Christmas and Tension

Christmas is just around the corner, and many people are overjoyed with the lights, the decorations, the presents and the food. However, for many, many people this is not a particularly joyous time - because loved ones have died, tragedies have hit, troubling news hangs over the holiday season, differing understandings strain relationships with family members. Christmas is to be joyous, but perhaps we need to take another look at what it provides to people - perhaps we need to emphasize more that God's Son comes to help us through all those difficult times, that Jesus, as a real human being, understands the pains and troubles of being human - complete with the loss of parents, friends, scorn, misunderstanding, hate - all of it. Perhaps we focus more on the hope and less on the frivolous side of the commercialized binge we now have.

Before our children were born, my wife and I had a conversation with her cousins that impacted us in a powerful way I think more consistent with our faith than the usual understanding. We had it pointed out that we raise our children in our country on Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Jesus. As they grow older, they learn that Mom and Dad are Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy - so what conclusion logically follows about Jesus? In keeping with this, our children grew up knowing that Christmas was to celebrate and honor the birth of Jesus the Savior, and we exchange gifts in remembrance of the Magi and because we love each other. Santa was a guy in a costume in the mall giving out candy and help kids share things. Similarly, Easter is when we remember Jesus returning to life, and making it possible for us to have eternal life as well. We hid eggs, but it was clear that Dad and Mom did the hiding and we had great fun doing it. We didn't talk to them about a Tooth Fairy, but told them to put the tooth under their pillow and we would replace it. They are healthy, well-adjusted adults - even though both sets of grands thought we were mad!

Our Church will have a Blue Christmas service on Saturday night, a time to honor the pain, the confused feelings, the tensions that this season can bring about. I have no idea how well or poorly attended it will be, but we, as disciples of the Galilean Carpenter, are called to make the effort to help those in need.

So, I would ask you to consider some changes to the "usual" understandings, some thought to the thought process of children, and some serious time spent considering how our faith really ought to impact the way we think and celebrate holy days. Peace!