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Christmas in Crisis


Yesterday as I was perusing the new decorations at my local department store, I discovered something that quite alarmed me. Among the packages and wrapping where these single letter metal tags, the idea being that you put the first letter of whoever the present is designated to on the package. It occurred to me that this was another great scheme to get consumers to dress up presents. "Oh now its not sufficient to bag your present, you must wrap it, and add a fancy golden piece of metal with first initial of the reception of the gift." Many have bemoaned the commercialism of Christmas, and frankly this particular incident took me over the edge. I began to realize the only reason there is Nativity for sale in the department store has nothing to do with the position the company has on Christianity, but ensuring Christians buy their products and so increase sells. One could say I have Christmas Blues, as I beheld that having a synthetic or fake tree for two hundred US dollars is not enough, you need to buy Scents of real pine trees to deck the tree with. Once upon a time we bought a tree, put lights on it, maybe some garland, and ornaments and done. Now houses are decked with blow up Darth Vaders and expense dining sets from boutique stores that decry a desire to impress everyone.

The True Meaning of Christmas is  fading behind the gimmicks, grandeur, and gift innovations. What is meant to "The Most Wonderful Time of Year" has become a war to prove our superiority, individuality, and how much money we can spend; when the entire holiday is about Good News to the Poor, about God becoming a Child so that He could one day die as a man on the cross for our sins. Christmas has shifted in Consumer Masses propping up companies by buying trinkets and decorations that no one really needs. Christmas is suppose to be a remembrance of Christ's Birth, spending time with those closest to you, and showing a dark world we care through charity, good will, and kindness. Christmas is suppose to be rallying cry for us Christians to be more like our Christ and Savior. It is a time of joy, hope, love, and peace. The commercialism of Christmas is not only aimed at making a companies lots of cash, it is to destroy soul of the season, the Spirit of Christmas. We are even warned in most famous Christmas legend, "A Christmas Carol" that greed and money hoarding leads to slavery and the dearth of a cheerful spirit immortalized in protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge prior to his awakening would applaud the companies exploiting the soul of Christmas for serious increases in revenue.

Christmas has always been a time of "Giving" not "Getting." The Three Wise Men (Kings) gave Jesus Gifts, "And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11). Santa Claus who is based on St. Nicholas started the traditions of giving to the poor, placing golden coins in their shoes (stockings). Even in its most materialistic manifestation, Christmas is a time when children and even adults expect to receive gifts. But the gift is really in the giving, "In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " (Acts 20:35). This way of living and thinking has vastly disappeared. Newer generations want, want, and want without ever satiating their appetites. Giving for them only happens if it makes them feel good, rather than genuine care and consideration for who the Apostles called "the weak."

I know that there are plenty of people on this planet who still hold to the Reason for the Season, and who have refused to let commercialism and materialism eclipse Christmas (Christ Mass). I share my sadness because from where I stand I see Christmas evolving ever into a season of greed and getting, when it is a time of giving. For God gave us the greatest gift of all, His Son and Himself, so that He could give himself on a cross as a sacrifice for all our sins. In this way we do celebrate Christ's Passion as much as His Peaceful Arrival in Manger, for we know Christ was born to bore our sins on the cross.

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