The Real Meaning of Christmas – Rant

December 22, 2009

I have never enjoyed a Christmas more than I have this year (Going into this could turn into post after post of the kind of therapy oriented vitriol that would cost normal people thousands of dollars to work through…I just call it seminary ;O)

Also, I have never been more unnerved by the “Christmas Spirit.”

My family has listened to the Cox cable music channel this season. For the most part, the mix of songs is an appropriate blend of pop nostalgia and Christian hymnody. But tonight, tonight I heard this song and it just pushed me over the edge…

It’s these lyrics:

Oh, the real meaning of Christmas
Is the giving of love everyday.
Oh, the real meaning of Christmas
Is to live as the Master may say.

And when you’ re giving your presents
Don’t forget as you give them away
That the real meaning of Christmas
Is the giving of love everyday.

Really, boss? The giving of love everyday? Kind of depends on how your audience defines love doesn’t it. Could you have chosen lyrics with any less power and presence. Yeah, they accurately describe the nature of generosity, but Christmas, the real meaning, isn’t about our generosity. It’s about God’s and God’s alone. Christmas isn’t a good feeling, it isn’t emotion, it isn’t proper motivation for altruism…it’s an event. A moment in History where God crash landed into human history and altered it in an unimaginable direction. This event, what is truly being celebrated, has laid the foundation for eternity. It has toppled empires. It has broken hearts and sown mosaics from the shattered pieces. Though wise men came from far away to partake in the after affects, shepherds and simpletons were first on the scene. Kind of makes Ray Conniff look like he’s singing a silly love song. I plead alongside Charlie Brown:

As you journey towards December 25th, take note of the manger that stands in the way, the one that has worked its way between the past you can’t forget and the future you can’t imagine.

OK, so this may be a “Bah Humbug” moment…but, I’m done now and will get on with my regularly scheduled “enjoy Christmas” self.

Christ the Lord is on the way to take away the sins of the world.
King Jesus, grant us your peace.

Posted in christmas, jesus and the kog