Pastor’s Message
Most of you will be reading this month’s newsletter around the time of the winter solstice (Dec. 21st). On the internet, I am beginning to see people wishing each other a “Happy Solstice,” which is rather new and novel. I see many other insist “Merry Christmas” is the only appropriate greeting at this time of year (not the generic “Happy Holidays”). More and more Christians have been bemoaning the “cultural captivity of Christmas” and have been trying ever harder to “put Christ back in Christmas.” So, this month I thought I’d share a few ruminations about the winter solstice and our modern celebrations of Christmas and New Year’s.
If we look at things from a historical perspective, our modern celebration of Christmas is a latecomer on the scene. Long before the birth of Christ, the winter solstice was an occasion of thanksgiving and great celebration for many ancient peoples. The darkness and cold that accompanied the retreating sun filled the ancients with terror. With each passing day, the daylight grew shorter and the darkness of night grew longer. There was a fear that the sun might disappear and never return. At the winter solstice — when the sun finally started its slow return — the people rejoiced and marked the event with feasting and fertility celebrations. And some of their symbols are still with us: boughs of evergreen, holly and ivy, and wreaths.
Later, the Romans would mark the winter solstice with a festival called Saturnalia — the festival of the Unconquered Sun — which was basically a raucous weeklong party. It began on December 25th, the first day when you could visually tell that daylight was increasing again. Temples were decorated with evergreen, wreaths, and candles. There were feasts and parades with special music, and gifts were given to family and friends. Among the British Druids, mistletoe was worshiped, and the Saxons used holly and ivy in their winter religious ceremonies. Later, when Christianity spread throughout Europe, many of these pagan customs and festivities were absorbed into the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
It may surprise you to learn that for the first three centuries after the coming of Christ, Christians did not celebrate his birthday. The celebration of birthdays had always been a Roman tradition that Christians tried to distance themselves from. By the fourth century, however, many Christians were beginning to observe Christ’s birthday, though the day chosen for the celebration varied. Christians in the eastern part of the Roman Empire generally celebrated on January 6th, as the Eastern Orthodox Church still does today. Others observed dates in March, April or May, which is probably more historically accurate as to the time when Jesus was born. It was about 350 AD that Pope Julius officially set December 25th as the date of Jesus’ birth for Western Christians. The date was chosen because it marked the beginning of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. The church hoped that it could offer an alternative to the pagan celebrations and began to celebrate the incarnation with a special service called “Christ’s Mass,” from which the name Christmas is derived. The church hoped that in time Christ’s Mass would replace Saturnalia. This effort failed miserably, as has every effort to banish the secular year-end solstice festival.
Following the Protestant Reformation, the English Puritans and the Reformed Church in Europe made a determined effort to purify religious belief and remove everything that was not directly commanded or described in the Bible. They declared the observance of Christmas on December 25th to be pagan, taken from the Roman Catholic calendar. And nobody was as hard on Christmas as the Puritans who came to the new world. The Puritans argued that Jesus would have disapproved of his birthday celebrations, and that Christmas was just an excuse for gross behavior, social upheaval, and drunkenness. The Puritans ordered businesses to stay open, insisted that work go on as usual, and banned holiday celebrations. They also managed to have Christmas declared illegal by the Massachusetts legislature from 1659 to 1681. The U.S. Congress even remained in session on Christmas Day from 1789 to 1851. But, in the end the Puritans’ effort to ban Christmas failed just as miserably as all the others.
The Puritans did a lot of good things, but banning Christmas was not one of their more memorable ideas. After all, the incarnation of God — which Christians believe is the real meaning of Christmas — means that God loved this world so much that he came here to be in the world with us. And the biblical Christmas story could not be more this-worldly: a pregnant unwed teenager, a perplexed fiancé, an arduous journey, an inn full of raucous guests, a barn full of animals, labor pains, blood, birth, and umbilical cords.
It could not be more human or more earthy. And that is the point. The Incarnation means that God is with us in this world, the sacred in the secular, the holy in the profane. It is the world as we all know it that God entered on that first Christmas. And through the Holy Spirit God has been with us in the midst of all our earthly doings ever since. The fact is that when Jesus was on earth he engaged in a lot of partying and celebrating, a lot of eating and drinking, for which his critics took him to task. Jesus loved this world and all the people in it, especially sinners like us. So there is no reason that we shouldn’t celebrate Jesus’ coming into the world with great good cheer. And so, with a completely clear conscience, I wish you all a very merry — indeed a very loud and raucous — celebration of Jesus’ birth, and a very happy Year of Our Lord, A.D. 2022!
