Canticles of the Unhomed
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Keeping Christ Out of Xmas (This is For You Jay)
My high school English teacher was one of my favorites. She wasn’t afraid of telling us her opinions. One of her opinions that stuck with me was that she really hated the word “Xmas.” She said that it removed Christ from Christmas, and allowed us, with impunity, to turn Christmas into a guiltfree materialistic orgy. As a young, foolish Christian at the time, I thought the sentiment was a worthy one, and I spread it to all my friends, who were also young, foolish Christians.
What I found out later was that the “X” in “Xmas” was not a letter representing an unknown variable, but alternatively had two possible explanations. It was either the Greek letter “chi,” the first letter in the Greek word Christos, which means Christ, or Saint Andrew’s Cross. According to church tradition, the apostle Andrew was crucified on a cross in the shape of an X on Christmas Day. Therefore, the X in Xmas was either a Greek letter representing Jesus Himself, or the shape of the cross one of His followers was crucified on. Supposedly. Stories differ. Or it could be just an abbreviation of a nineletter word.
Every Christmas we are inundated with pleas from Christians to “keep Christ in Christmas.” The implication, sometimes unspoken, mostly not, is that Christmas is a Christian holiday and that we are losing the significance of it. We are steadfastly called back from our feedings at the capitalistic trough to the Christchild in the manger, and croon outdated Christmas carols with poor theology.
The underlying assumption in all those “Christ in Christmas” sermons was that Christmas was a Christian holiday to begin with. Thus, I have concluded that Christ has no place in Christmas. Perhaps it was, at one time in the church’s past a Christian holiday. But it certainly never was in any North American Evangelical tradition. If you want to speak historically, the church’s celebration of the Christmas season was in the celebration of the Advent season. In most traditions it is a time of preparation, a time of fasting, prayer, penance, refinement and purification. It was a time of preparing for the coming of the Messiah. It was not an especially joyous time, except in the hopeful looking forward to the coming savior. It had nothing to do with carols, trees, presents and Anne Murray Christmas Specials.
In fact, many of our “Christian” traditions during Christmas come from completely pagan roots.
The date, December 25, was the date of a pagan Roman festival called Saturnalia, which was a Roman sun festival celebrated at Winter Solstice. Christian authorities, wanting to harness the celebratory energy and not have to try to curb it altogether, simply Christianized it. Most scholars agree that Christ was actually most probably born some time in September, a time when shepherds would have their flocks out in the fields at night, rather under cover.
Even Santa Claus, who ostensibly is the Anglicized Sinter Klaus, which is Dutch for Saint Nicholas, is nothing more than the combined visions of a American poet (the guy that wrote A Night Before Christmas) and the Coca Cola marketing department. (Who came up with the redsuited, whitebearded fat man image.) In reality, the St. Nicholas of history has little resemblance to the shopping mall Santa Claus, and how he became attached to the Christmas story is a mystery.
St. Nicholas was a bishop in Armenia in the 5th century AD. We can only blindly speculate as to whether this Nicholas is THE St. Nick, but the stories seem to fit. The story goes that Nicholas was present at the historic Council of Nicea in 425 AD, where the issue of the deity of Christ was being decided. Nicholas had heard that Arius, the main opponent of the doctrine, had been teaching his beliefs to children. When confronted with the rumor, Arius admitted to it. Nicholas responded to this by punching Arius in the mouth. He knocked out all of Arius’ front teeth and it took three other bishops to pull him off the heretic. I ask you does this sound like Santa Claus to you?
My point in all of this is to say that although the idea of Christmas, of having one day a year in which to remember the coming of our Savior is not bad, the reason for our celebration it is utterly arbitrary, and emphasizes the wrong thing. It would not be so bad if we made no pretension to a historicity that doesn’t exist.
I come back to the mainline celebration of Advent. Historically, the season of Advent was the four Sundays leading up to the Winter Solstice. As I said earlier, it was a time of purification and preparation. It culminated in the “Christ’s Mass,” from which we derive the word “Christmas.” This Christ’s Mass, held on the shortest day, came at a time when the days started to get longer. Christ’s Mass symbolized a return of the light. In the same way, it was looking forward to Christ’s imminent return. As well, it of course carried none of the trappings that now follow Christmas.
We have reversed it; celebrating Christ’s first coming, when historically Christians have used it to look forward to Jesus’ return. That is why Advent is a time of preparation, because the King is coming back.
The Christmas image should not be the Christ in the manger, but rather the swift and soon returning King. Christ never asked us to commemorate His birth. He did instruct us to celebrate His death and resurrection, and look forward to His soon return. Do not allow Christmas to be just about something anchored dead in the past. Rather, allow it to live in the present as we celebrate the swift and soon return of the King.
