The true meaning of Christmas

Terry Mattingly addresses "putting Christ back in Christmas" yesterday. But he's looking at the problem with a different slant. For one thing, he acknowledges that "the Holidays" and "Christmas" aren't the same thing, but one sacred and one secular version (though he doesn't address any history), and that they overlap - and he even adds "the 12 Days of Christmas", noting that "This ancient tradition is all but extinct."

He's not blaming the atheists this time - instead, it's "shopping malls and lawyers." He quotes one pastor who says,

"After all, we contribute to the commercialization of Christmas. We are a part of the supposed problem of abuse that the Christmas season has experienced."

Then he gets down to what you should do about it. First, try observing Advent by making gifts to charities - even if your denomination is one like Baptists " who tend to ignore the liturgical calendar".

Another, important thing: he quotes a pastor who

urged parents to think twice before - literally - adding Santa to their outdoor Nativity scenes.

"Children in today's world already have a difficult time distinguishing between fantasy and reality," he said. "Christmastime often blurs even further the line between what is real and what is not real."

Indeed, we don't want them mixing up Santa and Jesus, and wondering which is "real" and which is "not real" as they get older. Trouble lies down that track!

But here's the big takeaway message, the most important thing to bear in mind:

"Far more troublesome is the sub-gospel message this tradition sends. Santa is cast as the judge of all children," [church historian Nathan Finn] noted. The problem is that the real Christian Gospel insists that, "every kid deserves the coal. Every parent deserves the coal. I deserve the coal. ... There is nothing we can do to change our circumstances and move ourselves from the naughty list to the nice list."

The bottom line: The true meaning of Christmas isn't that Santa is the highest authority on sin and grace.

"We are moved from the naughty list to the nice list," stressed Finn, "not because of something we do, but because of what Jesus had done for us."

Nice. Make sure to teach your children that they are irrevocably evil. After all, it's Christmas.