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Trading Elves for Angels

By Steve Howells

Have you had enough of Christmas yet? In most western countries we've already seen a whole month of it before December!

Starting November 1st each year, as soon as we take down the Halloween merchandise and decorations, out comes Christmas with all the tinsel, bells, holly, Christmas music and the jolly old fellow Santa Claus himself, elves in tow.

The shops and malls are frantically decorated with “festive-this” and “festive-that” as they compete to separate us from our hard-earned money. And on television there's an endless stream of advertisements convincing us it's Christmas already so we’ll get into the spirit sooner and spend spend spend!

By the time Christmas rolls around, we’ve had just about all the elves, Santas and chestnuts roasting on an open fire than we can take.  We spend fully one-sixth of our life surrounded by commercial Christmas hoopla, and sometimes it’s hard not to sympathize with Ebenezer Scrooge. (Bah Humbug!)

But that’s not all. To add insult to injury, amidst the annual hullabaloo there’s no actual mention of Christmas itself. You see, we mustn't offend anyone who isn't a Christian or who wasn't raised in a Christianity-founded culture. The Christian holiday we've celebrated in most of the western world for a very long time must now be disguised as something else. To be politically correct, one mustn't mention the “C-word”. No indeed, it's the “Holiday Season” when we must buy Holiday presents, put up Holiday decorations and sing Holiday songs. For two months!

Where Did We Go Wrong?

It’s interesting how this annual nonsense has developed over the years. The real Christmas began when the early church recognized December 25th as the date to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, effectively displacing the late-December winter solstice celebration.

Over the centuries, Christmas observance developed into a time of feasting and merry-making in celebration of Jesus’ birth. The custom of exchanging gifts emerged and the decorated tree shed its pagan roots to become the Christmas tree.

Always centered in the church and focused on the birth of Jesus, Christmas secured its rightful place as the most important Christian observance of the year.

Then, in the 19th century, two influences took root in western culture that would change Christmas into the frantic commercial Holiday Season we love to hate today.

God Bless Us, Every One

One of these influences was the British author Charles Dickens. Mr. Dickens was a prolific writer of engaging stories that satirically exposed the social injustices of the day in Victorian England. One of his most popular stories is “A Christmas Carol”.

Published in 1843, “A Christmas Carol" is the familiar tale of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who, after three ghostly visitations, is redeemed as poor Tiny Tim’s ultimate benefactor and a model of social conscience. There wasn’t much about Christ in this Christmas story except for Tiny Tim’s declaration, “God bless us, every one!”

Despite Dickens’ intentions to the contrary, his Christmas Ghost Story has evoked a vision of Victorian England bedecked in pure white snow, with good old Fezziwig, carol singers, sleigh bells, and quaint English cottages in winter where people of good cheer are gathered around a warm fire with Turkey dinner, rum punch, and Christmas pudding.

This has appealed to our senses and caught on tremendously as commercial interests embraced the theme.

Today we have so-called carolers in Victorian garb wandering around the shopping mall through November and December singing Christmas songs to keep us mindful of the approaching season and the pressing need to buy those presents. If you listen closely, most of their songs are about Santa and winter wonderlands and are not Christmas carols at all. And check out the Christmas card selection – wintery cottage scenes populated with Victorian characters who would feel quite at home in any Dickens novel. And of course it wouldn’t be Christmas without at least two or three new movie or television releases of Mr. Dickens ghostly tale of Christmas redemption.

But if you think about it, what on earth has Victorian England got to do with Christmas? There is no Christ in this Dickensian landscape. We've been artfully distracted from the manger in Bethlehem.

Twas the Night before Christmas

The second and most effective influence on how we celebrate Christmas is of course Santa Claus, or Father Christmas. This jolly old fellow emerged from tales of St. Nicholas who as their patron saint, was credited with bringing the Christmas presents to children each year.

But it wasn’t until 1822 when an American by the name of Clement Clarke Moore wrote a poem called, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” that the Santa Claus we know today was born. Since that time, all over the world, Mr. Moore’s poem, popularly known as “Twas the Night before Christmas”, is read to Children on Christmas Eve instead of the Christmas nativity story.

“Twas the Night before Christmas” was the first time St. Nicholas was described with his sleigh and his named reindeer. With help from a few mid-twentieth century refinements from the Coca Cola company and others in their advertisements, Mr. Moore’s creative vision of the red suit and the round belly that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly, forever transformed St. Nicholas into today’s commercial Santa.

For more than a century now, Christmas has been all about this character from an American poem bringing his sack full of toys down the chimney. And again, we've been distracted from the manger in Bethlehem.

Fond Christmas Memories

These two unwitting assaults on the Christian celebration of Christmas have been very successful in displacing the birth of Jesus in our minds every Christmas, desensitizing us to the absence of true Christmas and helping us to replace it with new, heart-warming traditions that most of us accept as normal. Memories of my own childhood in England include the annual grainy black and white TV viewing of “A Christmas Carol” and the excited anticipation of Father Christmas coming down the chimney with lots of presents for me. I still can’t help but cherish those memories.

