Tag Archive - Christmas

Can Jesus and Santa get along?

December 13, 2011 in Christmas, Santa Claus with 1 Comment

This past weekend I participated in a Christmas ritual that many parents struggle with: a visit with Santa Claus.

Why the struggle? For some parents, Christmas and Santa Claus go together like white and red striping on candy canes. You cannot separate the two. Santa is everywhere and just about every culture. For others, Christmas and Santa are a clashing pair like fruitcake and tofu. Many Christians lament telling the myth of Santa Claus to their children because they believe it sends the wrong message of Christmas: The holiday is about getting presents from a jolly fat guy and not the celebration of Christ’s birth.

At the same time, parents do not want to be a Grinch about Santa. Nobody likes that kid in school going around telling everyone that Santa isn’t real. Parents are then confronted with the reality of explaining how and why Santa is not real. Either parents go with the flow of Santa or become Santa haters.

Is there a better way to involve Santa Claus into the Christmas mythos? Can Santa Claus can be taught from a Christian perspective? Can we work Santa into Christmas without tearing out the hearts of little children?

Today, we can thank the Dutch for Santa Claus. The Dutch celebrate Christmas with Sinterklaas (also, Black Peter, but that is a whole other mess) who teaches children about giving, generosity, and service.  He even looks like Santa. Sinterklaas then morphed into Santa Claus when English peoples adopted him for their own celebrations. Once English speaking peoples adopted Sinterklaas as Santa Claus, he became a commercialized icon.

The figure of Sinterklaas was a Dutch effort to honor a fourth century saint name Nicholas, who is highly revered in Eastern Christianity. The historical figure, Saint Nicholas, was a bishop of Myra. Several stories exist about Nicholas, but the most prevalent features Nicholas giving gold or money to poor children. One story tells of Nicholas giving money to three poor daughters who were destined to live in poverty without a dowry (pictured right). Some attribute the hanging of stockings on Christmas to Nicholas because another story tells of Nicholas putting money in poor children’s socks.

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Christmas: Peace In the Midst of Chaos

December 23, 2010 in Advent with 0 Comments

Melissa was enjoying dinner with her husband and their three children at a restaurant recently—until the waiter disappeared for 20 minutes. Her husband, Tim, began muttering. Melissa braced herself. “Uh-oh, here it comes,” she remembers thinking.

“EXCUSE ME!” he screamed across the room to another waiter, then stormed off to complain to the manager. When the original server finally returned to the table, her husband yelled, “Where the hell have you been for the last 45 minutes?” and continued berating him until the man walked away.

Chaos ensued.

People at other tables stared. Melissa put her head down and a hand over her eyes. In the car on the way home, she told her husband, “You know I hate it when you do that. It ruins the dinner.”[1]

Who has not experience such an event? When you are enjoying a nice dinner and something sets someone off? All of sudden you go from peace to chaos in a matter of seconds.

Dealing with chaos during the holiday season is almost a fact of life. The family is trying to enjoy a nice dinner and Aunt Bettie complains about her divorce.  Uncle Bill is angry about his job.  Grandma is yelling about how her neighbors are stealing her trash!  Grandma, come on who is stealing your trash?

I’m sure scenes like this play out in your family sometimes.  Chaos in the midst of a well indented peaceful family dinner.  What is it about families that bring out the best and worst in us?  All of us have some sort of dysfunction in our families. All of us must have an embarrassing family scene we remember?

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Breakup Stats on Facebook

November 4, 2010 in Facebook with 3 Comments

Facebook is a treasure trove of information – including when relationships end.  A recent New York Times article tracked what break ups occur based on Facebook user information:

In a recent TED Talk discussing the project, Mr. McCandless explained that most breakups occur three times in the year — in the weeks leading up to spring breaks, right before the start of the summer holidays and a couple of weeks before Christmas. His research also found that people tend to break up with their significant others on Mondays, presumably after a weekend grapple. Thankfully, the lowest day of the year for breakups is Christmas.

I wonder if couples break up so that one of them does not have to buy the other a gift?  This goes to show that you have to be careful with the information you share online.  Believe it or not, statistics are being gathered on what you share, how you play Farmville (I refuse to play that game), and how many pictures you share.

I would like to get my hands on some Facebook religious affiliation statistics and blog the results.

Maybe this is a good time to make all your info on facebook private. Go! And share less information about yourself.  Someone is reading about you right now!

