I’ve been pondering again what this Christmas idea is all about. Last week I heard a devotional where a commentary by John Boykin was read. The reader had heard the essay on NPR’s All Things Considered and thought it appropriate to share with a group of collegiate ministers this season. In the essay, Boykin, a Christian, calls for fellow followers of Christ to admit the obvious, that the marketing world that has succeeded taking over Christmas as a spending holiday. He suggests, “I'm not fighting the commercialization of Christmas; that fight was lost ages ago. What I'm after is more radical: Disentangling Jesus entirely from this blight on his good name. I'm out to change the bumper sticker from `Keep Christ in Christmas' to `Free Christ from Christmas.’” He goes on to propose that we make Easter our day and take it back from the bit of commercialization in which it has become shrouded (You can hear the whole essay on NPR’s Website: http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=02-Dec-2004&segNum=10&NPRMediaPref=WM&getAd=1).
Boykin continues, ”Christmas, by contrast, has no time for what the adult Jesus said and did. Christmas keeps him safely shut up as a baby in the manger, where he can't make his usual noise about people repenting and living a godly life.
So does his birth matter at all? Well, it matters to his followers today as one way of backing up his claim to be the son of God. But that's not the way Jesus, himself, backed up his claim. He pointed not to his birth, but to his Resurrection. So I'll trade a month of Christmases for one meaningful Easter.”
I don’t know if his solution is the one we should follow, but he does bring up some fascinating points to ponder. I think Jesus’ birthday celebration is important. However, it is difficult for most middle and upper class Americans (and others who want to among the world’s richest) to grasp the significance of a tiny baby born into poverty roughly 2000 years ago. But for many in our world who don’t have our wealth Jesus’ birth must be remembered and honored, for in this simple act, God turned the human idea of upper class upside down!
My wife and I were going over our Christmas list the other day. Again we’ve spent way too much on our children. It happens every year. I wonder what message we are sending. I know that our actions communicate so much more than what we say. So…this year we have teamed up with some good friends to prepare a meal for some homeless folks in Atlanta. I’m up early this morning (5:30 a.m.) smoking two turkeys – almost 40 pounds of poultry. They should be ready in time to head to Atlanta at 3:00 this afternoon to finish pulling the meal together. Our children will be involved in the whole process. They went to the grocery store with us last night to buy the food. They will help prepare the desserts today (Mississippi Mud cake!). This afternoon we will all gathering the church kitchen to finish the meal and then we will all serve it.
An article caught my eye this morning. Dorothy Soelle wrote an essay about her experience of finally understanding Christmas after years of frustration with the commercialization of the holiday (http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/soelle-xmas-gospel.htm?source=DailyDig). While studying the text from a historical and theological viewpoint, Soelle discovered the hopelessness of those who were watching the sheep (and probably most in Bethlehem) whose lives where subject to the economic desires of the ruling class in Rome. Historically what we call Pax Romana was anything but peaceful for most of the citizens of the empire. It was known as a time of peace, but at what cost to the lives of those not in power?
As we are in the Christmas season, I wonder how much of the story we can really understand from our perspective? This economic holiday requires that we buy, buy, buy or our whole economy will crash. Even those who can’t afford basics of living put huge debts on credit cards, further deepens their dependence on others. This season should be about freedom. We have chosen to be slaves to the marketing ploys of the economic emperors in our attempt to make meaning in our lives. We want to see the joyous faces (or is it just fleeting happiness or surprise) of our children on Christmas morning. We want to feel we are giving this season.
I’m hoping that this seasons highlight for my family won’t be Saturday morning when the packages are all opened. I’m hoping what matters most, and what matters most to them will be found today in our simple act of service. I’m also hoping that we can carry this out into 2005, helping folks all year long while reflecting back on this event as “why.” For I concur with Soelle, “Without the perspective of the poor, we see nothing, not even an angel. When we approach the poor, our values and goals change. The child appears in many other children. Mary also seeks sanctuary among us. Because the angels sing, the shepherds rise, leave their fears behind, and set out for Bethlehem, wherever it is situated these days.”
This season, may we truly get it, understanding, perhaps for the first time, that the reason so many in churches are not the rich and famous but those we often look down upon is that folks who appear on the bottom are those who are ready to admit that they need something or someone in whom to hope. I pray I will not forget this simple truth, I need Jesus.
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