I live in Canada now where the annual Christmas Eve reading of “Twas the Night before Christmas” is common in households with children. These children will grow up with their own warm memories of this Christmas tradition.

With ritual viewings of annual TV holiday specials  such as “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “The Miracle on 34th Street”, "It's A Wonderful Life" and the rest, its easy to see how we've built us a solid wall between what we call Christmas and any celebration of the birth of Christ.

The Christmas Imperatives

Born out of our commercially-modified Christmas are what I call the two Christmas Imperatives. These are the Gifting Imperative and the Christmas Spirit Imperative .

The Gifting Imperative

The Gifting Imperative is the need to buy Christmas presents for friends and family. We must buy these presents. Not only is it expected of us, the whole economy depends on it! For most retail businesses, Christmas sales represent a substantial portion of annual revenue without which they couldn't survive, and many local governments rely on Christmas sales tax revenues for their operational funding!

It’s remarkable that in this so-called age of reason, we support a system that forces young parents to go deep into debt every year to meet the Christmas expectations of their children who are in-turn brainwashed and driven to constant dissatisfaction by the relentless, cold-blooded advertising of toys, games and materialism.

The financial pressure is overwhelming for many and each year the casualties mount up from bankruptcy, depression, suicide and family breakups. In recent years it has been particularly hard for victims of the current global recession.

In the United States, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day is designated as the official start of the Christmas (sorry) Holiday Shopping Season and is popularly known as "Black Friday".

What a sad commentary on how far Christmas has become removed from Christ in America.

The Christmas Spirit Imperative

The Christmas Spirit Imperative is the annual vain pursuit of the warm, fuzzy feeling we think we should have as a result of buying all those Christmas presents and perhaps from performing those once a year acts of festive charity that the specter-redeemed Scrooge would no doubt have us do.

Even with a well-decorated tree, a nice fire, and lots of eggnog, the feeling of so-called Christmas Spirit can be elusive against a backdrop of frantic materialism. And when we fail to achieve this prescribed seasonal state of mind we're prone to depression or sadness accompanied by a sense of loss we can’t quite define.

I believe this sense of loss, or shortcoming, is indeed rooted in the absence of the true Christmas Spirit, The Holy Spirit.

The Christmas we've built for ourselves will never satisfy. We can make merry and pretend to have good will toward men each year, but doling out a pile of money and expecting fulfillment on a spiritual level is a lost cause.

‘Tis the Season

By now, you’re no doubt thinking that the writer of this lengthy rant has a sizeable chip on his shoulder when it comes to Christmas. The truth is, I still enjoy watching “A Christmas Carol” for its entertainment value and I get a charge out of seeing the light and wonder in children’s eyes at the reading of “Twas the Night before Christmas”.

Indeed, my growing middle-age paunch and graying beard will soon have me qualified for the role of department store Santa should I seek seasonal employment when I retire.

But none of that's Christmas; it’s just the holiday season.

As a Christian man, I am aware of the spiritual battle that rages around Christmas, and I'm saddened that the Enemy is temporarily gaining ground these days.

So I'm lead to write about these things not to trash Christmas but to contrast it with today’s holiday season so we might consider the difference and find true meaning.

Christmas by definition is a celebration of The Messiah, Jesus Christ. We celebrate because the coming of Jesus is the single greatest event affecting mankind since the beginning of time.

Jesus, the Son of God, was sent by God for the sole purpose of living a righteous life as a Man so He could take upon Himself the penalty for sin on mankind’s behalf. He paid that penalty on the cross, enduring separation from God until His resurrection, thus buying eternal life for all who accept His sacrifice.

You accept His sacrifice firstly by believing, and then by asking Jesus to come into your life as Lord and Saviour. What follows is a complete change in your life and perspective as The Holy Spirit steps in with guidance and assurance. This is the true Christmas Spirit, and He is with you all year round!

You Say This Is Christmas

So take some time this year to trade in your elves for angels and your Santa for Saviour. Look away from the holiday season toward the child in the manger. Follow the star to Bethlehem where there's no room at the inn. Consider the shepherds in their fields and a visiting angel declaring peace on earth and good will toward men. Imagine three kings, wise men, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Swaddling clothes.

Think about Mary and Joseph and their God-child Jesus. A carpenter, his blessed wife, and God’s son destined to die for you.

Ponder life without the hope of eternity with God, and praise Him for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Celebrate the gift of your Messiah and Saviour.

Celebrate Christmas!

A merry Christmas and a happy new year to all!

Steve Howells is the author of the faith-building book, "Something To Believe In" available at Amazon.com, iTunes and at  www.Something-To-Believe-In.com.