Newsletter 15 December 2009
The Sacred in the Secular
The Rev. Peter J. Miano
"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth…" (John 1:14)
Of all the tired cliches to emanate from pulpits and pastoral letters during the season of Advent, none is more worn out and weary than the admonition to "keep Christ in Christmas." That one's overworked and we need to give it a rest for a generation or two. Beneath the moldy and mildewed surface of this banal bromide is the idea that our myriad celebrations of the birth of God have become overly sentimental and secularized and that the "true" spirit of Christmas has been obscured or even lost. Now, I suspect that the exhortation to keep Christ in Christmas is little more than a thinly veiled claim that the "true" spirit of Christmas is in the custody of a select few. Certainly, throughout history, some, such as the Puritans of New England during the 1600s, have claimed to be the exclusive custodians of the authentic Christmas spirit. Aside from my suspicions, however, it seems to me that those who insist on invoking this dusty expression have missed the point entirely that Christmas is and always has been a combination of secular and sacred, a harmonious blend of sentimentality and sanctity. What's more, the blend of sacred and secular was deliberate, ingenious and it is good.
As much as anyone else, I am aware of and, to a certain extent, even participate in those things that some consider to be an erosion of the Christmas spirit--the frenzied shopping, the overindulgence of seasonal pleasures, and all the traditional rituals and decorative trappings that contribute to making this time of the year seem "Christmassy." Unlike others who insist that all of the above obscure the meaning of a deeply religious Christmas event, unlike those who fear that humanity has been distracted from experiencing the true Christmas spirit, unlike some who caution that the spirit of Christmas has been devoured by secular observances, here's one pastor who believes that participation in these things can actually enhance and embellish our Christmas experience. This is not to say, however, that indulgence in Advent and Christmastide celebrations cannot be excessive. It certainly can be and I am not advocating that we give in to excessive, hedonistic distractions. Neither would I deny that, for some, Christmastime has become merely another excuse for bacchanalian party-going. Certainly and sadly, for many the true spirit of Christmas is, indeed, obscured and lost--none more so than those who admonish us to "keep christ in Christmas!"
Nevertheless, many have badly missed the point of our annual celebration of the birth of Jesus. Pictured so beautifully as the Messiah in the manger, Salvation resident in our messy world, the very point of Christmas is that the sacred is in the secular and there is no other place to find it! As the author of the Gospel of John put it, "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth…" (John 1:14) You want to find Christ? Find Him in the world we live in. Find Him in humanity. Find Him in the hearts of those who care for others. Find him in the hands of those who heal, the minds of those who teach, the souls of those who experience suffocating oppression.
That the celebration of Christmas incorporates the secular into the sacred, and has done so since day one, stikes me as being less a sign of the erosion of the true meaning of Christmas than a profound manifestation of its true meaning. God is, indeed, with us, wherever we are and whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.
It may or may not come as a surprise to you that the birth of Jesus went uncelebrated by the early Christian churches for several hundred years. In the earliest churches, far greater priority was given to Easter, Pentecost and Epiphany. The earliest mention of Christmas occurs in a Roman document from A.D. 354, which lists December 25 as the date of Christ's birth in Bethlehem.
From the very moment the celebration of Christmas was introduced, the clergy were kept busy trying to keep the celebration free from pagan or secular influences. However, this was a cause that was lost from the start, since the very idea of celebrating the birth of a god-or a royal figure-was pagan to begin with. Roman gods had birthday celebrations. The birthdays of Roman emperors were enthusiastically celebrated. Precisely for these reasons, in A.D. 245, Origen, the great church father, condemned as sinful the idea of celebrating Christ's birth since it smacked of pagan practice. Origen, himself, was later declared a heretic. What goes around, comes around.
Like I said, it was a lost cause from the beginning, and today, some of our most revered Christmas customs and rituals derive not from sacred tradition, but from imagination and secular custom. For instance, while the picture of three kings bringing gifts to the baby Jesus is immortalised in cards, carols and manger scenes alike, such a scene is never portrayed in scripture. While many of us can even name the kings--Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar--the presence of the three kings at the manger is pure legend. Scripture itself says nothing of three kings; it says only that wise men arrived to worship Jesus. That they were kings is pure speculation. The number three probably derives from the biblical mention of three gifts. Saint Augustine, for one, believed that there were twelve wise men to visit Jesus as a baby.
The practices of feasting, caroling and
Christmas pageants during Advent and Christmastide go back to the medieval,
pagan celebration of Yuletide. And the custom of bringing evergreens into
the house and decorating a tree has its origins in secular traditions that
predate the birth of Christ. Even the date for the celebration of Christ's
birth is borrowed from a secular festival. The 25th of December is a date
that is nowhere mentioned in scripture. Contrary to conventional wisdom that
Christ's birth is celebrated on the 25th because pagan societies had festivals
of new life around that time of year, the fact is that December 25 was the
date for the celebration of the birth of a Roman god named Mithras. By the
time Christians had begun celebrating Christmas, the cult of Mithras had become
the most popular cult in the Roman empire. When Christ's birthdate was identified
with that of Mithras, the Church was deliberately appealing to a very broad
constituency. By the way, Mithras fought a mortal battle with the power of
evil symbolized by a bull and the blood that was spilled sanctified his followers.
Sound familiar?
