Christmas & Holy Time, Seasons of Scrutiny (Part V)

– Bahing Sheep, Humming Bugs, & Gifts of the Child Christ -
(“Holy As I Am Holy”, Redemption Accomplished & Applied)

Ex. 12:24-27a “And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord…’”

“The history of man clearly shows that if sinful man is left to himself in selecting his means and modes of worship he will choose man-centered worship. A society driven by man will be drawn to entertainment, rituals and pomp. Man-made innovations, like all human vices, if left unchecked will continue to deteriorate. The church and worship are no different. Without regulation this is the direction that worship will follow. This regulation cannot come from those needing regulation but from the transcendent God; therefore God’s Word is the only source for this regulation.” (from “A Discourse on the Christian Celebration of the Papish Christ-Mass”, by Rev. Timothy P. Cotton, Truth and Way Ministries)

“The reformed answer to the question in a nutshell is Col.2, Rom. 14. The OT feast days have been nailed to the cross with Christ and we are not to reintroduce them – or anything like them into the worship of the church. The one in seven Lord’s Day is sufficient along with allowance for occasional days of prayer or thanksgiving as providence warrants; not the rote yearly anniversary days/seasons of Advent, Christmas, Easter etc.. Calvin said the Jews at least had divine warrant for their festivals; those who aped them, the papists, not so.” – Bob Suden, commenter on the OldLife [Scripture links, mine]

“…He knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” Well, I suppose if anyone knew that secret knowledge of deep Christmas magick it would have to be this dickens of a fellow, even if his lingering contribution to the English language is similarly defined in pejorative tone of a niggardly, mean-spirited miser. Like King Manasseh of ancient Judah, his favourable repentance at the end of his life is not what has generally followed his reputation, but the longevity and extent of his misspent life prior; while, of course, “Bah, humbug!” is a memorably classic line. Scrooge, in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (December 19, 1843), was most probably a Puritan caricature, since it had been they who drove Christmas underground along with Ebenezer’s ‘spirit guides’. Britain had largely lost Christmas through her Puritan years of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, but the Victorian Era found renewed interest. Dickens joined the resurgence of Christmas fascination, as an influx of German Lutheran influence became British royalty, and the general public sought to recapture a sanitised bit of its almost forgotten Catholic traditions.

Uncle Scrooge McDuck, of course, wasn’t exactly a Dickens invention. “The richest duck in the world” was created by Carl Barks, of Disney Studios, and complained of Christmas as, “that silly season when everybody loves everyone else.” As with both the feathered and featherless scrooges, Christmas as a season of love and generous spirit is perhaps the noblest character with which Christmas remains ensconced. And regardless of any lingering bitter reputation, no Puritan Christmas humbugger is intent to rid the world of love and happiness, but rather tenderly foster such as pleases God, rather than ghostly business partners and some indeterminable spirits of Christmas past, present, and future. Commonly, the English reawakening of Christmas was not primarily on religious grounds, but as in America, and following war after war on both continents, it came with a good dose of emphasis on children and civil good will toward men.

Queen Charlotte had come from Germany in marriage to England’s King George III (who lost the American colonies), establishing Christmas celebration with their 15 children through the late 1700’s. The king and queen were music connoisseurs for whom played Handel (the most famous performance of his Messiah was in 1754), Mozart (who orchestrated a German version of Handel’s Messiah in 1789), and Johann Christian Bach (who had just converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism by the time he became Queen Charlotte’s music teacher). German and Lutheran Prince Albert also brought a strong public appeal to Christmas, marrying his first cousin Queen Victoria in 1840, with their home Christmas decorations detailed the following year in the English press, and with popular published illustrations of them gathered around the Christmas tree beginning in 1843. By the time of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol of that year, many authors and Christmas enthusiasts had begun to champion the cause, but like Dickens, not with particularly religious or Christ-centred overtones.

Like most Englishmen, Dickens was an Anglican, which church had never been completely averse to Christmas. Dickens, though, is known for secularising the holiday, even though Tiny Tim’s most famous expression is indeed, “God bless us, every one!” And I bring up Scrooge as a Christmas ambassador because he preserves the possibility of Christmas as a secular civil holiday quite apart from religion, which has been a strong thread even within Calvinism. We see a somewhat extreme modern push toward secularising the Christmas season, with “happy holidays” sometimes mandated instead of “merry Christmas”, oddly on a supposed separation of church and state, seeking to accommodate both atheistic concerns and those of a plethora of seasonal religious celebrations bearing no honour to a Christian Christ, but still holy. But, alas, I don’t find this will do, and not simply on the grounds of taking Christ out of Christmas to make it less religious. Try as we may, Christmas, like Scrooge and King Manasseh, simply cannot overcome the predominance for which it is historically known. One can claim that among Protestants it has lost all intimate Catholic and Pagan associations, and in many a congregation it may well have, but it’s Catholic and Pagan associations are not otherwise diminishing, but rather growing in acceptance and practice as both increase in American culture. It’s no doubt a quickly fading news du jour item that a conservative Republican Tea Party candidate dabbled in teenaged witchcraft, bringing contemplations of the Wiccan vote, but it bears noting that those Pagan roots of Yule are presently thriving in female-empowerment resurgence and renewed emphasis on a mother-goddess, Green Earth sensitivity, and naturalistic religions. No matter the effort to expunge Christmas religiosity into simply a civil holiday of good will, it remains too prominent a religious observance for Christians to ignore its religious tones. It is so now, as it was for those continental Calvinists who initially allowed for Christmas civil observance, only to succumb to its religious call, and so the subsequent Christmas ban in Scotland, Britain, and America.

