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The Citizen, 2002-12-24, Page 32t.1). U.01,1-}t1- dTh J"\ri,.)r,)(c-fir),1c-fii\FIS 1'4 Kara Da“ Carol Carey, Joanne Rich! & Clara Blake COMMUNITY NURSING SERVICES ft tho, holiday spirit light up your home this Christmas season. Paul, Karen, Amy, Levi, Sean, Ellen, Sarah & Rachel PAUL COOK ELECTRIC 357-1537 Funeral Homes Ltd. Blyth Visitation Centre Clinton Chapel 482-9521 Michael S. Falconer David Benchina Karen Ferguson & Staff PAGE 32. THE CITIZEN, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2002. Minister ponders Christmas practices f tr By Rev. Eugen Bannerman Blyth United Church There arc two kinds of Christmas celebrations going on in the world today. One type of Christmas is what is celebrated in churches and Sunday Schools around the world. Another type of Christmas is what goes on outside 'the church, in shopping malls, on television ads, in Santa Claus parades. in our stores and businesses. Although Christmas had many of its origins in the nativity stories of the bible, what passes as Christmas today outside the church has very little resemblance to the first Christmas. As a result, there are many sincere and intelligent Christians today who would like us to abandon Christmas altogether. Like it was for the first 300 years of church history. Let me explore some of the reasons that are usually advanced for giving up Christmas. First, Christmas consumerism has gone berserk. Like a small pet lion cub that has grown larger and stronger than the owners, Christmas has begun to shape and control our lives. We- are made to feel guilty. about the Canadian economy if we don't start buying in November. Thousands of businesses may go bankrupt if there is no influx of Christmas spending. Spend, spend, spend, and people won't have to be laid off. Christmas is capitalism riding the crest of people's goodwill. It represents the commercial attempt to end the year with profit. A second reason for dropping Christmas from the calendar is that most of the Christmas trimmings outside of the church have little to do with the biblical nativity stories. Santa Claus, jingle bells, the North Pole, the reindeer, the holly and the mistletoe, and over a hundred other little customs around the world, have virtually no connection with the original Christmas events. They are interesting and valuable in their own right, but it is presumptuous to parade them as original Christmas traditions. So why perpetuate something in the name of Christ that is so obviously unrelated to the Babe in Bethlehem. A third reason some Christians want Christmas to wind down is that the Christian Church did not mark the birth of Jesus for three centuries. Yes, for 300 years there was no Christmas in the church calendar, no Dec. 25, no carols, no advent, no manger. Further, no one knew when Jesus was actually born. No one had bothered to ask Joseph or Mary for the date of their son's birth. Many scholars today feel it was probably in spring, when shepherds are out in their fields during lambing time, taking care of their flocks. Dec. 25 was chosen in the fourth century during the time of the Emperor Constantine who wanted to merge Christian and non-Christian traditions in order to unify his empire. Dec. 25 was near the feast of Saturnalia, at the beginning of the winter solstice, and it was celebrated as the birth of Mithras, the Sun God. It was an easy step for newly- baptized Christians to point to a greater God, the true Son of Righteousness. A fourth reason sometimes given for dropping Christmas from the Christian calendar is the teaching of Jesus to remember his death, not his birth, until he come. The true and lasting memorial for Jesus was the symbolic bread and wine of-communion, the broken body and shed blood for the remission of sins: Jesus had asked the disciples to remember his death, "until he come," but there was no request to mark his birthday. Further, the first gospel to be written, the Gospel of Mark, did not contain a single reference to the Christmas narratives. These were added later by Luke and Matthew. Also, St. Paul cautioned the early Christians against elevating one day above another day in their cycle of worship. In his letter to the Christians in Rome he left the matter Up to individual conscience. "Some people think that a certain day is more important than other days. while others think that all days are the same. We each should firmly make up our own minds." (Romans 14:5 GNB) But in his letter to the church Galatia, he was quite worried by what he heard was happening. "You pay special attention to certain days, months, seasons and years. I am worried about you! Can it be that all my work for you has been fur nothing?" Galatians 4: 10 GNB These, then, are four strong arguments against Christmas as we celebrate it today: It's too commercial; it has little resemblance to the gospel narratives; it was not 'part of the practice of the early church; and, Christians were urged to remember the death of Christ, not his day of birth. Are these reasons enough for us to reverse the trend of celebration and revert to a December without Christmas? Could our culture, could the church, give up something so universal and so powerful as the symbols of Christmas have become? I think not. To give up Christmas is to give up more than we would ever gain. Trying to outlaw Christmas has been tried before, with disastrous results. During the period of the Reformation, Christmas was seen as a Catholic institution, and numerous ProteStants tried to stop it. This was especially true of those who later became known as the Puritans. When the Puritans came to power in England in 1644, they passed an Act of Parliament to abolish Christmas, and to send people back to work. Christmas was called, "the Profane Man's Ranting Day." There was a public outcry against the act, so the Puritans ordered the troops to break up Christmas celebrations, tear down decorations, and arrest any church leader holding a service on Dec. 25. It was to be a work day like any other work day. Imagine! Sitting in prison because the Puritan Christians wanted to purify Christianity by abolishing Christmas. When the Puritans landed in the new world, they brought some of the old world traditions with them, including the banning of Christmas. Hence Massachusetts in 1659 banned. Christmas and instituted a law that required schools to be open and everyone to work on Christmas Day. But Christmas wouldn't die. However, it wasn't until 1836 that Alabama declared Christmas a state holiday, the first state in America to do so. One long range effect of this long prohibition against celebrating Christmas, was that when 'it finally became a statuary holiday, the Christmas customs and traditions in place were concocted more for Continued on page 33 D & J Construction Jim McDonald Brussels 887-9607 the gladness and the glory of this holy season, we'd like to express our deepest feelings of friendship and goodwill to all of you. Down Home Greetings There's nothing like celebrating Christmas in the country with our good friends and neighbors. Thanks for your valued patronage and have a very happy holiday season!