Loving, and Hating, Christmas

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Last year, I wrote an opinion piece entitled, “Why Christians Should Hate Christmas.” It was published in the online edition of the National Catholic Reporter and elicited a bit of attention, even resulting in a telephone interview for the publication’s podcast.

But on some level, I regret having written it.

The point of the article was that Christmas has become so commercialized, so estranged from its meaning, so inimical to Christian values, that it’s unredeemable. I mentioned that if I had the power, I would change the Christian celebration of Christmas from Dec. 25 to some other date, abandoning Dec. 25 to the buyers and sellers.

That last part may still not be a bad idea, but whenever it is held, Christmas itself is a beautiful celebration. The allegorical stories of Jesus’ birth capture essential lessons for anybody searching for God.

The Value of Humility
Among the most powerful of its lessons is the value of humility. God – who is so far outside our experience and status we can hardly know him/her – becomes the humblest of human beings, born in the most humble of circumstances in one of the earth’s most out-of-the-loop places.

It’s a lesson for all of us who tend to think more of ourselves than we should, who put ourselves (and by extension, our country) first , who buy into the notion – as common in Jesus’ time as in ours – that wealth, position and social status determine a person’s worth, who judge others by appearances.

Humility is not, and has never been, a popular human trait. We may give it some lip service, but we don’t give out prizes for humility.

But what is humility, exactly? In my view, it’s another name for truth, truth about oneself. It’s not a matter of denying our value or qualities or hiding them. It’s not a matter of withdrawing from public attention or the approval of others or pretending that we don’t want them.

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Humility is, in my view, a matter of seeing ourselves as we are. And part of that is recognizing that in the last analysis, we are dependent on God, understanding that we are children of God and that our first allegiance is to him/her. When we fail to understand this essential part of being human, it often manifests itself in pride. That, I believe, is one of the principal messages of Genesis, the first book in the Bible.

In modern terms, the absence of humility might be called lack of self-awareness. But it's not in the popular sense of failing to notice what others think of us but failing to see ourselves as we are.

Christmas is more than a lesson in humility, however. People searching for God may ask themselves, “If God exists, why doesn’t he/she reveal him/herself?” “Why doesn’t he/she speak to us directly?”

Griswold-like Exaggerations
The belief that God has done exactly that in the birth, life and death of Jesus is what accounts for the historic importance of Christmas. Under the surface, it’s the reason why the feast has grown from a simple religious holiday, celebrated by attendance at religious services, to the lights, glitter, gift-giving, Christmas sales, Christmas movies, Christmas advertising, and the Griswold-like exaggerations we take for granted.

Unfortunately, so much of Christmas is done in blissful ignorance of why we do what we do. I suppose it’s not that different from our other celebrations, however, including Easter, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Veteran’s Day. In a thoroughly secular society, we most often choose the sizzle over the steak.

Maybe the best way for people searching for God to celebrate Christmas is to do what many of us have done for at least the last 50 years: allow ourselves to be infected with the joy the celebration while remembering the real reason to be joyful.

To me, that reason is best summarized in the ancient Hebrew name for Jesus mentioned in the infancy narrative of Matthew's gospel: Emmanuel, God With Us.