And, again, what of its religious call? American Presbyterians initially summarised Christmas as a superstition, reflecting the very birth of Christmas in syncretisation of Roman Saturnalia (to honour Saturn, a Roman god of harvest), the Iranian Mithraic natalis solis invicti (birthday of the sun-god), and the Catholic mass of Christ’s Nativity. There can be no question that the overwhelming religious call today is that of seeking to honour Christ’s Nativity, where even much of the Pagan folklore origins have been de-paganised or secularised into quaint remembrance of such as flying reindeer, Yule logs, or kissing beneath mistletoe. We may not even blanch as much at the popish traditions that originally gave us such concern, for many of them too have been sufficiently given Protestant reinvention. In any case, Presbyterian sheep may continue to bah, bah, bah for popular Christmas ‘traditions’, but try as we may to honour some notion of a properly redeemed Christmas observance, we are as ill-equipped as we were in the late 1800’s to discipline a wholly holy Christmas culture amidst all the other flavours of Christmas we encounter; which is why the Calvinistic Reformers among Presbyterians, Puritans, Baptists, and Methodists sought to throw it out to begin with. We may mostly find them tame, but there are legitimate red flags to be raised at Santa and mistletoe knocking on our door as loudly as ever. I value myth as much as many, with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien being two of my favourite authors, both of whom ardently celebrated Christmas; but superstition has a way of leading to outright lies and misbelief. Christmas may have great value when placed in a proper light, but there are shadows in the corners with very real monsters, and we are not above falling prey to them. As Protestants practice Christmas it will always be in some compromise to worldly style and fashion, some humming of Christmas bugs in our ears, of Nutcracker wonder, Rudolph and Frosty, Santa kneeling at the Manger, white-babied crèches inaccurately complete with both shepherds and wise men, and that persistent need to excuse the Catholic/Pagan date of December 25th.

I’ve witnessed churches give it a valiant attempt, re-symbolising all the ‘traditional’ Christmas accoutrements into new meanings and definitions – Lutheran Chrismon trees, a Christkindl (“Christ child”) instead of Saint Nicholas, carolling at hospitals, serving at shelters, visiting shut-ins, can-drives for local food banks, even dropping the “Christmas” name in favour of “Feast of the Nativity”; but as strong and worthy an effort is putting Christ back into Christmas, taking Him out of it remains that much stronger a corrupting influence. I’m not suggesting a good boot to Satan isn’t worth the effort, I just don’t think our feet belong in a syncretised festival to begin with – our boots belong elsewhere. It’s one thing to canvas Mardi Gras with Gospel tracts, or hand them out from our front door at Hallowe’en, and quite another thing to try and maintain proper Christian composure while dancing in the parade or donning some manner of devil-mask. Christmas may certainly be more subtle than these it’s cousins, and I have great respect for those who seek to redeem all God’s time to proper Christian observance, but I’ve yet to see a success made of it in the midst of such historic excess of compromise. Christmas corruptions came into Presbyterianism through children’s Sunday School and admiration of the music and celebrations of the Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians. It seems ecumenical enough, this season of love, were it not for flying in the face of historic theological stands it unceasingly debilitates, time and again, and by facilitating the wide-eyed wonder and gifting hopes of tiny tots to bankrupt and steer our theology.

So… ought Christmas to be kept at all? If so, what manner of keeping, and if not then is there some measure of honouring Christ’s Incarnation in Nativity with which God is pleased? If for no other reason, the allusion, illusion, and collusion of Christ being born on December 25^th, with our constantly having to excuse the claim to atheists and other religions is reason enough to me for abandoning the day. In America we initially honoured the actual birth dates of presidents Washington and Lincoln, but then enacted a Monday Holiday Law which gave us a Presidents’ Day on the third Monday in February, regardless of either exact birthday. It reminds me of what Constantine did with Resurrection Day (Pascha/Easter) and the Quartodeciman controversy at the First Council of Nicaea, but that’s for another post. We may, of course, excuse December 25^th as usual, or like Presidents’ Day, simply excuse an arbitrary pick, but Rome remains fixed on the date, and no small numbers of Christians likewise insist the date is accurate, even where predominantly in Protestantism we acknowledge the date as unlikely. The truth is we simply do not know, but December 25^th remains a hardfast bone of contention which for my part is best thrown out.  Many theories of Christ’s birth date have developed over the millennia and across the calendar.  I rather fancy a relatively new one by astronomer Michael Molnar based on some coins and astrological phenomena from around the time of Christ, favouring a date of April 17^th, 6 BC for the birth of a new Jewish king; but I would never insist we pick that day in certain commemoration, any more than December 25^th.

We looked in the last post at an option of the Biblical Jewish Feasts, where some Christians celebrate Christ’s Nativity in conjunction with the Feast of Tabernacles (which begins this Wednesday at sunset, September 22, 2010). While being far better impressed with Jewish Christian roots and natural, cyclical worship forms than perhaps the Reformers were, there is little doubt that both in the Biblical Christianity of the Early Church and in modern trends of Messianic Judaism or Hebrew Christianity, legalistic tendencies toward proffering a works-righteousness continues as problematic.    Christ has and does fulfil the keeping for us of the perpetual and eternal commands regarding the Jewish Calendar – it is His work that is key and not our own, even if Christ keeps covenant through us as our righteousness (see Romans 4:23-25; 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:11; Gal. 2:16; 2 Pet. 1:1). Any keeping of Feasts or Sabbaths or Sundays or baptisms or communions, while richly valuable in their Jewish or Christian associations, must likewise be spiritually celebrated in their completion in Christ, who is our Passover Lamb propitiating all our sins. Some Messianic assemblies stress this to proper practice of Jewish Biblical forms, and a Messianic Calendar is certainly preferable to a false and syncretised Christian/Pagan Calendar where Christ is said to be “born on Christmas Day”; but again, where Christmas celebration ordinarily corrupts toward indulgent excess, a Messianic Calendar has too typically corrupted toward legalistic excess.  Of course, some may say the same of Sunday observance, where Christians have typically either ignored proper observance of the one whole day in seven (watching afternoon football, forcing folk to miss worship so they may be served lunch at restaurants following church, afternoon shopping at the mall, or the like), or been so stringent in Sunday worship and its forms as to bind our freedom in Christ.

I find, for my personal favour, sanctifying a peculiarity of Sunday worship as consistent with both the Creation Ordinance of resting the Sabbath Day, and in honouring Christ’s Resurrection on the first day of the week, and thus, the Lord’s Day. I acknowledge this is our Reformed tradition, and while consistent with our confessional standards, I find it is as much a tradition garnered from Scripture without strict regulative command as other worship days or times – it has been set down by Church authority under Christ our head, and simply is not commanded anywhere in the New Testament. Jesus proclaims, “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, NASB). We are right to celebrate Christ’s Incarnation at least one day in seven, and Sunday is a nice day for it. When American Presbyterians first began to celebrate a Reformation Day, we did it as a Reformation Sunday close to the date of October 31, and usually as the last Sunday in October. I find it both acceptable and beneficial to theme particular Sundays throughout the year. I also find annual cyclical commemoration to be a regulative principle of Scripture, and while Christians certainly have the freedom to gather for worship anytime we like, it is honourable to celebrate the reality the Jewish Feasts foreshadowed, each Sunday (or Saturday), or only on a Sunday, in perpetuity this side of heavenly Sabbath. Yes, I think a Feast of Tabernacles Sunday would be a special event, just as would a Passover/Resurrection Sunday. Finding the Jewish Calendar and Law aptly typical, formative and informative while non-binding, can be used to good measure without easily tempting to legalism; and doing so on a Sunday spares us some erroneous selection of a birth date for the Christ. Still, there may remain that persistent drawback of raising one Sunday (or several of them) above the others.  This may be no less than that exacted in God’s giving of the Jewish Calendar to begin with, but one must guard the Church and her communicants against ignoring some notion of ‘lesser’ worship services and the wrong thinking that attendance on a Nativity or Tabernacle Sunday, as on a Pesach or Resurrection Sunday carries any special merit or weight of godly attention. Each gathering of the congregation for holy worship is important.

The civil calendar will most likely remain as it is, and the traditional Christian Calendar isn’t likely to change either. Whatever one does with Christmas, or whatever a church or denomination decides, the battle and scrutiny over Christmas and seasons of holy time will continue.  It is my prayer that we Christians properly apologise our theology with decorum and civility and not rush to judgment in matters where God ultimately measures what pleases Him in our worship.  Still, He has given us guides that too often we heed not consistently, and in humility and awe we ought to be most careful to not offend Him in any fashion.

This ends the series, “Christmas & Holy Time, Seasons of Scrutiny” (Part I, II, III, IV,V).  I hope it may be found of some help.

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“Sometimes we think it would be easier if we were “out of the world,” but this is not true. Wherever we go, we take our own sinful self with us, and the powers of darkness will follow us. I have met people who have gone into “spiritual isolation” in order to become more holy, only to discover that it does not always work.
True sanctification (being set apart for God) comes through the ministry of the Word of God. “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3). When you were saved, you were set apart for God. As you grow in your faith, you are more and more experiencing sanctification. You love sin less and you love God more. You want to serve Him and be a blessing to others. All of this comes through the Word.”
- Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, John, Chapter 18: The Prayer of the Overcomer (John 17), We Have His Word (John 17:13-19), Scripture Press Publications, 1989, 1996 (electronic edition)