With the
holidays coming up soon, I find myself seeing a lot of “Keep Christ in
Christmas” in churches and on social media. As much as I agree with the
statement, I’ve also noticed paranoia with the idea of Santa Claus that I think
is over the top. Many Christians don’t like the idea of Santa Claus because
they feel it distracts too much from the truth of Christmas, which is Jesus’
birth. Some Christians even take it so far as not giving gifts on Christmas.
As usual, I
think all of this hoopla is ridiculous.
I’m not
saying we shouldn’t remember Jesus. Of course not, Jesus is the whole point! And
I’m also not saying this because I love getting presents (I actually prefer
giving presents more because I find that more fun). But, as always, I believe
there should be a balance.
The perfect
example is this movie I saw last week with Whoopi Goldberg called, Call Me Claus (by the way, spoilers). It’s pretty funny since
Whoopi becomes Santa by the end, but the original Santa is who drew my attention.
This Santa was different. There was something about him that struck me and by
the end of the film I realized what.
This Santa was
a Christian Santa.
I had never
realized it before. The reason why so many Christians don’t like Santa is
because he seems to symbolize a kind of non-Christian Christmas. But yet, there
I was, watching a movie with a Santa who acknowledged Jesus as the entire
reason for Christmas.
There was
one particular scene where this all jumped out to me. Santa was struggling to
convince Whoopi’s character, Lucy, that he truly was Santa and that she was his
successor. He was beginning to lose hope, so his top elf took him to get some
Christmas cheer. The elf brought Santa to a church, where Lucy’s niece was
singing her solo to the popular Christmas hymn, “Go Tell It on the Mountain,”
which talks about spreading the word of Jesus’ birth.
With his spirits lifted, Santa
turns to his elf and says something along the lines of, “This is what Christmas
is all about. I can’t give up now.” (Don’t quote me on that, though. It wasn’t
like I was taking notes during the movie to get it word for word.)
There was more, though. One of the
reasons why Lucy didn’t believe in Santa was because, as a child, she asked
Santa to bring her father back from war, but instead her father died. When
Santa finally gets the chance to talk to the adult Lucy about that incident, he
reminds her that Santa isn’t God and how when these devastating things happen
that we can’t explain, we just need to remember that our loved ones continue to
live on in our hearts.
It’s a beautiful message and
definitely a Christian one. Heck, Santa even tries to sell a Christmas calendar
where one would move baby Jesus each day getting closer to Bethlehem. These
were just some of the ways in which I saw this Santa as Christian, but there
were other instances in the movie (despite how corny it gets at times with the
side effects, it really is a nice film worth watching for the holidays).
The whole point is that I think a
balance can exist between the whole Santa craze and keeping Christ in
Christmas. This movie is proof of that.
I think doing away with the whole
Santa Claus idea is sad. Believing in Santa Claus is one of the many ways kids
learn to have faith. The idea of being watched to see whether a child has been
good or bad during the past year and then rewarded based on the child’s goodness
is a way to teach kids about actions having consequences, which leads to a more
mature understanding of sins. And Santa’s generosity is symbolic of God’s,
which is infinitely greater.
But also, on the other side, I do
understand how only focusing on Santa Claus and presents does tend to keep
Christ out of Christmas. We still need to be reminded that Christmas is celebrating
the birth of Jesus Christ, God on Earth born in human form to a young virgin
adolescent named Mary. It wasn’t easy for Mary and Joseph, but they did what
they could to bring into this world the most amazing gift of all, Jesus. (And I
know people dispute whether Jesus’ birth really was in December, but I don’t
think that’s important. It’s celebrated in December now and that’s all that
matters.)
Like I always say, balance. There
can be a balance between the Santa Claus hype and the strict Christ in Christmas
attitude. Why can’t Santa be Christian? The Call
Me Claus movie proves that he can be. Christmas is a wondrous time of year,
but I don’t want to get swept up into the Santa Claus hype and I don’t want to ignore
the many traditions associated with Christmas either.
To me, Santa is Christian, and
though he might come down my chimney on Christmas Eve and put presents
underneath the tree for me, I know he’ll be doing it to celebrate the true gift
that doesn’t need to be wrapped or given, Jesus Christ.
(And no, I don’t still believe in
Santa Claus, but I think I’ve made my point.)
Have a merry,
blessed, Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment