Rev. Aaron Long: What About Christmas?
As we enter into the holiday season again we see the same lights going up on houses, we hear the same Maria Carrey song blaring on the radio ever five minutes, we see sales and advertisements for everything you don’t need but the consumer driven culture thinks you need to buy in order to appease whatever materialistic drive you have in your life. We are bombarded by images, sounds, and smells coming from every direction. Now, while a lot of this is harmless, some are not. You can enjoy simple pleasures, but you should never get distracted from the real reason for the season. We need to peel back the layers and get to the truths behind our favorite Christmas traditions.
I bet all of you have Christmas trees and wreaths in your house don’t you? Do you know why? The wreathes and trees are all evergreens, representing eternal life because they stay green throughout the winter. The tree is meant to remind us of the cross Christ died on to forgive our sins and the circular wreathes are meant to remind us of the eternity we will spend with God.
What about the jolly fat man. Whether he is white or black in your house Santa Claus is going to be fat, dressed all in a red and white suit and trying to bring joy to children all around you. What if I were to tell you that isn’t Santa Claus? St. Nicholas was a bishop in Asia minor (modern day Turkey) during the fourth century. He got popular for getting into a fist fight during the council of Nicaea, the one that gave us the Creed and beating up the heretic Arias. He got a reputation for gift giving because he would take money out of the church coffers and go around in put it in poor folks’ shoes at night as the shoes sat outside people’s doors. He wasn’t white, he wasn’t black, he was middle eastern. He wasn’t fat, he was well known for fasting and prayer. He also up until the 1920’s was dressed in blue; the red comes from Coca Cola usurping a religious figure for their own advertising scheme.
Christmas officially only lasts from Christmas eve till epiphany (January 6) when historically we remember the wise men coming to visit Jesus. The four weeks before Christmas, Advent, are meant for us to prepare for the coming of Christ with prayer and fasting, not parties and drunkenness. By the way, remember Jesus was around two years old when the wise men showed up, and there are no three wise men in the bible, just the plural men so we don’t know how many there were. The number three there comes from their being three gifts they bring in the bible.
I could go on and on about this subject, but there isn’t enough room for me to do it in this article and still be able to end on the point I want to end on. I want to close with this idea; we need to get back to the real meaning of Christmas. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all who believe in Him might have eternal life. Santa gives gifts because of Jesus, we sing songs because of Jesus, we have Christmas trees, and parties, and joy because of Jesus. So, during this season remember Jesus is the reason. Go to church, invite others to come with you. Read the bible stories in between gifts and parties. Volunteer your time helping the less fortunate, no, do that all year long because as a Christian that is something you are supposed to be doing period. Actually, celebrate Christmas, because Christmas isn’t about you, it isn’t about me, it’s all about Jesus.
