The Christmas season comes and goes
quickly each year. Shopping, planning,
wrapping, decorating, baking, visiting,
feasting, sharing..... remembering. It’s
the time when Christians across the
globe come together in homes and church
halls to fellowship and celebrate and
delicately broach one of the most
sensitive subjects of modern
Christendom; “How do you feel about
Santa Claus?” Being the curious,
investigative type, I took the liberty
of canvassing people of various
denominations on this pressing matter:
A young Pentecostal Mother: “I
absolutely HATE Santa Claus! He takes
the glory away from my Jesus and that’s
a sin. He is Satan’s pawn.”
An elderly Baptist Grandpa: “Well, no,
he shouldn’t be worshipped. Ya see it’s
important not to mislead the children.
The good Lord would not approve of
that.”
A single Fundamentalist man: “Christmas
is only about the birth of Jesus. Santa
Claus isn’t even in the Bible so he
isn’t worth discussing with anyone of
any age.”
A middle-aged Methodist mother of four
teens: “Welcoming Santa in? Sure,
everyone is welcome to our home at
Christmas. Why discriminate against
“Jolly Old St. Nick?”
A forty year old Catholic father of
five: Santa is welcome at our home any
day of the year. The guy is a great role
model and definitely would have been a
friend to Jesus!”
An Episcopal Priest: “Santa arrives at
our Christmas potluck every year in time
for dessert. Our particular Santa loves
his cherry pie. Of course, he always
reads the Christmas story before flying
off back to the North Pole for final
preparations.”
A teenaged son of a Lutheran Pastor: “My
Dad IS Santa! I saw all the evidence
about ten years ago. It blew me away.
Our relationship hasn’t ever been the
same.”
A single, fiftyish Congregationalist
woman: “Hey, you know what I love about
Santa Claus? He reminds me to believe in
possibilities. They’re out
there--waiting for all of us. All things
are possible with God. Let’s all keep
believing in what that might mean.”
Ever since the release of the
original “Miracle on 34th Street”, there
seems to be an endless string of movies
in which Christmas is almost cancelled
because of a particular predicament
facing you know who. He’s either
disabled, detained, delirious,
disenchanted or, drunk. Poor Santa.
You’d think there would be a little more
respect shown to him. It’s hard to
believe his good reputation has
withstood all the mockery and abuse in
recent years. We need wisdom and truth
to be shed upon the topic of Santa.
Truth doesn’t change but our
understanding of it does. Should women
keep silent in church? How did every
species of animal fit in the ark? What
happened to the dinosaurs?
How did all the different races of
people arise? Were the continents joined
at one point? Can creation science
coexist with certain properties of
evolution? Was there an Ice Age? Who
was Cain’s wife? Do shellfish have evil
souls? Why do Americans have bigger feet
(and taller basketball teams) than they
did 50 years ago? Should Christians
acknowledge Santa Claus? I’d love to
provide the answers to all of these
questions but, for now, let me deal with
the last one.
The answer is yes. If you
accept the existence of Aristotle,
Socrates and Plato who lived about 4,000
years ago, you shouldn’t have any
trouble acknowledging the life of
Nicholas, the fourth century Christian
Bishop of Lycia. He was a devout, Godly
man whose love and generosity toward
orphans, widows and have-nots remained a
powerful testimony to his life of
service to Christ. Legends of Nicholas
(who was later sainted), began to
flourish during the middle ages.
Remember, Nicholas of Lycia never
campaigned to be sainted. There were no
Saint School sign-ups. For that matter,
neither did Matthew, Mark, Luke, John or
the thousand others who made it in the
posthumous big-time.
Clearly, the benevolent,
factually historical Nicholas has
“evolved” (excuse the expression) into
somewhat of a fairytale-like character
named Santa Claus. Should Christians
allow Santa into their homes? It
depends. The Fundamentalist gentleman
was correct! Santa is not in the Bible
but neither is the word Christmas; not
to mention bringing trees in the house,
poinsettias, hot cider, cold snow, white
lights or giving gifts to people we love
or sometimes just tolerate. These are
traditions which vary from nation to
nation, town to town, home to home. They
are expressions of who we are and where
we are from and what we value.
The Church did not formally
recognize the name and celebration of
Christmas until the mid-fifth century.
The early American Puritans rejected
Christmas celebrations altogether. This
year marks the 155th anniversary of the
existence of Christmas cards. Christmas
trees have their origin in the ancient
pagan celebrations of Saturnalia. What’s
a Christian to do? Well, you could play
“Christmas a la carte” and decide what’s
acceptable for your family’s approach to
Christmas. You could make evaluations
of what’s historical, traditional,
cultural, enjoyable, and what falls
under the category of God’s grace.
As believers in a secular
society, we need to be challenged about
the trappings of Christmas being more
enticing than the magnificent account of
that wondrous night in Bethlehem. We
cannot blame all that’s wrong with
Christmas on Santa Claus. I never met a
Christian who worships Santa Claus. As
for the non-believers of the world, why
should we be surprised about their
worship of anything and everything
except for God? Let the handling of
truth start with us. What do our lives
tell people about the reality and power
of the true Christmas story? Where do we
devote our time and energy the other 364
days of the year?
We need to be very concerned,
if not repentant, if our children are
more excited about the man is red than
the baby in rags. Has your family cared
more about Santa entering chimneys than
Jesus entering hearts? Will you prepare
a festive gathering and leave the most
important guest out in the cold? Take
another look at the manger scene this
Christmas. See the simplicity but don’t
miss the power. See the humility but
don’t miss the glory. See the baby but
don’t miss the King. If you truly
understand the significance of the
precious prince in the musty manger,
then there is really no further cause to
worry, fret, debate or lose any sleep
over the subject of Santa Claus.
Honor Jesus with all of your
heart no matter who you’re with or where
you find yourself. Mary ushered Jesus
into a needy and dying world. May each
one of us experience the unspeakable
privilege of doing the same. Nicholas
certainly did.
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