Seasons Greetings,
Matt
What I found out later was that the “X” in “Xmas” was not a letter representing an unknown variable, but alternatively had two possible explanations. It was either the Greek letter “chi,” the first letter in the Greek word Christos, which means Christ, or Saint Andrew’s Cross. According to church tradition, the apostle Andrew was crucified on a cross in the shape of an X on Christmas Day. Therefore, the X in Xmas was either a Greek letter representing Jesus Himself, or the shape of the cross one of His followers was crucified on. Supposedly. Stories differ. Or it could be just an abbreviation of a nineletter word.
Every Christmas we are inundated with pleas from Christians to “keep Christ in Christmas.” The implication, sometimes unspoken, mostly not, is that Christmas is a Christian holiday and that we are losing the significance of it. We are steadfastly called back from our feedings at the capitalistic trough to the Christchild in the manger, and croon outdated Christmas carols with poor theology.
The underlying assumption in all those “Christ in Christmas” sermons was that Christmas was a Christian holiday to begin with. Thus, I have concluded that Christ has no place in Christmas. Perhaps it was, at one time in the church’s past a Christian holiday. But it certainly never was in any North American Evangelical tradition. If you want to speak historically, the church’s celebration of the Christmas season was in the celebration of the Advent season. In most traditions it is a time of preparation, a time of fasting, prayer, penance, refinement and purification. It was a time of preparing for the coming of the Messiah. It was not an especially joyous time, except in the hopeful looking forward to the coming savior. It had nothing to do with carols, trees, presents and Anne Murray Christmas Specials.
In fact, many of our “Christian” traditions during Christmas come from completely pagan roots.
The date, December 25, was the date of a pagan Roman festival called Saturnalia, which was a Roman sun festival celebrated at Winter Solstice. Christian authorities, wanting to harness the celebratory energy and not have to try to curb it altogether, simply Christianized it. Most scholars agree that Christ was actually most probably born some time in September, a time when shepherds would have their flocks out in the fields at night, rather under cover.
Even Santa Claus, who ostensibly is the Anglicized Sinter Klaus, which is Dutch for Saint Nicholas, is nothing more than the combined visions of a American poet (the guy that wrote A Night Before Christmas) and the Coca Cola marketing department. (Who came up with the redsuited, whitebearded fat man image.) In reality, the St. Nicholas of history has little resemblance to the shopping mall Santa Claus, and how he became attached to the Christmas story is a mystery.
St. Nicholas was a bishop in Armenia in the 5th century AD. We can only blindly speculate as to whether this Nicholas is THE St. Nick, but the stories seem to fit. The story goes that Nicholas was present at the historic Council of Nicea in 425 AD, where the issue of the deity of Christ was being decided. Nicholas had heard that Arius, the main opponent of the doctrine, had been teaching his beliefs to children. When confronted with the rumor, Arius admitted to it. Nicholas responded to this by punching Arius in the mouth. He knocked out all of Arius’ front teeth and it took three other bishops to pull him off the heretic. I ask you does this sound like Santa Claus to you?
My point in all of this is to say that although the idea of Christmas, of having one day a year in which to remember the coming of our Savior is not bad, the reason for our celebration it is utterly arbitrary, and emphasizes the wrong thing. It would not be so bad if we made no pretension to a historicity that doesn’t exist.
I come back to the mainline celebration of Advent. Historically, the season of Advent was the four Sundays leading up to the Winter Solstice. As I said earlier, it was a time of purification and preparation. It culminated in the “Christ’s Mass,” from which we derive the word “Christmas.” This Christ’s Mass, held on the shortest day, came at a time when the days started to get longer. Christ’s Mass symbolized a return of the light. In the same way, it was looking forward to Christ’s imminent return. As well, it of course carried none of the trappings that now follow Christmas.
We have reversed it; celebrating Christ’s first coming, when historically Christians have used it to look forward to Jesus’ return. That is why Advent is a time of preparation, because the King is coming back.
The Christmas image should not be the Christ in the manger, but rather the swift and soon returning King. Christ never asked us to commemorate His birth. He did instruct us to celebrate His death and resurrection, and look forward to His soon return. Do not allow Christmas to be just about something anchored dead in the past. Rather, allow it to live in the present as we celebrate the swift and soon return of the King.
Seasons Greetings,
Matt
:: written by Matt Thompson, 3:02 PM
1 Comments:
Well said. Facts are a little bit scewed, not in their detail but in the interpretaion of their meaning. But well said.
