This is the twelfth and final reflection on Christmas posted during the 12 Days of Christmas.
12 days ago the idea of reflecting on Christmas for twelve days began with a reaction I had to Don Miller's tweet about giving "Christ the entry he deserved but did not orchestrate himself." This, I thought to myself, is the problem with Christmas. We try to make it into something it is not meant to be.
I need to confess that I don't like Christmas. I haven't liked Christmas for a long time. I don't know when it started but I can hardly remember a time when I did like Christmas. I remember talking to my mom about Santa's existence and feeling betrayed by the adults who would perpetrate such an elaborate ruse. In high school, I remember my Grandpa Jones admitting that he didn't like Christmas. It reminded him of family (parents and siblings) that he left back in Wales to come to the United States as a boy. I don't know if these things triggered my dislike of the holiday but I know that it has grown over the years.
My reflections over these twelve days of Christmas were an attempt to put my feelings about Christmas into perspective. As I have written them I have noticed some themes. Here is what I think I am learning this year at Christmas:
Christmas is an elaborate production. For most people, Christmas has become an opportunity to become the stage manager in our personal Christmas pageant. Sets and scenes are created. People are directed to come and go on cue. We carefully choose costumes (note the popularity of ugly sweater parties). Every sense is engaged as carols waft in the background and mingle with the taste and smell of Christmas baking. Even though claim this is not what Christmas is about, just try to take it away and see how you are treated.
I believe that Christmas is about the real presence of the Divine in our lives. I believe that we can only recognize that presence in quiet, reflective moments. Yes, God is present in our elaborate productions but we have a hard time detecting that presence when there is so much to distract us. Sometimes it feels like the production is there specifically to keep us from experiencing the Presence that we seek.
Christmas is primarily about the tradition. Traditions are ways that we stay rooted to predominant cultural values. Because we are in a time of great cultural flux there is an increased desire to cling to these traditions. In fact, the traditions have become more important than the facts.
This is the most annoying part of Christmas to me. I am all for observing traditions as long as they convey some meaning. I detest traditions when the meaning has been lost and we simply observe a tradition because it has always been done that way. (Let me tell you about weddings some day.) I believe the fact that we cling so strongly to traditions reveals an inherent mistrust of God's presence in our lives. It is part of the human desire to remain where God was and not venture out to where God is.
Christmas is blended together. Everything about Christmas has been thrown into a big blender and there is no way to make distinctions between the religious and non-religious. As one friend replied to a post, "Perhaps there is no secular."
This is the part that I have to work on. This is the thing that can make Christmas better. In all of the productions and all of the traditions God is present. This is what happens when God relinquishes control and becomes vulnerable. We humans become partners in a creative endeavor. The best creative impulses are mash-ups of dreams, attempts, successes and failures. Christmas will change. Well, the traditions will change. But the presence of the Divine will not.
With that in mind, let me share my favorite Christmas song. A true mash-up of religious and non-religious traditions. Merry Christmas.
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