The Celebration at the Heart of Everything

John 3:17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

I expect most of us are aware these days that we don’t really know the birth date of Jesus, so there is, at best, only a 1 in 365 chance that he was born on December 25^th. And actually the odds are even longer than that because the scant information we do have, shepherds out in the hills with their flocks and Rome requiring people to travel for a census, make a winter date most unlikely. So what are we to make of this Christmas thing?

Well, frankly, Christians have often found, not just the timing but Christmas itself problematic. The Puritans, for example, upon discovering that Christmas was not observed in Jesus’ day, or by the early church, promptly decided it must be a sinful, and probably Roman Catholic encroachment upon true biblical faith. So, when they came to power in Scotland, they actually passed laws against it, making it a crime to celebrate the birth of Jesus, or perhaps a misdemeanor. These laws remained in effect for a century or so, and contributed a good deal to the general impression that the Puritans were a little too serious for their own good. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are also too serious, have thrown their lot in with the Puritans on this one, as have a number of other Christian sects. But God is good and, in the post Puritan world, these folks have never been in charge anywhere outside their own homes. So the rest of us have been left to revel in our iniquity.

As you’ve probably surmised, I am a fan of Christmas. I love it all: the lights and trees, the gifts, shepherds, magi and all the rest. I love the carols and winter songs, turkey, plum pudding, candy canes, eggnog, snow, Santa, reindeer, wreaths, mistletoe, ivy, candles, worship services, Scrooge, Tiny Tim, even the Grinch. Which is to say, the following might just be excuses for what I want to do anyway. So, if you’re one of those people who believes that Christmas is merely a pagan feast with a pinch of Jesus added, you just might want to bail on me till January. But if you’re looking for someone who’s figured out how to have it all and Jesus too, you’ve come to the right place. So, get out the nut cracker, here’s my theory in a nutshell.

- The first century Jews didn’t celebrate birthdays so, of course, Jesus never celebrated his birthday, and the earliest church didn’t think to celebrate it either.

- When the gospel got to Europe, however, Christ began to gather up people who did. They each had a birthday, their parents had birthdays, the lord of the manner had a birthday, the king had a birthday.

- So it was pretty well impossible for these folks to go along celebrating all these birthdays and ignore the one who they had come to consider the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

- And they also had a feast called Yuletide, which coincided with one called Saturnalia that the Romans had. These feasts took place toward the end of December because about this time the sun began to make its way back north bringing light and warmth and spring and summer and pretty much all the things that make life good and livable.

- So these new Christians began to celebrate the coming of Jesus, who they believed was the real bringer of all these things, instead of the coming of the sun which was very nice of course, but only a ball of fire in the sky provided by the God who loved them and whose birthday they thought should matter.

- Tree decorating, log burning, ivy, mistletoe, etc., were part of the original feasts and they just came along with these new Christians.

What I am suggesting is that those who claim that Christians have just gathered up a pagan feast and baptized it are on to something, but they haven’t got it quite right. It’s not the Christians who gathered anything up and baptized it, it’s Christ. And it’s not the pagan feast, but the pagans who got gathered up and baptized. Christmas is just the sort of thing that happens when Jesus lets the riffraff in.

I love Christmas because the riffraff in question are my ancestors, and Jesus loved them just as he loves you and me. He gathered them up, with their birthdays and Yule logs and all the rest, just like he gathers everyone. He loved the idea of Yuletide and Saturnalia, like he loves Chinese gongs, African drums, and rock ‘n’ role. In fact, I actually think we get these ideas from him.

You see, he has been preparing all of us forever, encouraging us to be thankful and to celebrate the gift of life. He’s been drawing all of us toward the centre, and all our celebrations are anticipations of the celebration that’s at the heart of everything. And that celebration is Yuletide, but not really; it’s Saturnalia, but not quite; it’s birthdays, gongs and drums and rock ‘n’ roll, but not actually; it’s Christmas, but not precisely. The celebration at the heart of everything is Jesus.