In Defence of Christmas

Now that Christmas is over for another year, I want to put a few thoughts together about the season and why Christians should celebrate it with great gusto.

I'm not sure why some christians are so afraid of Christmas, but every year I read many articles and get too many emails decrying Christmas and its celebration. It seems to me that there is a combination of lack of thought with some huge confusion that results in very strongly held, but wrong opinions.

Just to clarify the issue, when I talk about Christmas, I am talking about the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, and the resultant custom of giving and receiving of gifts at that time. I don't like the Santa Claus myth, which although it started as a christian legend has become anti-christian, although I don't condemn christian parents for having this as a part of their celebrations. I'm also not in favour of the excesses of consumerism, alcohol abuse and gluttony which accompany the secular festivities at Christmas time.

So here are the main objections to celebrating Christmas and the reasons why they are wrong.

1. Christmas is a catholic invention because it ends in "mas". Well things aren't necessarily wrong because they are Catholic. Actually the "mas" ending simply refers to a feast-day or celebration. Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth, and does not mean that you have to subscribe to papal infallibility to participate.

2. Christians are not commanded to celebrate the birth of Christ. This is true. There are very many things that Christians are not commanded to do but which they do anyway. This includes things such as driving vehicles, watching television and using computers. Similarly we are not commanded to go to the toilet, brush our teeth or use deodorant, but the world is a better place for this. There are many things that churches and individual christians do that are not commanded-- in fact there are many things we do that are specifically commanded against and that is called sin.

3. Christmas has its origins in paganism. Almost every culture in the world has celebrations of the winter and summer solstice. There were such celebrations around Europe in the early days of Christianity, and many of our symbols such as Christmas trees come from pagan origins. But christians saw this as an opportunity. Rather than the winter celebration referring to the re-birth of the sun god, which is the heart of these celebrations, christians took them over to refer to the birth of the Son of God. They saw the pagan beliefs as being open to being redeemed by true faith rather than something to be feared. Many of our common cultural practices have pagan origins such as the names of days and months, yet we don't object to them.

4. Christians shouldn't be involved in such extravagant and over-indulgent practices. Jesus didn't have any problems with partying and feasting. Jesus had no problems with extravagance. In fact what Jesus did was so enjoy life that the religious people thought it was scandalous. I don't believe He would have got drunk or over indulged in food, but he loved life and he loved people. What He did do was show people how to honour God in every part of living. I think that those people who most object to Christmas would do well to imitate the example of Jesus- have a great time, give thanks to the Father and rejoice in His goodness- and be generous to your neighbours.

We live in a post-Christendom culture which is rapidly secularising the great feasts of the Church- Christmas and Easter in particular are losing their significance as Christian celebrations. That doesn't mean that we go away and shun these things altogether. No, we must show the world why they are celebrating, and how to celebrate well.

Christmas is an awesome experience for me. I increasingly marvel at how the God who created the whole universe with a single word can be compressed into a tiny powerless baby.

Christmas is the season for marvelling at the truth of John 3:16 "God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

How can we not celebrate that?