A Glad and Generous Christmas
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…filled with decorations, cookies, presents, music, and all the Christmas cheer. As a dad who is trying to lead my family well through the holiday season, I am trying to help my children think rightly about Christmas.
[Enter Santa Claus.]
Well, my children have now outgrown their child-like belief in the jolly big guy, but we still enjoy singing fun carols and watching Christmas movies with appearances by St. Nick (check out Hunter’s solid endorsement of a personal favorite Ernest Saves Christmas). But when our kids were younger, Lauren and I struggled with what to do about Santa Claus. Should we fully embrace him, totally reject him, or find a happy medium? To some, it seems that the modern Santa Claus, who is much different from Saint Nicholas of church history, represents the consumerist and materialistic problems that plague the Christmas season and holiday. The most wonderful time of the year can easily become the most stressful time as desires become demands and usurp the throne of our hearts.
James, writing to Christians in the first century, asks a related question about the origin of sin:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions (4:1-3).
Why is our culture so materialistic? Why do my children have a Christmas list that’s a mile long? Why do I have a Christmas list that’s a mile long? James seems to be saying that our hearts are the source of our competing desires, envy, and covetousness. Ouch! I thought it was Santa’s fault, not my own heart’s sin struggle.
[Enter Jesus.]
Christmas is a season where we celebrate the incarnation of our Savior, which is “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10b). Jesus came to live and walk among us. The good news is that Jesus came not only to save us but also to give us a new heart. And he left the Holy Spirit with us to root out sin that so easily entangles and to wage war against the remaining sin housed deep within. The Gospel is our only hope in fighting discontentment, materialism, selfishness, enviousness, and all the other sins that rear their ugly heads around Christmas time.
Randy Alcorn offers sound advice for approaching this Christmas season:
Can we change the pattern of materialism in our homes? Certainly. Take Christmas, for example. We can buy far less. We can hand make presents, set a budget, and buy presents in advance to avoid the unnerving jostling through stores. Any change is good if it helps us to focus on Christ rather than ourselves. We can visit shut-ins or take food to the needy – to focus on giving rather than receiving….But even if you still exchange presents, you can make Christmas different. Don’t be victimized by the world’s materialism. Worship Christ in simplicity.[1]
During this Christmas, maybe we should be less worried about jolly-ole Saint Nick lurking in the chimney and more concerned with the war within our souls. Let’s help one another find the joy in Christmas, a joy centered on the One who taught and modeled that it really is better to give than receive. In turn, let’s model for our families and the world a glad and generous Christmas.
So, what about the Jolly Old Saint Nick? As a family, we decided to embrace the tradition…loosely. We enjoyed leaving cookies out for Santa (and I enjoyed eating those cookies!) and the Christmas morning surprise gifts, but they quickly found out about the make-believe tradition. The majority of our Christmas celebrations and preparations center on the Christ-Child and the nativity story. We have fond memories of Christmas Eve services with our church family, reading the Luke 2 narrative on Christmas morning, and working through our Jesse Tree advent devotional [And we also told our kids that if they told their Santa-believing-friends that he didn’t exist, they wouldn’t get any presents!] In a phrase, Light on Santa, Heavy on Jesus!
[1] “Changing Christmas,” in Money, Possessions, and Eternity. (386-387)
Wait... Santa isn't real?...