Introspection: The Humbug in My Ear

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

The (Hum)Bug in My Ear

And Mary said,

"My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for He has looked with favor on the lowliness of His servant."

Luke 1:46-48a (NRSV)

As children we believed

The grandest sight to see

Was something lovely

Wrapped beneath our tree

Well heaven only knows

That packages and bows

Can never heal

A hurting human soul

From "My Grownup Christmas List" by Linda Thompson

As people begin to adorn their houses and places of business with trees, wreaths, and garland and as radio stations begin to play familiar seasonal songs over and over again, we can see that Christmas is fast approaching us.  In the midst of this Christmas season, I find myself with a proverbial pebble in my shoe.  It is the same feeling I have experienced every Christmas for the past few years.  Perhaps it could be said that I have a humbug in my ear.

A few years ago, shortly after Christmas, I got into a very heated argument with someone who was angry about a rather unpleasant encounter with someone who wished him "Happy Holidays!" as opposed to a "Merry Christmas!"¹  Of course, this person wasn't alone in his anger.  Many Christians are upset by this trend, for they feel as though people are trying to remove Christ from the very holiday that was meant to celebrate His birth.  I cannot help but feel as though such Christians are being petty and even hypocritical.  At the risk of being judgmental, I suspect that many of them heard the offensive greeting while they were out buying Christmas gifts for people who don't really need anything, at a retail chain that most likely benefits from sweatshop labor and other unethical practices.

Christians are so concerned about some supposed "war on Christmas," but do our own Christmas observances truly magnify the Lord?  According to the authors of the book Advent Conspiracy, "the average American... spends one thousand dollars on Christmas gifts."²  Furthermore, "the amount of money we spend on Christmas in America is close to forty-five times the amount of money it would take to supply the entire world with clean water."³  If this high and holy time of the year has been reduced to a godless orgy of materialism - even among Christians - then who cares what people call it?  Sometimes I wonder if Christ would even want His name attached to this holiday anymore.

Greeting people with a "Merry Christmas!" is the least we can do to honor Christ this season,

the very least.

After Mary hears that she, a poor, unwed teenager, will give birth to the Son of God, she visits her cousin Elizabeth.  During the visit, Mary breaks into song.  This song, which is both worshipful and prophetic, is sometimes called the Magnificat, because Mary magnifies - or glorifies - God.  In this song, she sings,

He has shown strength with His arm;

He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.⁴

Mary's song foreshadows the Kingdom of God, the upside-down Kingdom that her son Jesus will usher in,

a Kingdom where "the last will be first, and the first will be last,"⁵

a Kingdom where the most important people are servants,⁶

a Kingdom whose King rides into town not on a white horse, but on a humble donkey,⁷

a Kingdom that is "not of this world."⁸

I live in a part of America often called the "Bible Belt."  In my area, when people say that there is a church on every street corner, they are only exaggerating slightly.  Christianity is practically a part of the culture in my neck of the woods.  I do not think that this is necessarily a good thing, though.  Often when the Church becomes integrated with the culture, the world around it does not become more Christian; instead, the Church becomes more worldly.  The radical message of the Kingdom of God becomes hijacked, watered-down, and distorted.

Mary's song reminds us that the Church is called to be countercultural and not a part of the culture.  On this same note, St. Paul writes, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed..."⁹  If we as Christians are called to be different from the world around us, then why do we expect the world to conform to our standards?  For that matter, if we are called to be countercultural, then why does our Christmas celebration look like that of the materialistic culture around us?

St. James writes that true religion is "to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."¹⁰  The poor, the sick, the disabled, and the marginalized seem to hold a very special place in Jesus' heart.  In fact Jesus says that whatever we do for them - "the least of these" - we have done for Him.¹¹  Christ loved them so much that He came into the world among them.  Consider the very inauspicious way in which He was born.  His earthly parents delivered him in a dirty barn far from home like a couple of teenage runaways.  An onlooker might say to himself, "What a trainwreck!  That kid doesn't have a chance.  He'll probably grow up to become a convicted criminal."

If we truly want to honor Christ at Christmastime, then we must not forget the needy and vulnerable people among us.

If you think I'm being judgmental, please realize that I am judging myself as well.  I have been very materialistic in my own life.  When I was a child, all I cared about during the holidays was getting stuff on Christmas morning.  I used to have trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve: I would lie awake in anticipation of the presents I would open the next day.  Celebrating the birth of Christ was no more than an afterthought to me.  I look back at myself and shake my head in disgust at my childish materialism.  Even now, I still find myself overly concerned about what gifts to buy people for Christmas. 

In the past few years, I have tried to "be the change" I would like to see.  I still give my family members material gifts, but I spend less than I used to, and, in addition, I make it a point to give money to charities in their honor.  I also try to buy gifts at stores like Ten Thousand Villages, which buys handicrafts from artisans in developing countries for a fair price.¹²

If we truly want to "keep Christ in Christmas," then we need to do more than to simply offer Christ lip service by wishing people "Merry Christmas."  We must stand out as a beacon of light amid the dark materialism that runs rampant this time of year.  We must remember "the least of these," for Christ - our Savior and King - came into the world and lived His earthly life among them.


Notes:

1. This argument got really ugly, and, to be honest, I never really got over it, as evidenced by the fact that I keep blogging about this subject.
2. Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, and Greg Holder.  Advent Conspiracy.  2009, Zondervan.  p. 51
3. Ibid., p. 13
4. Luke 1:51-53 (NRSV)
5. Matthew 20:16
6. Matthew 20:26
7. Zechariah 9:9
8. John 18:36
9. Romans 12:2 (NRSV)
10. James 1:27 (NRSV)
11. Matthew 25:35-40
12. www.tenthousandvillages.com

The photograph featured in this introspection is public domain.