Deconstructing Christmas

There are two celebrations that happen this time of year. There is Christmas™ and there is christmas.

Most of the world is familiar with Christmas™. It is that time of year when we string lights on our homes, install a pine trees in our living room and get up a 4 AM to stand in line for the big pre-Christmas™ sale bargains. It is presents and wrapping paper and gifts that people don't really need. It is television specials about Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty and The Grinch. It is Jingle Bells, Let It Snow and We Need A Little Christmas played over and over again. It is overspending, overeating and overindulging in everything else. It is stress and frustration and wondering if it will all get done in time. It is worrying if everyone will be happy and wondering why we are not.

Every year we say the same thing, 'Christmas™ is getting to be too much.' Yet every year the sales start earlier, the expectations grow larger and the pressure to have the perfect holiday increases.

We are somewhat less enamoured with that other celebration, christmas. In some ways this story is the polar opposite of Christmas™. Its central characters, Mary and Joseph, are poor refugees from a foreign land with few resources, facing a dangerous and uncertain future.

It takes place in a time when people believed in angels and visions. So much so that the words of prophets and messengers in dreams were treated as fact.

The young couple have come to a town called Bethlehem, the birthplace of Joseph. A census had been ordered by the region's dictatorial leader, a man called Herod the Great. It was required of all citizens that they must register in the city of their birth or face a harsh punishment. To compound matters, Herod had been informed by his advisers, the prophets, that a great leader was to be born in the region. One who may one day have the power to overthrow his regime. Herod was as vindictive as he was paranoid. On hearing this prophecy he immediately ordered the execution of any child under the age of two.

Mary was pregnant. She and Joseph knew of the decree. They also knew of Mary's strange dream in which a messenger of God proclaimed that their child would become the leader that was prophesied. They were terrified.

The census registry meant Bethlehem was overrun with people, all clambering for places to stay. Everyone wanted to make sure they were not left out in the cold. When Mary and Joseph arrived, it was already too late. There were no places to stay, not even for a young expectant mother. An innkeeper flippantly offered the couple his only remaining shelter, a dark, damp cave where he kept a few pack animals and sheep. To his surprise the couple accepted.

Later that night, Mary gave birth to her son on the floor of a dingy stable as the animals looked on with blank stares. The air was rank with the stench of manure and must. She named the child Jesus, just as the messenger in her dream had instructed. Despite what her beliefs had told her, she feared for this fragile infant. A wave of exhaustion swept over her weary frame as her eyes met with Joseph. They shared their fears without words and from somewhere deep within, hope.

This is christmas.

The lower case 'c' is not meant as an affront to the Christian faith but rather to make a point. This story needs to be told in terms that everyone can understand. It doesn't belong exclusively to a religion or a culture or a society.

Extract the angels and the star and choruses of Silent Night and you have a human story, our story. One with a simple and powerful message.

You don't have to be a Christian or even a person of faith to know that Jesus was a transformational figure in history. His words challenged the secular authorities as well as the religious ones. He spoke of humility, equity among people and that lasting peace comes from the courage to forgive. Despite his renown, he was not born into power and privilege, nor did he aspire to such things. Given the circumstances of his birth, it was remarkable he survived at all.

Christmas™ may seem the polar opposite of christmas, but there is one similarity. Like the people of Bethlehem, Christmas™ finds us focused on our own needs and desires. We are too busy to think about the world around us, and quietly hope that the needs of others won't interfere with our plans. Yet to truly celebrate christmas we are asked to do the opposite. To revisit a place that we would rather not, to befriend poor strangers with nothing to offer. To look into the cold darkness and find hope.

Who will arrive in the midst Christmas™ chaos?
Where will they stay?
Are we prepared to welcome them into our homes?

We don't really Need a Little Christmas™. All we need is a little christmas.

May your celebrations begin with hope.