Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to the Christian Post about Kirk Cameron’s new movie, “Saving Christmas.” While I have not had an opportunity to see the movie, I was asked to comment on some of the film’s allegations about the biblical source of many of our Christmas traditions. My first response was, “How can there be any Christmas traditions mentioned in the Bible?”
Most (if not all) of the New Testament emerges during the first century CE, very close to the events being described as far as ancient documents go. For Christians of the first century, the chief agenda was spreading the gospel out to the world as far and wide as possible, in keeping with Jesus’ mandate that His followers should go and “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
But no one is yet celebrating Christmas as the New Testament is written.
My question back to Mr. Cameron is why does it matter whether our current ways of celebrating the Christmas holiday are mentioned in the Bible? So what if many of these traditions originate in pagan festivals? People adopted these practices because they made the season bright and fun. Isn’t that the point of celebrating in the first place!
After all, the reason for the season begins and ends with the truly amazing birth of Christ. Jews waited centuries for God’s promised Messiah to arrive. But His coming challenged all Israel’s expectations. He came to us as a baby, born without privilege away from His parents’ families and under the stigma of illegitimacy. Yet He was a King to whom distant wise men and nearby shepherds alike paid homage while angels sang in the heavens.
Celebrating this event must therefore incorporate the elements of anticipation, surprise, wonder, awe, joy, and deep gratitude. Don’t many of our current traditions reflect these qualities? In the countdown to Christmas we relive the years of waiting for the promised One. We decorate our homes to make them worthy for a King to visit us. The Magi brought the Christ child gifts; now we give each other presents hoping to surprise each other with delight and joy – a way to demonstrate our love for each other. How in keeping with Jesus’ teaching it is that we celebrate His birthday by each of us seeking to think of others more than ourselves.
I worry that we Christians too often feel unnecessarily threatened when outsiders to the faith challenge us. It doesn’t matter that over time Christians have folded into Christmas the traditions of the winter solstice, the Roman Saturnalia, and other pagan practices. What matters is the meaning we now give these traditions as part of the way we remember and rejoice over God’s entrance into our presence in the person of Jesus.
Of course, the “true meaning of Christmas” is often lost in commercialism, as well as in our hurried and harried life styles. But thankfully we’re all still free to commemorate the holiday as we see fit. And don’t we celebrate it best when we bow to the Spirit whose fruits are “love, joy, forbearance, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
For updates on my book, or more information about me, continue to check back to this blog! I will also be frequently updating my Facebook Author page found here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Katie-Hoyt-McNabb/1473116102939321, as well as my twitter account, @AuthorMcNabb.
2 Responses to My Thoughts on “Saving Christmas”