Christmas) was much like Lent - a time of fasting, prayer, and reflection. There were no shopping sprees and the focus was more on the darkness of the world that the light of God would illuminate with the birth of Christ, as Christians would find echoed the Isaiah passage, "the people in darkness have seen a great light."
Yet even in our knock-down-drag-out fights over the right to put the nativity scene in this or that location, I find that it really seems that Isaiah's words are now the opposite of where we are. "The people in great lights are walking in darkness." Why? Because Christmas no longer has any ties to the faith the way it once did. It has become secularized. And before you can provide the whole "don't take Christ out of Christmas" we need to realize that we already have.
By insisting that we wish people a merry Christmas, we are stating that this is a national ideal. We overlook Hanukkah, which Christians often view as the "Jewish Christmas" (which it certainly is NOT), or any other season. Christmas has become so a part of our national story that we don't really know the texts on which it is based. For example, no Gospel has both the shepherds and wise men arriving to see Jesus. Matthew has the wise men (unnumbered at that) and Luke has the shepherds. But we are so used to having them together in the still life that we assume they were always together.
Anyway, as we find ourselves surrounded with increasing traffic, short tempers, and scrambling to find the last minute gift, I would again pause and hear the words of tremendous concern. So this is Christmas. And what have you done?
Perhaps the answer to that question is answered with each gunshot we read about. Perhaps the answer is in every swipe of the credit card.
Or maybe it is with the people who hand out soup to the hungry.
Maybe it is in the shopping - but when we shop for those who cannot afford to provide any kind of gift to their children (and I don't believe the whole shopping thing is part of the Christian faith or Christmas story, but Christians can put shopping to use for the sake of Christ. I don't want to sound too pessimistic about it.) Maybe what we have done is when we take the time to be with family, friends, loved ones, or to cry as we remember loved ones passed. Maybe we find it in our hearts, not with our stuff, not with the national Christmas day, but in the story of Jesus who came to bring light and joy and hope.
So this is Christmas. Maybe we can find that if we wanted it to be, it can be far more than the lights and parking lots. Maybe we can find that peace isn't as elusive as we might believe. As the hymn sings, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."
Maybe there is the message we can hold on to. And maybe that came with the original Christmas season.
He then sings that the war is over "if you want it." Again, I wonder if it is a question directed at us alleged followers of Christ: do we really want peace? World peace? A Prince of Peace? Or are we only wanting peace when it suits our interests?
I don't know if that is what he meant, but it troubles me all the same.
That's because I find myself asking similar questions as Brother John. Are we sleeping? Are we paying attention? Does this season have any deeper meaning than shopping? I don't know that it does. I mean, I believe it does, but the belief that it does applies to my faith, not to the commercial, materialistic, capitalistic frenzy that is the Christmas season which, by the way, it isn't yet. Christmas season doesn't begin until December 24th/25th. But that, again, has to do with the church tradition not the secular holiday that Christmas has become.
Christmas miracle movies and stories are all about vague miracle-ish events that take place to bring families together, to get people home for the holidays, to give angels their wings, or to give Scrooge a new lease on life. They have little connection to Christianity anymore - if they ever really did.
For Christians, the Christmas season is a time of reflection and celebration at the intervention of God into the lives of humanity in the person of Jesus. Interestingly enough, some of the early Christians did not wish to celebrate Jesus' birth "as one would Pharaoh or a King." It was thought that Jesus was an uncommon person and to celebrate his birth as we might a dignitary or world ruler would be to cheapen the faith. It was also not as big a deal as it has become - two of the four Gospels in the New Testament don't even talk about Jesus' birth.
But the celebration did take root, and for a long, long time it was marked with reverence and profundity. Advent (the season before Christmas) was much like Lent - a time of fasting, prayer, and reflection. There were no shopping sprees and the focus was more on the darkness of the world that the light of God would illuminate with the birth of Christ, as Christians would find echoed the Isaiah passage, "the people in darkness have seen a great light."
Yet even in our knock-down-drag-out fights over the right to put the nativity scene in this or that location, I find that it really seems that Isaiah's words are now the opposite of where we are. "The people in great lights are walking in darkness." Why? Because Christmas no longer has any ties to the faith the way it once did. It has become secularized. And before you can provide the whole "don't take Christ out of Christmas" we need to realize that we already have.
By insisting that we wish people a merry Christmas, we are stating that this is a national ideal. We overlook Hanukkah, which Christians often view as the "Jewish Christmas" (which it certainly is NOT), or any other season. Christmas has become so a part of our national story that we don't really know the texts on which it is based. For example, no Gospel has both the shepherds and wise men arriving to see Jesus. Matthew has the wise men (unnumbered at that) and Luke has the shepherds. But we are so used to having them together in the still life that we assume they were always together.
Anyway, as we find ourselves surrounded with increasing traffic, short tempers, and scrambling to find the last minute gift, I would again pause and hear the words of tremendous concern. So this is Christmas. And what have you done?
Perhaps the answer to that question is answered with each gunshot we read about. Perhaps the answer is in every swipe of the credit card.
Or maybe it is with the people who hand out soup to the hungry.
Maybe it is in the shopping - but when we shop for those who cannot afford to provide any kind of gift to their children (and I don't believe the whole shopping thing is part of the Christian faith or Christmas story, but Christians can put shopping to use for the sake of Christ. I don't want to sound too pessimistic about it.) Maybe what we have done is when we take the time to be with family, friends, loved ones, or to cry as we remember loved ones passed. Maybe we find it in our hearts, not with our stuff, not with the national Christmas day, but in the story of Jesus who came to bring light and joy and hope.
So this is Christmas. Maybe we can find that if we wanted it to be, it can be far more than the lights and parking lots. Maybe we can find that peace isn't as elusive as we might believe. As the hymn sings, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."
Maybe there is the message we can hold on to. And maybe that came with the original Christmas season.
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