WEAR ABC 3 :: Top Stories
Well here's a nice seasonal story sent to me by IanG a regular reader.
CRESTVIEW - There's some controversy in Crestview tonight about Santa Claus.Children are asking questions about a church sign that's sending a bold message about the meaning of the holiday.Channel Three's Liz Nagy explains."Santa isn't really coming for Christmas. Jesus is"Those are the words hanging on the marquee at Auburn Pentecostal Church on Highway 85.Samantha Davis, "I was offended by it because I have five children. I my daughter read that I'd be really angry."Davis spotted the sign on her way to work.But she first heard about the holiday message from a young neighbor, shaken up by what the sign says.Samantha Davis, "She was crying. She though "Santa's not coming and the church doesn't lie." Stephanie Henderson.
Despite my appearance last week as Santa at the church Christmas Fayre I must admit to having some sympathy with this church's position. Why do we tell children lies about Father Christmas? And if we lie about Santa, why should they have any reason to accept anything else we say about faith and belief?
With my own children I have been quite definate that Father Christmas does not exist. Unfortunately they were too smart for me. Each year we would put out a mince pie and glass of sherry for Father Christmas, plus a carrot for Rudolf. I would assure them that the drink, mince pie and carrot would still be there the following day. The first thing on Christmas morning the children would rush up stairs to tell me that the sherry had been drank, the mince pie eaten and the carrot nibbled!
However one of my children did understand that I was telling the truth. Father Christmas did not exist. He told several of his school friends (IanG will know exactly which one I'm talking about!) and my wife had to contend with a very angry neighbour, as it happens an atheist, complaining that it was unacceptable for us to tell our children the truth and then to pass the truth on to her children!
During my time in Brussels I always enjoyed and learnt to appreciate the continental version of Father Christmas, St Nicolas, who arrived about this time of year. It seperated the Father Christmas myth from the nativity, to some extent retaining the integrity of the Christian message at Christmas.
Having said that why do we make such a fuss about Christmas when all the evidence is that the nativity actually happened in early Autumn?
At the risk of bringing the wrath of goodness know who down upon me I think the Church would be better using the winter festival as an opportunity to celebrate the family and inviting people to meet and share with those they love.
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2 comments:
If we work back from Autumn (Tabernacles), we find the Annunciation would have taken place at Chanukah! We can still have a mid-winter feast.
Didn't someone suggest a year or two back that it would be good for Christians to abandon December to the pagans, and choose a different date to celebrate Jesus' birth 'properly'? It fell upon deaf ears, as I recall. Being counter-cultural will only work if people notice - they wouldn't notice if we were doing Christmas our own way at a different time of year, would they?
More to the point, whatever else gets mixed up in it, at least this is a time of year when people may actually notice the Jesus story. I had a school assembly his morning, and was given the subject of "the real meaning of Christmas". There was a vicar got into very hot water a few years ago for allegedly telling the kids that Santa Claus didn't exist - very dangerous! I simply told them that if someone gave them a nicely gift-wrapped box with nothing inside, they'd have missed out the most important part. In the same way, if you have the tree, the parties, the presents, etc, but not have Jesus, you've missed out the most important bit: we're celebrating his birth.
No, I don't think he was born in December - but if the Queen can have an official birthday, why can't Jesus?
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