Tuesday, December 29, 2020
What’s your Christmas Tree Look Like
What’s your Christmas Look like
Malachi 4:2
For you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.
John 1:11-12
He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
Words of Grace For Today
During the Covid 19 restrictions that have disrupted and disappointed our Christmas celebrations (and other faith celebrations during this winter solstice time of year) we have opportunity to ask what is actually important for life, for these celebrations, for all of us, and for each of us. (I cannot speak for people of other faiths, but they could similarly ask about the traditions gathered around their celebrations as well.)
I’ve asked about pickles, and decorations on the tree; about the tree itself, and today ask about the date of 25 December. So some expert words:
Why Is Christmas Celebrated on December 25? by Sarah Pruitt, From History.com
Most Christians today probably can’t imagine Christmas on any other day than December 25, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, for the first three centuries of Christianity’s existence, Jesus Christ’s birth wasn’t celebrated at all. The religion’s most significant holidays were Epiphany on January 6, which commemorated the arrival of the Magi after Jesus’ birth, and Easter, which celebrated Jesus’ resurrection. The first official mention of December 25 as a holiday honoring Jesus’ birthday appears in an early Roman calendar from 336 A.D.
But was Jesus really born on December 25 in the first place? Probably not. The Bible doesn’t mention his exact birthday, and the Nativity story contains conflicting clues. For instance, the presence of shepherds and their sheep suggest a spring birth. When church officials settled on December 25 at the end of the third century, they likely wanted the date to coincide with existing pagan festivals honoring Saturn (the Roman god of agriculture) and Mithra (the Persian god of light). That way, it became easier to convince Rome’s pagan subjects to accept Christianity as the empire’s official religion.
The celebration of Christmas spread throughout the Western world over the next several centuries, but many Christians continued to view Epiphany and Easter as more important.
Some, including the Puritans of colonial New England, even banned its observance because they viewed its traditions—the offering of gifts and decorating trees, for example—as linked to paganism. In the early days of the United States, celebrating Christmas was considered a British custom and fell out of style following the American Revolution. It wasn’t until 1870 that Christmas became a federal holiday.
So our precious 25 December as Christmas was chosen by Rome to coincide with the winter solstice and the established celebrations of honoring Saturn … and Mithra …. That way, it was easier to convince Rome’s pagan subjects to accept Christianity as the empire’s official religion. All good and well, since the exact date of Christ’ birth was not agreed upon nor can it even today be well documented on any date.
The truth is, the celebration of Jesus’ birthday, the day God was born as fully human and still fully God, does not depend on the exact birth day being known or used.
Think about it. Is God limited by the date we celebrate Jesus’ birth. If God were, God would not really be God. Are we limited or compromised or perverted by celebrating Jesus’ birth on any specific day or are we even helped, augmented, or better for celebrating Jesus’ birth on any specific day? Hardly. If that were the case our faith would be so weak as to be useless.
What benefits do we gain by celebrating on 25 December? Well, we keep a tradition that has held for nearly 2000 years. We have reason to celebrate the most profound in breaking of God into our world at a time of year when it is (for those in the northern hemisphere – where the people lived who set the date) the darkest time of year, or at least nearly the shortest showing of sun. That’s a great symbol: the Word of God is born, to live as the Light of the World, to bring Light into every darkness.
All sorts of other-origin traditions become available to us.
Those traditions are the focus of our celebrations, our disappointments that we cannot maintain them this year of Covid 19 restrictions, and those disappointed traditions give us opportunity to rethink all our Christmas practices … hopefully to more greatly appreciate what we can do, and will be able to do in the future: celebrate Jesus’ birth and the gift that is to all of us, and to each of us: Life abundant.