By Ed Cyzewski
On Christmas Eve one year I realized that I'd done nothing to prepare for Christmas outside of buying a few gifts. I would attend a service that evening, but the majority of my preparation had overlooked the birth of Jesus.
Somehow I'd immersed myself in the lights, trees, carols, and sentiment, while missing Jesus completely.
Christmas season can latch onto us and drag us into mindsets, schedules, and emotions that may leave us lost, bewildered, and exhausted. We feel pressured to create a winter wonderland for our families and purchase a reasonable number of presents, while somehow preparing for the celebration of Jesus' birth.
If we can't maintain some kind of perceived balance, the guilt drags us down and we end up asking questions such as: Why didn't I focus more on Jesus? Why did I let myself get swept into commercialism? Why did I put off my shopping?
Guilt and regret multiply like fruitcakes.
If we can step back a minute from the emotions, carols, and temptation to buy Advent prayer guides, I'd like to take a fresh look at Christmas and all that we associate with it. Then we'll be in a better position to enjoy it for what it is, rather than letting sentiment, unrealistic expectations, and cultural baggage determine its meaning for us.
WHAT IS CHRISTMAS?
Every year somebody trots out the supposedly damning history of Christmas in order to prove that everything we do is somehow connected to the pagan worship of trees and big box stores. I'll admit, reading the History Channel's guide to Christmas would make Scrooge sing with glee.
The early church didn't even think to celebrate Christmas. And even when it did catch on, it was more of a wild romp like Mardi Gras than a line of angelic choir boys singing Silent Night with glowing candles.
Over the years the meaning and celebration of Christmas evolved, and in the 1800's it took on the sentimental, family-centered, gift-giving emphasis that has taken hold to this day. In a sense, Christmas preserves many of the high ideals of the Victorian period in the late 1800's. Enter candle-bearing choir boys.
So what exactly is Christmas all about?
Is it really all about celebrating the birth of Jesus? From the best that we can tell, Christmas was first celebrated as a way of sanctifying a pagan feast day, which in and of itself is not a bad thing.
God came to redeem our world, and it's not too far of a stretch to include our holidays and festivals. If we're going to celebrate something in the winter, as most people do, why not rework these feasts into something focused on God's saving work?
Interestingly enough, "Christmas" began with Christianizing pagan feasts, but in the end we commercialized the Christianized pagan feast. So therefore, Christmas has always had this tension between the sacred and the secular.
There is no "pure" celebration of Christmas. It has always been a tangled mess of priorities and traditions that have morphed and changed over time in both the religious and secular categories. The Christmas holiday has always been about gathering with friends during the coldest, darkest part of the year. It only makes sense to celebrate the coming of God's redeeming light at the same time.
HOW SHOULD WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?
Christmas has made me feel various degrees of guilt for the past fifteen years. While I looked forward to family gatherings and gift-giving, I tried to transfer that excitement to the birth of Jesus. In fact, I felt that I should be even more excited about the birth of Jesus.
I thought that Christmas had to be deep, meaningful, and life-changing. I should go through a time of preparation that ended with the arrival of Jesus and then everything would be different. There would be a release, an epiphany, a moment in which I'd see things in a fresh, amazing light.
In a sense, I wanted Christmas to be as spiritually meaningful as Easter, but it never happened. Usually, I'd just put on my slippers and bathrobe, drink some coffee, and hang out with my family around the Christmas tree feeling like a terrible Christian.
After learning that the early Christians didn't celebrate Christmas, some have tried to cut themselves off from the commercial end of Christmas completely. Others have rejected the celebration of Christmas outright.
Christians, myself included, have tended to overly romanticize the early church, assuming they were pure, super-Christians who really had this Christianity thing nailed.
Did the early church meet in homes? Then that's the only way to go! Did the early church need hundreds of years of traditions to guide them? Then neither do we! However, there's no telling whether the early church had Christmas right. They were people trying to follow Jesus at a particular time and place just like us.
In fact, we could benefit greatly by emphasizing the importance of the incarnation. If God was willing to leave his comfortable place in order to redeem us, then we have a powerful example to follow in our own lives.
How should we celebrate Christmas? At the very least we should enjoy our cultural traditions, recognizing them for what they are and trying to not lose ourselves in the commercial haze. But more than anything else, we should celebrate the incarnation of Jesus because it made our salvation possible.
When it comes time to open my presents, I don't plan on feeling guilty this year. I also don't expect amazing, life-changing moments whenever I ponder the birth of Jesus. God can do whatever he likes, but Christmas does not demand earth-shattering, spiritual moments.
Sometimes we need to worship God and not get wrapped up in the results.
Lastly, I can't make Christmas more significant than Easter simply because it isn't. Christians have historically made a bigger deal of Easter, and I plan on following their example on December 25.
Ed Cyzewski is the author of Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life. He blogs on theology at www.inamirrordimly.com and on writing at www.edcyz.com.
