What does Christmas mean?

This question has seemed to come up over the last few days for me. It has come up in church. It has come up with family. It has come up in the culture. What does Christmas really mean?

Sunday School this week we talked about waiting in conjunction with a passage about John the Baptist. This scripture helped us focus on what it was that we were waiting for and why John came. As expected, when this conversation about Christmas came up the little children had one focus on their mind: presents.

I have talked to many Christians that wish this was not the case. They wish their family focused more on Jesus instead of presents and getting. The temptation of the culture can seep through and corrupt the purpose of the holiday for many. A similar thought has come up in conversations with family as my brother discussed with me the difficulties of parenting and wanting all his children to focus on the true reason for the season.This has got me thinking about how we really help others see the true purpose of Christmas and not get caught in the monetary side.

One of the students in Sunday School asked me a question that I think should play much more in this discussion than it does. The little 7 year old girl asked "When was Jesus born?". To clarify I had to respond with, "Do you mean the season or the year?" She wanted the season. Because of the shepherds being out with the sheep and traveling for taxation many believe that it would be late summer or fall time that Jesus was actually born. No matter what, it was not December 25th.

One of the main reasons we celebrate Christmas on December 25th is because of the pagan celebrations at the time. This shift would allow to the church to reach out to pagans and bring them in to the church easier. It also essentially hijacked one of the major pagan holidays.

Just like weddings we have created traditions around this celebration that have nothing to do with the Biblical understanding. In the Bible you will not find outlines that rings, family, signatures, ect needs to present to make a marriage valid. Which brings us back to what is the point of celebration and not what history and tradition have done to it.

I would argue Christmas is about two things: loving God and loving others. This may seem like a simplistic answer, but when you examine the base of the celebration (and all we do) this should be at the heart of it. Our gift giving should glorify God and love others. If it doesn't then it needs to be readjusted. Our worship should do the same. Parties/gatherings too.

For example a family in church throws a HUGE party. The previous year I was afraid that this was something that demonstrated rich over the rest of the community or became exclusive. The party is far, far from that. The couple does this party to help the community come together and to raise donations for those in need. It is their way to bring worship God and love others.

Now what about parenting? How can you help your children realize that the focus should be on loving God and loving others? Based on psychology I would argue that there is a certain age that you are going to lose that battle for the most part. A two year old is not going to see things other than from their perspective. What I mean by this is a two year old naturally centers on what they want and need. They have special moments where they empathize with others but for the most part the "world revolves around them". With this natural focus of the younger age groups a parent is fighting a up hill (or losing) battle with the child. The child will be exposed to gift giving through the media.

I am not saying here that we should not try to teach children about loving others. Far from it. What I am asserting here is that we should go about this by exposing children to the needs of others. This can be done with soup kitchens, making cookies to donate, buy gifts for those who do not have any toys. Essentially, I think modeling is going to be a much more effective teacher in this rather than the pressure to escape the tendencies of the culture.

There is another "holiday" that I would argue would be more appropriate (theologically and culturally) to buck the spend trend. Birthdays. The early church did not celebrate birthdays. These were pagan days to celebrate. Rather the church celebrated a persons birth into Christ. Now many denominations wait until a person can make that choice themselves, and then what better day to celebrate than when they chose to join the church? If they did not make the choice, then it still is a great day to celebrate when they were born new in Christ.

Culturally, children do not really know about birthdays until school age (or play days with friends). This is much easier to escape the media push on the subject. It also is easier for family to give in other ways at that time. You may not have seen them in a while so a trip to visit is a gift.

I would like to leave everyone (and my future self) with these parting thoughts. No matter how we decide our immediate family celebrates a "holiday" we must remember that our focus must be on the spirit of the law and not become litigious with it. Jesus often ignored the laws because it was the right thing to do. It is not about people not respecting decisions, but doing their best to love God and love others. While this can be frustrating we need to be people of grace and forgiveness.

It is my hope that all are blessed and able to break the hold of money and materialism at this time of the year. I pray we can all focus on Jesus. And as we do so that the focus is not on strict decisions, but grace and remembering that the true purpose of the season is to love God and love others.