This may be surprising to some of
you but historians believe that the birth of Jesus did not take place during
the winter months. If you look at Luke’s
Gospel in particular, two things take place that would never happen during the
winter. First of all, it would have been
too cold for shepherds to stand outside to guard the flock of sheep. Secondly, the sheep would not be grazing
because the grass was dead during the winter months.
So the obvious question asks, “Why
do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th?” The celebration of Christ’s birth on December
25th was not a tradition of the Church until the 4th
century when the Church started to Christianize pagan rituals. Instead of flat out rejecting these pagan
festivals, the Church tried to name how the eternal truth of God was present in idol worship. One aim was to
convert pagans and another was to redirect the hearts of nominal Christians.
The days around December 25th
were common for pagan festivals that observed the winter solstice. In particular, an Egyptian festival honored
the birth of the only son of the queen goddess of heaven whose name was
Isis. This celebration also observed the
renewal of the cycle of the sun when the days began to get longer again. It isn't difficult to see why the Church chose December 25th to name the day when the Son of God "came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary."
Later the Catholic Church urged all Christians
to cease from observing any remnant of the pagan holiday connected to Christmas
namely the receiving and exchanging of gifts.
Obviously, I do not believe this is a stance that the Church needs to
make today when it comes to the secular observance of Christmas.
Like 4th century
Christians, I think we would do well to name how God is present in the secular
observance of Christmas. And that is why
I will invite the children forward for a Blessing of the Toys. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make the
connection with God’s help!
Before I get to
the blessing, I want to note something in John’s Gospel that will help prepare
us. John recalls that everything that
came into being is because of God’s Word.
The opening sentences of John’s Gospel take us back to Genesis when he
says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was
with God.” At the end of the creation
story, we are told that all of God’s creation and all that is in it is named “very
good” by God.
So why is there so much evil in the
world we must wonder? Why is there evil
in a world that God calls “very good.”
One way to answer that question is to say that evil is the perversion of
good. Evil manifests itself when
creation is used for purposes for which it was not intended. Remember when Adam and Eve took the forbidden
fruit? Evil is often the result of using
what God has given us for selfish gain.
Ultimately, the danger of material
goods is when they become the object of our worship. The danger of things like money and houses
and toys and any good thing like family happens when our world revolves around
those temporary things instead of the God of eternity who made all things. As yourself this, "Where does your identity come from? From the things that you have? Or from the One who made all things?"
I read recently that the purpose of
life is finding your gift and the meaning of life is to give that gift
away. As Christians, the ultimate gift
is life and the fullness of that life is revealed in Christ. Later in the book of Genesis, we learn that
God blesses his people so that they may be a blessing to others. So during the Christmas season, we gather to
discover again the gift of life through God’s Son Jesus Christ and our hearts
are kindled to share that love with others.
I want to leave you with one
final note connecting the secular observance of Christmas and the Christian
observance. The narrative of Santa Claus
tells us that only the “nice” kids receive gifts on Christmas while the “naughty”
kids get coal in their stockings.
However, the narrative of God in Christ tells us that we are given the gift
of salvation for free!
John’s Gospel says we are
children of God not because of the will of the flesh or of the will of man or even
because of who our ancestors are. Instead, we
are chosen as God’s beloved because that is who God says we are regardless of
our posture towards God and the world.
No matter what, God’s posture toward us will always be a posture of love--a love that we know in the Word made flesh.
The more and more we are able to
live by this narrative God's free gift of love the more we are able to live a life that is soaked in "grace upon grace." The more we live by God's narrative of unconditional love the more we
grow in gratitude and the freer we are to become that blessing to
others.
During this season of
Christmas, I invite you to remember the free gift of God’s love in the Word
made flesh. Remember that God’s blessing
is pronounced in the truth that God lives in the heart of humanity as we know
perfectly in Christ. Remember that God’s
perfect love lives in you through Jesus Christ who is born in the heart and flesh of all
humanity.
May you have the grace to receive the free gift of God's love so that you may share God's perfect love with a broken and sinful world. Amen.
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