The Grinch is again working to steal Christmas from us. Originally, he stole all the Christmas presents from the residents of Whoville. Now he is much more subtle. Furthermore, his tactics involve creating difficulties for people – difficulties that cannot be remedied by simply returning presents.
Like he’s done to other Christian holiday celebrations, his schemes gradually get people to allow the focus of the activities to shift away from Christ. There are even Christian churches that give more emphasis to Easter egg hunts, giving chocolate candy and members displaying Easter dresses, than they do to celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus. And the celebration of All Saints’ Day, once observed by most Christians, has been distorted into Halloween.
We focus on the birthday celebration idea. It is interesting that there is no Biblical reference or indication that the birthday of Jesus was celebrated by the early church, in fact, the people of Jesus time probably did not celebrate birthdays at all. In more recent times, in the last century, many African people did not celebrate birthdays and did not know how old they were; it wasn’t an issue. So, when westerners came and promoted celebrating Jesus’ birthday, there was puzzlement and difficulty accepting the foreign idea.
Then we confuse ourselves with gift giving. First, we misuse Scripture and place the wisemen in our manger/nativity scenes. The wisemen “came to the house where the child was” with gifts, perhaps two or more years after Jesus was born. With the focus on giving presents, we spend excessively, agonize over getting and giving just the right present, and become upset when we don’t receive the presents that we desired. We send mixed messages to our children who have trouble distinguishing between Jesus and Santa Claus. Many of our children know the songs and poetry – Rudolph … and Twas the night before….., – but not the Christian ones that focus on Jesus. To steal Christmas, the Grinch now uses TV, videos, and social media very effectively.
We also send mixed messages to non-Christians when put yard decorations in our front yards that have large, inflated Santa Claus and reindeer figures next to stables containing figures of Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, cows, sheep, donkeys, wisemen and camels.
So, what should Christians do?
- In our celebration planning, keep the focus on the coming of Jesus and what that means, rather than on the ‘birthday’ and associated gift giving.
- Give careful thought to what messages we send with decorations and celebration activities.
- Teach children the Christian songs and poems as more important than the others.
- Put gift giving in a good context so that unrealized expectations don’t create anger, frustration, and significant unhappiness.
- Be aware of expectations that, when not met, will ruin the celebration. If the meal doesn’t turn out right, certain people can’t come, or family members have passed away recently or are ill, make plans B, C, D, etc.
- Find ways to do ‘Good’ as part of the celebration.
- Be creative in involving the family, church, and even non-believers in meaningful true Christmas celebration.
- Visit people who can’t get out. Sing Christmas carols, sit and chat, read the story of Jesus’ birth, and pray with them.
- Pick up an Angel Tree child from the Salvation Army and involve your family in choosing the gifts for that child.
