Episode 11 of the Make Saints podcast: “Christmas”
Everyone knows there are two Christmases.
The religious holiday in which we celebrate the birth of Christ and the secular one with the gift-giving and merriment.
That they are literally the same holiday doesn’t mean they don’t feel worlds apart. To the point that, if you didn’t already know that Christmas has something to do with Jesus, you could go your whole life without ever knowing what.
I suppose this could be seen as a bad thing. Many people do take it that way. They argue that there is an all out “war on Christmas”. An innocuous sounding idea predicated on an incredibly disturbing concept: that Christianity should reign supreme over everything.
The War on Christmas and Christendom
This is more than whether or not people should be forced to say “Merry Christmas” to each other or whether Starbucks has a Christmas cup. It isn’t absence of Christmas that they decry, but the absence of universal Christianity.
In the church world, we call this concept Christendom. Which is primarily defined as the dominance of Christianity over the ordered world. This is an inherently different idea than the simple expectation that most people you meet are at least nominally Chirstian or have a family background in the church. It is an expectation that everyone is Christian and there is no other option.
Christendom is often touted as simply a natural competition based in a gospel striving to reconcile the world; which sounds a bit like college football with its rivalries and championships. Until we realize there is no next season and winning implies all other schools are destroyed in the process.
There’s nothing innocent or traditional about this approach—to Christmas or the world. If there were a War on Christmas, it is closer to a civil war (with elements of genocide).
Christmas is just Christmas
Most of us laugh at the idea of a War on Christmas, however, because Christmas is as big an event as ever. It seems like utter nonsense. But what radicals are trying to name is not so much a war, but a natural loss of overt cultural dominance that they believe requires the presence of others’ nefarious schemes. If they are the good guys (as they believe themselves to be) and they think they are losing, then there must be bad guys making them lose.
Of course, there is a more obvious response.
There aren’t actually two Christmases. Christmas is just Christmas.
I think the problem isn’t that we need to “Keep Christ in Christmas”, but that Christians have a hard time dealing with what Christ has to do with Christmas at all.
How is Christ in Christmas?
Sure, we bring out the nativity sets and tell the story of an unwed couple traveling to Bethlehem when they’re nine months pregnant. And for some reason there are a bunch of farm animals there when the shepherds show up.
And while I’m being a little glib about it, we hear this story from Luke in church or at the end of the Charlie Brown Christmas special and something really does tug at our heart strings.
But for some reason, we make it end there. We think this story will do the work of convincing the world to see… what exactly? This thing kind of falls apart because we don’t really know where to go from here without skipping over a whole bunch of steps.
So we fast-forward to Jesus being a king who will transform the world. And his being born should make us feel things.
No wonder we’re all mixed up about this stuff.
Don’t Forget the Role of Civic Religion
OK, we have one more piece before we bring it all back around to make some sense of this mess. And that is a concept we call civic religion.
One of the ways modern societies are able to tolerate religious diversity is not only through separation of church and state, but in intentionally tolerating civic religion.
Civic religion is that unspecific, normative condition that prayer may be offered before meetings, Christmas is observed as a national holiday, and morality may be championed as a common virtue. Often civic religion appears vaguely Christian, but never any one denomination in particular. In this way, civic religion acts as a moral glue that can overcome division.
At the same time, civic religion has a tendency to champion things the state cares about. And are often antithetical to Christianity, particularly nationalism, war, the imprisonment of refugees, and the execution of people by the state.
If there were anything like a “war on Christmas” or any danger that Christ has slipped out of Christmas, it stems, not from the need for anyone to say “Merry Christmas” but from a civic religious culture which tries to proclaim the Jesus born in humility must be a world conqueror. Less like the Christ and more like Genghis Khan.
The Power of the Story
Why the humble birth tugs at us is that we know intuitively that the story isn’t about exercising supreme power, but the refusal to be powerful.
We see the king, the Son of God, is born as a baby. Weak. Helpless. To be cared for. Loved. Fed. Taught. Encouraged.
The Christmas story rests on the surprising reveal that Jesus comes in great humility and has the audacity to reign in humility.
This is why I bristle at king/supremacy language for Jesus. Because it distorts the message. It pulls our minds away from his expression of power in restraint. AND in caring, love, and service.
This is why there’s such synergy.
Between the supposed two Christmases. The secular Christmas drives us toward generosity and love—the very stuff of Jesus. The gift-giving and merriment, the parties and concerts, the joy and the festive, this is all the material of faith and hope that Jesus encourages.
This is also why the best Christmas story isn’t even Christian. Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas highlights the beating heart of our civic and religious Christmas is the same.
Perhaps we get confused because we expect more. We want the Christian Christmas to be more Christiany. But it can’t be. Not without the rest of the story; with the life and work; and the death and resurrection. We’re looking too literally, expecting too much, and ignoring what Christmas itself actually is.
But if you do want a little more Christ in your Christmas, might I simply suggest doing the most traditional thing and read Matthew 1, Luke 2, and John 1. Be present with friends and family and be thankful. Give a gift to a stranger, a coworker, or a friend. Or box up some food to give away on Boxing Day, December 26th.
These are the most Christian responses to Christmas we could do. And unsurprisingly, you don’t have to be Christian to agree.