7 Reasons Why Christians Should Celebrate Halloween

October 28, 2010 in Halloween with 30 Comments

Is celebrating a holiday that honors ghouls, demons, ghosts, and everything that goes bump in the night dangerous or even evil?

Somewhere, in the halls of history, Halloween or All Hallows Eve, got hijacked.  What started as a day to prepare for All Saints’ Day (November 1st), Halloween became a spooky, evil, and candy filled observance.  The term “Halloween” from its beginnings, had nothing to do with any pagan or evil beliefs.  The Christian festival All Hallows Eve morphed into our current term Hallowe’en.

The key in understanding of the origins of the term Halloween comes from the sense of what is “hallowed” or “holy”.  In the Lord’s Prayer, Christians pray, “Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name…”  In the fourth century, John Chrysostom tells us that the Eastern church celebrated a festival in honor of all saints who died. In the seventh and eighth centuries, Christians celebrated “All Saints’ Day” formally.

How did Halloween become associated with evil spirits?  When we look at history we discover:

More than a thousand years ago Christians confronted pagan rites appeasing the lord of death and evil spirits… the druids, in what is now Britain and France, observed the end of summer with sacrifices to the gods. It was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks.

If the Christian observance of Halloween began with a religious focus, how can we reclaim Halloween from its current feared status?  Here are 7 ways Christians can take back Halloween:

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Mary's Baby Bump: A Divine Scandal?

December 18, 2009 in Advent with 0 Comments

Much is made about Jesus’ birth in the Christmas story, but often preachers do not comment on Mary’s “situation”: an unwed mother who is pregnant.  Culturally, this would have been disastrous. Mary, most likely just a teenager, is visited by the angel Gabriel to bring Good News: she is to give birth to the Anointed One of Israel. Luke chapter 1 reads:

“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

It has been well documented that Mary’s pregnancy would be cause to shun Mary out of her community.  A scandal!  To be pregnant before marriage was grounds for divorce in the Old Testament.  Even Joseph thought about leaving Mary, but a divine message changed that.  However, apparently there has been some scholarship to suggest that Mary’s pregnancy may have not been that scandalous. Christianity Today‘s blog for women features a new perspective from Lynn Cohick, associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College.  Cohick’s take on Mary’s situation:

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The 'Big Daddy' of Patience

December 4, 2009 in Advent with 0 Comments

Academy Award-winning American actor, writer and folk music singer Burl Ives was made famous by playing the role of “Big Daddy” in the play turned movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Big Daddy is portrayed as an impatient, selfish, and harsh father to his son Brick, played by Paul Newman.  Big Daddy epitomizes impatience: agitated, red, sweaty, shaky, and hot.  All signs of high level stress.

In a comedic exchange in the play/movie, Big Daddy and his wife have a conversation:

Harvey ‘Big Daddy’ Pollitt: Let’s go home.

Ida ‘Big Momma’ Pollitt: Don’t you want to ride with the children, honey?

Harvey ‘Big Daddy’ Pollitt: No!

Ida ‘Big Momma’ Pollitt: [laughing] He’s his sassy old self again, all right!

Harvey ‘Big Daddy’ Pollitt: Be quiet, woman!

Throughout the play/movie, Big Daddy does not have much patience for Big Momma or for that matter his entire family in general.

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It's Black Friday! But, Christmas is Coming!

November 27, 2009 in Advent with 0 Comments

Well, today is Black Friday!  The craziest shopping day of the year!  Did you go and brave the crowds for all those insane deals?  I could never get up at 4 a.m. and wait in line just to get a better price on a Christmas gift.  Just of thought of the crowds, the lack of order, and crazy moms fighting over the newest toy (this year its some robotic hamster).  Just check out all these people waiting in the cold:

Did you notice the throngs of store employees standing there to keep order?  We have all heard the stories of people getting injured, trampled, and even killed by mobs of angry shoppers.  Crazy!  From the looks of this video, it is an orderly procession of people waiting for that great deal on that perfect gift for Christmas.  From the shouts of joy in the video, I can only imagine the excitement, adrenaline, and hope that people experienced.  They are excited about the deals.  Their adrenaline is pumping because they know they have to run to be the first.  And, they hope that their Xbox or Wii will be there for them to buy.

Why is it so exciting to wait and line at 4 a.m. to get the “best” deal?  Why all the excitement?

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