A Merry Christmas Message
A Thorn in the Flesh
When Boasting Is Not Bad
A Very COVID Christmas
Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, and with apologies to Andy Williams, it may be the most wonderful time of the year. From Thanksgiving to New Years the focus on family, forgiveness and future hopes are packaged and wrapped neatly under the Christmas tree.
Since March COVID-19 has disrupted our entire lives and the story of its disruption has been told like an endlessly bad joke. We know about the social distancing protocols. We’ve seen the business sector take a huge hit. Questions about mental health are raised as children and parents struggle to educate at home. Who knew that the term “in person,” as a legitimate way to describe our church services, would be coined? Sickness, death and dread hover like a black cloud waiting to burst. Right now, it’s hard to be merry when COVID is everywhere. And so far this Christmas hasn’t been near as “wonderful” as prior Christmases.
As we’re stepping into Christmas, a few thoughts have been running through my mind worth sharing. First, history is replete with Christmas’s that have been far from wonderful. Just four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Germany (declaring war on Japan was a quicker process). By Christmas, America was committed to war with families sending their young men (and some young women) overseas. Nearly 300,000 never returned. Historians tell us that WWI left even a larger hole in people’s lives, taking years to heal (a reason why Europe was so slow to stop Germany’s aggression). The closest marker we have to understand COVID is the Spanish Flu which lasted two years, 1918-1920, and claimed nearly 700,000 lives. Maybe the deadliest disease was the Black Plague hitting Europe in 1347, lasting four years and claiming an estimated 25 million lives. These events are not included to minimize COVID and its impact on our lives, but to remind us that while the path we tread is new to us, it’s well worn by those who have gone on before us. Jesus walked with them through their Christmas seasons, and he’ll walk with us (Heb. 12:2; 13:8).
Secondly, Christmas this year has exposed what the marginalized have experienced: beneath the joy and laughter is pain and suffering. Significant pain and suffering. Social isolating has opened our eyes to the need of community and gathering. We miss our friends and family. We’re battling loneliness with mental health issues rising. But what all of us are struggling with is what many people deal with on a regular basis. People are estranged and longing for reconnection, even if they don’t understand how to reconnect (see Act. 2:42-47).
Thirdly, a better question than asking, “Why?” is “How long?” (Ps. 13:1-2). The “Why” question is usually unanswerable. Sometimes a direct line between cause and effect can be drawn. Sometimes. Most of the time a correlation does not exist. Sure, if you smoke a pack of cigarettes for thirty years you may end up with lung cancer or COPD. Or maybe you won’t. That’s part of the cause and effect weirdness. But more so, asking the “Why” question puts God in a defensive posture of blame. Directly or indirectly God is at fault for causing or allowing the bad to happen (when Jesus quotes the why question of Ps. 22:1, it’s relational and he’s not seeking an explanation). Even if we knew the “why,” it doesn’t change our situation, we still have to endure or give up. But the “How long” question steps far more into faith by enlisting God’s presence without further explanation. Since facts won’t change our situation, we need God’s assurance that our situation will come to an end.
Finally, instead of looking for the silver lining, be the silver lining for someone’s life. Make that extra phone call of encouragment. Provide a meal to a neighbor or family suffering through COVID. Send a Christmas card to someone who won’t receive cards. Be generous with the homeless. Purchase a meal for frontline workers. Maybe through our compassionate generosity we can make this a very merry Christmas anyway.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)
A Purpose for the Pain
But God
Drawing Fierce Battle Lines: Merry Christmas v. Happy Holidays
During the mid-nineties, I was preaching for a congregation in a town near the Smokey Mountains. Prior to the days of Matthew, Taylor was a small girl and Jonathan was a baby. In the community where Cile and I bought our first home, a neighbor set out a nativity scene in their front yard. The house was close enough to walk to and easy access to drive by on the way home from church. Taylor passionately asked each time we neared the home for us to drive by and see Baby Jesus. Most of the time, we complied with her wishes.
I never owned an outdoor nativity scene, and I was taught that displaying such a scene (nearly?) violated Scripture. Cile did collect, piece-by-piece, the Willow Tree Nativity Scene which she displays in our home year round. I do own an inexpensive Peanuts Gang nativity scene. But in the mid-nineties we had neither.
About this time a rumor was circling through town that the local principalities were talking about banning all nativity scenes and Christmas messages. Some were saying that the ban only applied to public properties while others believed it was going to be mandated to personal homes as well. The rumors were fueling the discussions. The topic was so strong that one Sunday evening, I stood before the congregation and proclaimed, “I may not care whether or not a nativity scene is displayed, but if they ban them, I will be the first to display one in my yard.” I was bold in drawing my line in the sand, almost as brave as Don Quixote fighting his windmills.
The truth is no local or State legislation was coming down the pipeline to curtail religious decorations at Christmas time. Sure, the prayer before football games were being challenged in courts. True, some of the retail giants began marketing “traditional Christmas” items as “Holiday” items. But to my knowledge, no one was legislating such changes. The debate and controversy seemed to have risen as if someone created a conflict just so they could prop themselves up as a “voice of reason.”
Enter the debate between “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays,” and let the battle lines be drawn.
For people of faith, this has been a contentious topic of conversation. Some believe that “Merry Christmas” should always be used over “Happy Holidays” since Christmas is about Christ. Others are concerned about the secularization of the season and its drive for consumerism; “holiday” sounds like consumers on a vacation. An informed Biblical approach may actually surprise you.
First, neither “Christmas” nor “Holiday” is mentioned in the Bible. Obviously, Christ is in the Bible, especially as Matthew and Luke spend considerable amount of time exploring his birth (by the way John goes straight to incarnational theology, “The Word became flesh and lived among us” [Jn.1:14]). As far as holiday goes, every feast in the Bible is placed in a context of dedication to God. From Sabbath to Passover to Jubilee to Hanukkah (see Jn. 10:22-23) each feast was set aside as holy for God. So while “Christmas” and “Holiday” are not in the Bible, their presence casts a long shadow on the Biblical narrative.
Secondly, the meaning of the words, “Christmas” and “Holiday” are rooted in the religious only to sprout secularized meaning over time. Crowding into the stores (prior to COVID) to get the best deals for Christmas presents doesn’t sound very sanctifying, but does look like a sellout to marketing and consumerism (no matter which phrase is used). Forgotten is that the Christ-Mas was originally a specific church service to honor Jesus with a feast (i.e., communion). On the other hand Holiday wasn’t a vacation by the Brits or a marketing ploy for American consumers, but a Holy-Day set aside for God. Thus, Christmas is a holiday or the Christ-Mas is a Holy-Day.
So if we really want to redeem Christmas and transform it from the secular into the sacred, let’s stop arguing over words/phrases not found in the Bible. Be at peace with either phrase. Instead, let’s honor Christ on this holy day and do what Jesus did best. Let’s forsake the power grab and serve our neighbors. Let’s feed the hungry, heal the sick, free the captives, calm the (inner) storms, instill hope for the hopeless and forgive the debts. And in our kindness, wish warmly the people we encounter, whoever they are, “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holy-days,” because as Christians, that’s what we do best.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)