Christmas Wars

I understand the Atheists and the Catholics are posting big billboards in California, concerning whether Christmas is mythical.  Mythical is a big and difficult word.

Santa Claus is at best mythical, and at worst just legendary.  But don't mess with Santa!!!!!  There was a Saint Nicholas, but a long way from the "ho ho ho" of today.  Some of the most powerful statements of all religions are framed as myths.  It's a literary FORM only, and sometimes myths are more true than the prosaic words of the phone book.

O.K., so Santa is a myth, and he stands for the generosity of spirit that Christ stirs up in most folks.  BUT, old Santa is kinda weak, at least as ancient mythology goes.  And that's the truth, just be careful where you say it.  People who don't believe in myths, at all, ever, will defend THAT one ferociously!  (At least until the children are of a certain age, and then you have to walk through the "moment" of "I know we said that, but Santa's only pretend.  It's Jesus that's really real."  Not a helpful moment for credibility, but then we didn't design it, we just inherited it.)

Jesus is not a myth.  Underline that one!   Jesus is not a myth!

But, one of the huge "Christmas Wars" of the very first celebrating generation was over the date of December 25.  Just after the winter solstice, just when you could be SURE that the season was changing and the days were lengthening again, EVERY ancient religion had a festival day.  It was the birthday of the sun, the resurrection of the Sun-god, the re-birth of the earth, the first movement toward spring, depending on which one you were checking.  It was basic. 

The church had no real celebration of Christmas, at first.  Easter was the day.  Easter defined Sunday as the Lord's Day.  Already claimed by the Sun-god as a worship day, THAT was a definition-war, as well.  It became the church's day, Resurrection Day, with a totally obvious rationale.  Not mythical at all, very literal, and carrying an incredibly full meaning.

But Christmas came later, and with no recorded DATE for the birth of Jesus (although summer ranks high as a probability), the Church CHOSE December 25, to CONVERT the date and with it, to convert as many as possible from the worship of other Gods to the following of Christ.  That was a big deal in the history of the church.  It was intentionally crafted.

Actually one of the biggest wars-of-conversion is the modern one (we're in it now): the changing of the "12 Days of Christmas" FROM the 12 days moving from Christmas Day to the celebration of Epiphany, INTO the last 12 shopping days for Christmas presents.  That is where we are losing the war, as faith-statements are out-shouted by marketing statements.  Using Jesus to sell a sofa is just offensive to me.  

That's the biggest one:  the dumbing-down of Christmas from "the Word made flesh" into the biggest shopping season for glorious consumerism in the whole year!  And all in the name of the one born poor in a barn, who chose poverty as a total life-style, who witnessed that he had no where to lay his head, especially a super-engineered reclining couch!  And no matter how often you hear it, it still makes no sense at all.

So what's worth defending?  I'm not into the Merry-Christmas-marketing thing.  I'm pretty much into the Jesus celebration.   It's simple:  we could do without the presents; but we can't do without the Lord of every season.  And if we sing the songs, worship together, and renew our commitments as the New Year approaches, we will have had Christmas in the fundamental ways.  Even if we don't get a present or even SEE a red bow.  We will have honored Jesus, in a small way.  And that's a big thing.