Author, Simon.
Published, December 16, 2008.
I found this on Justin Taylor’s blog. It’s R. C. Sproul writing on Christmas. I’m not sure what I think, but it’s a good conversation starter. You might be surprised about what he has to say;
We all recognize that Ebenezer Scrooge was a mean person - stingy, insensitive, selfish, and unkind. What we often miss in our understanding of his character is that he was preeminently profane. “Bah! Humbug!” was his Victorian use of profanity.Not that any modern editor would feel the need to delete Scrooge’s expletives. His language is not the standard currency of cursing. But it was profane in that Scrooge demeaned what was holy. He trampled on the sanctity of Christmas. He despised the sacred. He was cynical toward the sublime.
Christmas is a holiday, indeed the world’s most joyous holiday. It is called a “holiday” because the day is holy. It is a day when businesses close, when families gather, when churches are filled, and when soldiers put down their guns for a 24-hour truce. It is a day that differs from every other day.
Every generation has its abundance of Scrooges. The church is full of them. We hear endless complaints of commercialism. We are constantly told to put Christ back into Christmas. We hear that the tradition of Santa Claus is a sacrilege. We listen to those acquainted with history murmur that Christmas isn’t biblical. The Church invented Christmas to compete with the ancient Roman festival honoring the bull-god Mithras, the nay-sayers complain. Christmas? A mere capitulation to paganism.
And so we rain on Jesus’ parade and assume an Olympian detachment from the joyous holiday. All this carping is but a modern dose of Scroogeism, our own sanctimonious profanation of the holy.
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Meh… Christmas is what you make it. The Church may have invented it and labelled it ‘holy’. But we may aswell label the week of the annual Hillsong conference as ‘holy’ too. Scroog may have been in the wrong within his own context, but for us living in a very secular and humanist society desperately trying to persuade others to cling on to the ‘true meaning’ of Christmas seems a little pointless to me. We live in a free society - let Christians celebrate the way they do, and allow anyone else to make of it what they will. The same applies within the Church - we’re not all alike. Celebrate Jesus’ birth whenever you like…
Do you really think people should be allowed to “make of it what they will”? Or should they be allowed to “make is it what they want”? The choice is clear.
Jokes aside, I disagree, Adam. Your attitude is quite cynical, which is, I suppose, fair enough in a way. In another way, it reflects a disenchantment with the way the world does something at Christmas, when the fact that the world actually does something is significant! I think that’s what Sproul is saying. It is a ‘holy day’, which retains its significance by the fact that the whole western world stops to recognise it. Whether or not the world actually gets it is another issue. The crass commercialism is very un-coothe, though. Christians do celebrate it freely and when they like, too. They do it all year.
I agree that Christmas is significant. But in what way is it significant? My point is that living in the type of society we do, we ought to respect the varying degrees of significance that people attach to Christmas. We cannot expect ‘the world’ (a fabulous Christian term of the ‘other’) to hold the same beliefs as what christians hold. To some people - most people - Christmas is a celebration of family or goodwill. I think that ought to be respected to the same degree of respect that christians expect during this time. I don’t think we ever held the monopoly over Christmas, and if we did we do no longer. The church adapted a certain tradition back in the day and now the ‘world’ is doing the same. However, where contemporary traditions disrupt social harmony or feed social injustice (via crass commercialism) then I think we should have a problem. But that problem is measured by not only christian morality (whatever that is) and humanist morality (whatever that is) - which I think are very similar in most respects. Both endorse the health and well-being of human beings everywhere - or at least they should. So, for me, it is more a question of ethics rather than religious sanctity. Religious sanctity falls into the larger category of what is ethical.
Yet if what is ethically universal is subject to the particular, though being the same as the particular then…. ah, I’m lost. Help me Soren!
I think we agree much more than I realised. I think that Sproul is, above, calling into the question the very attitude you are also. We should respect and enjoy the way that most people make Christmas a time for family and goodwill. I agree!
That article is a good reminder to all of us “Scrooges” out there. There is much to be done in appreciation for Christmas than mere cynicism. Though some may join me in my concern, for perhaps Silent Night may give way to Jingle Bells, and is the higher commerce really a “response to the receiving of such a gift” as the Christ?
In short, I think those who follow Christ have more reason for this holiday to be holy, and perhaps our proper respect for Christmas will affect a proper appreciation of Christ at Christmas.
it’s pretty good to have Christmas day set aside as special for family etc - it is different from any other day. I guess if the ‘morals’ surrounding the event are not tainted by any pagan influence (ie. it’s just getting together with good people and remembering the incarnation) that is worth something. It is different from other special events like hillsong etc because the secular culture still recognises to some degree that Christmas is significant. Christians probably see this as something worth clinging to as it opens up opportunities to interact with the secular culture around it on a slightly more Spiritual level that is not normally available. But i agree with what Adam is saying that you can’t beat a dead horse, which is the case with some people relating to Christmas or trying to celebrate the Incarnation.
Ive never been big on observing special Christian days, but I do have a kind of romantic idea about what the ancient festivals/traditions could have been or maybe should have been. I enjoyed last easter at Church we did the ‘upper room’ get together- that helped me relive the easter event in a small way and give beter honor to the rememberance of the event.
I think we need to be a little more careful about attributing the entire celebrations of Christmas to pagan influence. It seems to me that the time/date is the main (nearly only) thing “borrowed” from pagan festivals, and that because of convienience.