“Jesus is the reason for the season.”
I read an article in a British newspaper this week that pointed out how an educational institution had sent out a note to staff. The direction of the note was to try to remember to not call the time off from school at this time of year the “Christmas break.” Instead, it should be called “winter closure period.” The reason given was that using the term “Christmas” might cause distress to non-Christian students.
We might applaud the desire to not cause distress. In fact, Christian faith itself issues the call to love neighbour as self. However, it seems a bit much, right?
In navigating through cultural and religious sensibilities it can be helpful to seek to see the excess on each side of an issue rather than to defend your particular side. The excess on the opposite side of the "call it Christmas or call it winter closure” debate is the consternation, frustration, and even anger that some people who do celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday can have when other people do not observe what these believers hold to be true.
You may remember the “Jesus is the reason for the season” slogan. A charitable reading of the slogan would be that those who use it are simply hoping to remind others of the love of God. It is possible, though, to hear, and to use, the slogan as a threat. It becomes a kind of “What is wrong with people these days!?” expression.
In terms of key Christmas figures, the one who majors in threat is Santa, not Jesus. We should recall each year those terrible lyrics to a supposed happy Christmas song.
“You’d better watch out! You’d better not cry! You’d better not pout. I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.”
A lot of lyrics to Christmas songs have been updated for the sake of cultural sensitivity and social progress. This week, during a performance of a Christmas show at a local theatre, I heard the lyrics to “The Christmas Song,” changed to “Yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up from head to toe." I get that. That’s a reasonable change, I think. Theologically however, it is the “You’d better watch out!” that is perhaps the most offensive. Unfortunately even well meaning people can find a kind of energy in it, insisting that people had better get with the programme and celebrate properly or they will pay a terrible price.
This turns the incarnation into a kind of threat of punishment. Some of you might recall a parent hollering out from upstairs at hearing some commotion or argument among siblings, “Don’t make me come down there!” You know what that means. It is a threat. If the parent were to enter the fray it would be bad news.
Nobody made God come down here. God has chosen not to be God without humanity. That is a key concept in hopeful Christian theology. The reason for the incarnation is the love of God, not the depravity of humanity.
A couple of quotes from Karl Barth on God’s electing love:
“God’s freely electing love is unconditional, strong and victorious. It is a burning fire which cannot be quenched. It is wholly trustworthy. It is a rock to which we can cling without fear of its crumbling. It is a refuge to which we can flee without doubting whether it will stand.”
Or how about this as a reminder of what the incarnation, about what Jesus being born in a stable, means?
“God has loved and loves and will love us in the power of God’s eternal love.”
“We cannot insist too sharply that we do not love for any external reason, with any ulterior motive, or in execution of any design or purpose. The one who loves does not want anything except to love, except more fully and seriously and perfectly to give themselves, to enter into relationship with the loved one. If there is any other plan or project - however noble - it means that love is betrayed and ended.”
The love of God demonstrated in the birth of Jesus is not about us. It is for us, but it is about God. The angry parent is reacting to some kind of behaviour on the part of the child. This is not what incarnation is. In hopeful Christian faith, Christmas comes whether we celebrate it properly or not. That is why we have hope.
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