The Controversy of Christmas
For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.
Luke 2:30-31 ESV (Monthly Watchword for December 2023)
“Keep Christ in Christmas.” For sincere Christians, this is a commonly repeated phrase this time of year. I understand and appreciate the point. What was originally intended as a spiritual observance for Christians with rich theological meaning regarding the incarnation of the Son of God has become over the last several decades a secular and commercialized mess. What many people consider “Christmas” is really a broader cultural “holiday season.” There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. I also enjoy some secular holiday music and traditions and would miss them if they were gone.
But is it possible to get back to a kind of “pure” spiritual Christmas? Doing so is harder than it sounds. In fact, Christmas has had secular “baggage” attached to it for a long time, perhaps from the beginning. A brief history of Christmas is helpful in sorting this out.
The origin of Christmas as a holy day isn’t quite clear. We do know that December 25 came to be observed by Christians in Rome sometime in the 300s A.D. as the “Feast of the Nativity” of our Lord Jesus. From there, it branched out to other locations. But how did we get the date of December 25?
Some claim that the date was chosen in the late 200s A.D. to compete with the pagan festival called “The Birthday of the Invincible Sun.” This is possible. But it seems more likely that Christians arrived at the date of December 25 in a different way. Many people of that time thought that the death and conception dates of famous figures coincided. Some considered Jesus’ death to have occurred on March 25, which is possible. Hence, March 25 is the festival of the Annunciation of our Lord, when we remember that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would bear the Son of God. Given the normal gestation period of nine months for human pregnancies, we arrive at December 25 as the birth of Jesus.
Whatever the case, the spiritual meaning of Christmas Day has more than once in history been overshadowed by secular observances, however important they might have been. In the year 800 A.D., the Frankish monarch Charlemagne was crowned “Emperor of the Romans” on Christmas Day. On Christmas Day in 1066 A.D., William the Conqueror was crowned as the first Norman king of England. Even centuries ago, people had a hard time “keeping Christ in Christmas.”
Christmas has also not been universally loved and appreciated in all parts of the Christian world. In parts of Europe and America, Christmas as a holy day has been controversial. The man named Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) was a Protestant Reformer from Switzerland and was a contemporary of Martin Luther. Though they agreed on many things, their differences kept them apart. Zwingli is considered the originator of what would become the broader Reformed Protestant tradition. His point of view was that unless something is specifically commanded in the Bible, we should not do it. From his perspective, there was no such thing as Christmas because the Bible doesn’t directly say to observe it. The Lutherans, however, had a different approach. Their view was that unless something is directly prohibited in the Bible, we have the freedom to do it.
Most of American Christianity is influenced by the broader Reformed Protestant tradition that has its roots in Ulrich Zwingli’s theology. Hence, for much of our history as a country, the Protestant religious establishment considered the observance of Christmas to be controversial. Puritan Christians in New England banned Christmas celebrations. Christmas was mostly a “thing” in America among the following Chrisitan groups: Anglicans (Episcopalians), Catholics, and Lutherans. To this day, for example, the concept of a special Christmas Eve worship service is foreign to many churches. If you want to attend one, you usually need to look for an Anglican, Catholic, or Lutheran church.
Despite the lukewarm reception that many in our country had toward Christmas as a holiday, the “holiday spirit” could not be easily suppressed. Gradually, various states and eventually the federal government came to recognize Christmas Day as a holiday, even if it had more to do with giving people a break from work for a day than any spiritual significance. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law in 1870 that made Christmas Day a holiday, at least for federal employees in the District of Columbia.
The growing popularity of Christmas in the United States after the Civil War is perhaps understandable since it was a time of change, expansion, and urbanization. Christmas as a holiday became a time when families could get together. It promoted community and provided the country with an opportunity for a common experience. Even many Jewish people, who do not believe in Jesus, came to see Christmas as an important secular observance. In a blending of sacred and secular traditions, the figure of “Santa Claus,” based on the Christian figure of St. Nicholas, emerged as a symbol of Christmas. Though it didn’t create Santa Claus, the Coca-Cola company helped popularize the figure of Santa in their advertising in the first half of the twentieth century.
Which brings us to today. Christmas as a secular holiday is a big part of our Western civilization. It isn’t going anywhere, and retailers rely on it for much of their revenue each year. If anything, the task of “keeping Christ in Christmas” falls to us in our daily lives. Amid the jingle bells, Rudolph’s red nose so bright, and chestnuts roasting on an open fire, remember to pray, worship, and receive the gifts of Christ this season.
It is true that the Bible nowhere directly commands people to observe Christmas. But we have the freedom to do so, and we remember the truth of Christmas every time we profess our faith in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds: “He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” Christmas is the great truth of the incarnation. God has come to us deep in the flesh and deep into our sinful world. He came out of love. He came for us. As we open our other presents this season, do not neglect the most important one, the one for which the man named Simeon waited in the temple so long ago.
Let us speak with him as he gazed on the infant Jesus: For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.
Pr. Tom Jacobson