True spirit of Christmas

Lionel WIJESIRI

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

It's that time of the year again. Christmas has come and with it all its warmth and joys. But what is the real meaning of Christmas? Is it the gifts under the tree, the lights in the windows, the cards in the mail, lavish dinners with family and friends, and shouts of "Merry Christmas" to those who pass us in the office and streets. Is this really Christmas? For many people, Christmas is a time of sorrow.

They don't have the extra money to buy presents for their children, family, and friends. Many are saddened at Christmas time when they think of their loved ones who will not be able to come home for various reasons. Lavish dinners may be only a wish and not a reality at all.

What is the true meaning of Christmas? It is a perennial question. It is a question heard often during the Christmas season year after year, from pulpits, TV personalities, newspaper writers, and just ordinary people bewildered by the hectic pace of the season.

It seems a little strange that as popular as this season seems to be, we should continually have to ask that question. The meaning of Christmas seems to be forever in danger of being obscured by all the commotion and promotion of the season. Perhaps we continue to ask the question for fear that the answer will be lost, or already lost, in the shuffle.

One thing is certain. This isn't what Christmas is about.

Gifts galore

I know this isn't a new change, but we've fully shifted the focus from quality time with family and friends into mindless exchanging of gifts and greeting cards so that we can avoid guilt. On top of that, to make it really worse, is the complete free fall into consumerist shopping. Have you been to the local mall in the last few weeks? If you found yourself in one of the malls this season, took a few minutes to just sit and observe people, you would have gone brainsick. It's mind numbing how mass-programed we are at this point in the year. Christmas has the power to turn normal, everyday people into this. Over the past couple of decades, consumerism has been elevated to an art form and Christmas has become a well-calculated, well-executed, income-generating masterpiece.

I know that's extreme I don't want to be so judgmental about other people's values. Deep down, I feel that as long as people aren't hurting others, they should be able to live with whatever value structure they want. But I can't help to think. Any value structure they want, except this madness.

Much of the world, though, is still focused on finding that perfect gift and one-upping a friend who found the perfect gift last year. Even Merry-Christmas.com has a gifts link that takes site visitors directly to Amazon.com. Many businesses depend on the huge holiday shopping revenue to stay in business.

Santa Claus

What's the true meaning of Christmas? Is it how many presents you can receive, which seems to be the most common idea of what Christmas really means, or does it mean something completely different.

Does it mean that Santa is coming to bring in the gifts that people really do not need or does it mean something completely different as well? Ask yourself, what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the meaning of Christmas? Write it down. Read it in a month's time. You will realize how stupid you were. Do the same thing next year. I'll bet the answer will be same. That's the power of corporate Christmas promotions!

So, the search for the true meaning of Christmas is a recurring one. And yet, too often the answers we provide, even from the church, are more sentimentality, comfortable traditions, or "warm fuzzies" than they are any deep reflection on the significance of the Incarnation for humanity. As much as those things are a part of the season, "Yes, there is a Santa Claus" is not the meaning of the season. It is not about the "spirit of giving" or the quest for global peace, or the importance of family, or the beauty of a snow-decorated "silent night."

The true meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with Santa Claus or even giving or receiving materialistic presents. The meaning of Christmas dates back over 2,000 years ago to a town called Bethlehem in the Middle East. Jesus Christ was born in a manger. He wasn't born to live a long life, but instead was destined for death by crucifixion for mankind's sins.

The Christmas holiday originated to celebrate the birth of the King, the most influential and important person in the Christian history.

However today we seem to feel that the gift giving is the true meaning of Christmas.

People stomp and run over people to get the best deal or the new product craze. Christmas didn't come about so people could buy everyone they know a gift, it came about because of God's love for His believers. Certainly one might immediately say, "Yes, we know that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus." But exactly why is that fact so significant beyond the affirmation of a historical fact? How does, or how should, the meaning of Christmas impact Christian lives on a daily basis?

Perhaps for an answer, Christians need to return to the biblical narratives, apart from all the traditions that they have heaped around them to make them more entertaining and more coherent to modern ways of thinking. At the heart of the nativity narratives in both Matthew and Luke, is a simple fact: amid the struggle of a people who had longed for 500 years for God to act in the world in new ways, God came to be with them in a way that totally identified himself with the people, as human beings. Amid the most unlikely of circumstances, to the most unlikely of people, God became a human being to reconcile all peoples to himself (2 Cor 5:18-19).

The genuine Christian believes that the true meaning of Christmas is about possibility in the midst of the impossible. It is not the kind of possibility that comes from a confidence in one's own skill, knowledge, ability, or a positive mental attitude. It is a possibility that comes solely from the fact that God is God, and that he is the kind of God who comes into the human existence to reveal himself and call humans to Himself.

The genuine Christian believes that it is a possibility that is so surprising that people are caught unaware, and so are left with wonder at the simplicity of the expression in this infant child.

It is a possibility that is easily symbolized by a helpless infant that has nothing of its own by which to survive; yet an infant that will forever change the world and all humanity.

The genuine Christian believes that all Christians should what God intended for them to do, celebrate Christmas for its true meaning, not the commercialized and merchandise stores idea.