Most of you will be reading this month’s newsletter around the time of the winter solstice (Dec. 21st). On the internet, I am beginning to see people wishing each other a “Happy Solstice,” which is rather new and novel. I see many other insist “Merry Christmas” is the only appropriate greeting at this time of year (not the generic “Happy Holidays”). More and more Christians have been bemoaning the “cultural captivity of Christmas” and have been trying ever harder to “put Christ back in Christmas.” So, this month I thought I’d share a few ruminations about the winter solstice and our modern celebrations of Christmas and New Year’s.
If we look at things from a historical perspective, our modern celebration of Christmas is a latecomer on the scene. Long before the birth of Christ, the winter solstice was an occasion of thanksgiving and great celebration for many ancient peoples. The darkness and cold that accompanied the retreating sun filled the ancients with terror. With each passing day, the daylight grew shorter and the darkness of night grew longer. There was a fear that the sun might disappear and never return. At the winter solstice — when the sun finally started its slow return — the people rejoiced and marked the event with feasting and fertility celebrations. And some of their symbols are still with us: boughs of evergreen, holly and ivy, and wreaths.
Later, the Romans would mark the winter solstice with a festival called Saturnalia — the festival of the Unconquered Sun — which was basically a raucous weeklong party. It began on December 25th, the first day when you could visually tell that daylight was increasing again. Temples were decorated with evergreen, wreaths, and candles. There were feasts and parades with special music, and gifts were given to family and friends. Among the British Druids, mistletoe was worshiped, and the Saxons used holly and ivy in their winter religious ceremonies. Later, when Christianity spread throughout Europe, many of these pagan customs and festivities were absorbed into the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
It may surprise you to learn that for the first three centuries after the coming of Christ, Christians did not celebrate his birthday. The celebration of birthdays had always been a Roman tradition that Christians tried to distance themselves from. By the fourth century, however, many Christians were beginning to observe Christ’s birthday, though the day chosen for the celebration varied. Christians in the eastern part of the Roman Empire generally celebrated on January 6th, as the Eastern Orthodox Church still does today. Others observed dates in March, April or May, which is probably more historically accurate as to the time when Jesus was born. It was about 350 AD that Pope Julius officially set December 25th as the date of Jesus’ birth for Western Christians. The date was chosen because it marked the beginning of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. The church hoped that it could offer an alternative to the pagan celebrations and began to celebrate the incarnation with a special service called “Christ’s Mass,” from which the name Christmas is derived. The church hoped that in time Christ’s Mass would replace Saturnalia. This effort failed miserably, as has every effort to banish the secular year-end solstice festival.
Following the Protestant Reformation, the English Puritans and the Reformed Church in Europe made a determined effort to purify religious belief and remove everything that was not directly commanded or described in the Bible. They declared the observance of Christmas on December 25th to be pagan, taken from the Roman Catholic calendar. And nobody was as hard on Christmas as the Puritans who came to the new world. The Puritans argued that Jesus would have disapproved of his birthday celebrations, and that Christmas was just an excuse for gross behavior, social upheaval, and drunkenness. The Puritans ordered businesses to stay open, insisted that work go on as usual, and banned holiday celebrations. They also managed to have Christmas declared illegal by the Massachusetts legislature from 1659 to 1681. The U.S. Congress even remained in session on Christmas Day from 1789 to 1851. But, in the end the Puritans’ effort to ban Christmas failed just as miserably as all the others.
The Puritans did a lot of good things, but banning Christmas was not one of their more memorable ideas. After all, the incarnation of God — which Christians believe is the real meaning of Christmas — means that God loved this world so much that he came here to be in the world with us. And the biblical Christmas story could not be more this-worldly: a pregnant unwed teenager, a perplexed fiancé, an arduous journey, an inn full of raucous guests, a barn full of animals, labor pains, blood, birth, and umbilical cords.
It could not be more human or more earthy. And that is the point. The Incarnation means that God is with us in this world, the sacred in the secular, the holy in the profane. It is the world as we all know it that God entered on that first Christmas. And through the Holy Spirit God has been with us in the midst of all our earthly doings ever since. The fact is that when Jesus was on earth he engaged in a lot of partying and celebrating, a lot of eating and drinking, for which his critics took him to task. Jesus loved this world and all the people in it, especially sinners like us. So there is no reason that we shouldn’t celebrate Jesus’ coming into the world with great good cheer. And so, with a completely clear conscience, I wish you all a very merry — indeed a very loud and raucous — celebration of Jesus’ birth, and a very happy Year of Our Lord, A.D. 2022!