Emergence

Some people are really passionate about things that most of us aren't. For instance, I have heard all kinds of opinions on whether or not Christians should allow Santa to put gifts under their tree (we do...if Santa wants to bring stuff, he's more than welcome). I've heard all kinds of really passionate opinions about all kinds of issues--especially concerning Christmas.

Christians, of course, know Christmas as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Add in a little tradition, and that's where it gets sticky. Santa, trees, ornaments, using "Xmas", and even the date of December 25th have led to fights (give it up, folks), boycotts (your loss), and many more variations of disagreement. 

And so, I've decided to take a few moments and run down the list of these things. My hope is that by adding some details to these topics you'll have a reason to agree or disagree--but ultimately, you'll be able to at least understand the other side a little better.

Santa - Santa Claus, aka "Saint Nick" or "Kris Kringle" (a variation of Christkindl--the Austrian/Bavarian Santa) is traditionally the fat, red-clad man who bounds down chimneys on Christmas Eve to give presents to kids who have been "good" on any given year. Sounds normal, right? ha.

The tradition of Santa Claus, however, is not just one tradition. It is a conglomerate of many traditions worldwide.

It is generally accepted that the legend of Santa Claus goes back to 200-300A.D. and a man named Saint Nicholas, aka "Nicholas the Wonderworker." He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose English name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas. His legendary charity led to the legend of an annual gift-giver.

Nicholas' death on December 6, 343A.D. was close enough to December 25th that people began to combine his example of gift-giving with the holiday celebrating the greatest gift ever given to man, Jesus Christ.

Santa has political cartoonist Thomas Nast to thank for his big red getup. His classic cartton in an 1863 Harper's Weekly was the first to show Sants in the suit.

Christmas Trees and Ornaments- The ancient pagans, Druids, Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews celebrated the Winter Solstice on December 21st. The evergreen tree represented eternal life and the promise of replenishment during the cold winter solstice. While the Christmas tree is generally associated with Christ, it predates this religious figure by many centuries. In the Bible, Jeremiah the prophet admonishes those who dare to erect such a pagan artifact: "Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen...For the customs of the people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." (Jeremiah 10:2-6)

One could argue that by the letter of the law, Christmas trees are not to be put up by Christians. However, it is clear that Jeremiah was teaching against putting trees up to serve as a tribute to a false God--not as part of a tradition that complements our focus on the birth of Jesus.

As is sometimes the case, Christians began to "redeem" the practice. Later on in history Germans hung wafers on the tree along with the apples to represent the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Later on in the Victorian era, the apples were replaced by red glass balls and candles and the representation signified both Adam and Eve along with the light of Christ.

The fir tree has a long association with Christianity, it began in Germany almost 1,000 years ago when St Boniface, who converted the German people to Christianity, was said to have come across a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree. In anger, St Boniface is said to have cut down the oak tree and to his amazement a young fir tree sprung up from the roots of the oak tree. St Boniface took this as a sign of the Christian faith. But it was not until the 16th century that fir trees were brought indoors at Christmas time.

"Xmas"- While I have seen many an angry Christian get their knickers in a bunch over substituting the word Christ with the letter X, their anger may be... may be... ill placed. While some people have certainly used the X to remove Christ's name from -ian and -mas, historically the meaning is no different.

The "X" in Xmas is from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Χριστός, Christ in Greek. The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references as far back as AD 1021. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.

It seems as if,  like the usage of a tree, the usage of "X" goes back to a motivation of the heart. If I write a note to Ryan during a meeting (we'd NEVER do that) saying "what are you preaching about this Xmas" am I trying to take Jesus out? No. I'm trying to write faster so I don't allow anyone to see me passing notes.

I do, however, see the point in keeping the word Christ in Christmas in the culture around us. I don't think we'd ever promote our services as Xmas services (as a reminder, we have no Xmas Eve service at Emergence... but the Lincoln Park campus does). I know that last reference is bothering some of you. No worries... I meant it in a Greek sort of way.

December 25th- Yes, Jesus was probably not born on December 25th. But, neither did He look as dutch as the figure in your nativity. And, those 3 "kings" weren't kings. They didn't even make it to the manger. Wow, has this rocked your world?

December 25th was the date that the Romans ended their feast of Saturnalia--the commemoration of the dedication of the themple to the god Saturn. Early Christians probably didn't celebrate Jesus' birthday. In fact, they probably didn't celebrate birthdays at all--that was normally a pagan custom (on a side note: those of you who refuse to celebrate Christmas... do you celebrate birthdays??).

As Mark Driscoll points out: Without a clear date for Jesus’ birth, it seems the early church simply seized the opportunity that the pagan feast of Saturnalia provided. The feast celebrated the return of the sun after weeks of ever-increasing darkness, which parallels the biblical metaphor of Jesus illuminating our dark world. Furthermore, Saturnalia included the sharing of gifts, which corresponds to the gifts given to Jesus by the Magi and the gift of salvation Jesus gives.

In the West, the date of December 25 was established by the time of Augustine. Unlike the Western Church, the Eastern Church observes Christmas on January 6, as the day that both Jesus was born and the Magi visited him.

Additionally, determining the year of Jesus’ birth with exact precision is incredibly complex. The two gospels that speak in greatest detail about Jesus’ birth (Matthew and Luke) are unclear on this point. Therefore, it seems most wise to say that it was 5 or 4 B.C., as those are the years nearly every evangelical scholar accepts after looking at all of the evidence.

So, there you have it. Pretty much everything we do traditionally at Christmas has its roots in paganism. The difference is this: we worship Jesus. Much like a song I hear on the radio or a paiting I see in a gallery, the meaning is how my own heart processes it.

If your filter is Jesus--enjoy the holiday. Enjoy the tradition, the time with your family, the food, the vacation days, and the candles. Like my three year old, marvel at how beautiful the lights on all the houses look, and grieve with the people painstakingly checking each bulb. Then take a breath and marvel even more that without Jesus, it is all for nothing. Without Jesus, it is a stupid holiday about the sun or a tree. With Him, it is a remembrance of the Son who hung on a tree--for us.

Merry Christmas.