Midweek Faith Lift
The Wonder of Christmas
December 29, 2021
Clark Ford, Guest Speaker
In “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew Fred explains to his uncle the value of Christmas like this: “Christmas is a loving, honest, and charitable time. And though it's never put a scrap of silver or gold in my pocket, I believe Christmas has done me good and will do me good, and I say God bless it.”
And while I personally have my doubts about the historical or theological accuracy of the Christmas story, more on that later, I nonetheless concur with Fred. I believe in the goodness of Christmas, and I say “God Bless it.”
The Christmas story is full of wonder, magic, joy, singing, giving, peace, hope, love, and light at the darkest and coldest time of year (in the northern hemisphere) when people need every bit of wonder, magic, joy, singing, giving, peace, hope, love, and light they can get.
Christmas gives us reassurance that darkness will not win, that there is new life and there are brighter days coming. And it honors motherhood, as no other holiday does. And so I would like to focus on these two things today as we celebrate the wonder that is Christmas.
Have you ever noticed that most of the iconic pictures we associate with the birth of Jesus happen at night: The manger, the star, the Angels singing? One might even get the impression that the shepherds and wise men came at night to see the Baby Jesus.
The real Jesus may have been born in June for all we know, but in the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas, this celebration of the triumph of light over dark, came to be associated with the time around the winter solstice – the longest nights and some of the coldest days of the year. A time when snow was often on the ground, crops had long since been harvested, and many people actually lived in the same room with their animals, waiting, waiting, waiting for the days to start getting longer again.
Ah, the wonder of the solstice, a celebration of the return of light in a time of profound darkness. Each of the days after the solstice would bring a little more light, a little more hope and reassurance that life will continue. If we just hold on, things will get better, the cycle of life will continue, all is well. For something this existential, humans have always turned to spirit, to the divine, to their gods for comfort, for an explanation, and for thanksgiving.
So the Solstice, and the celebration of Christmas that followed has always been a profoundly spiritual experience of wonder, regardless of and despite all the trappings that have gone along with it:
The manger, the angels, the star, the wise men, the shepherds…
Santa Claus, sleighs and reindeer, jingle bells
Christmas lights…
Christmas trees…
Presents, ribbons, wrappings, the roast beast, and the Noise, Noise, Noise, Noise!
When you peel back all those layers, Christmas is still a profound spiritual experience, and I say “God Bless it!”
As in A Christmas Carol, for many of us, Christmas is a time that brings out our best self: our child within, and our generous spirit toward those we love and toward all humankind. It is a time that reveals to us our fragility, our need for fellowship, for support from others, and our need for unconditional love. Without this love and support, how else will we possibly be able to emerge on the other side of the great darkness? And so we come together, and we celebrate. We joyously light trees, sing carols, and share in community the existential bond we have forged individually, and as a group, with our creator -with shared hope, love, empathy, and giving.
Christmas is a celebration of new life and hope – longer days leading to crops growing, and also new life symbolized by the baby Jesus, and hope for a better future. Celebrations of new life occur in many other religions in spring, with the Spring Equinox,
In Christianity, however, the spring equinox was reserved for the celebration of new spiritual life, Salvation, with the resurrection of Jesus at Easter. So celebrating the birth of Jesus in Christianity became associated with the traditional birth of the Sun at the Winter Solstice, and I for one am glad that it did.
Imagine if Christmas was celebrated in June, for instance. It just would not be the same! Sure, I love the beach as much as the next person, maybe even more, since I got to grow up near one on the west coast.
But for the magic and wonder of Christmas, it is hard to beat the long dark night of winter, illuminated by the bright star of Bethlehem and the chorus of Heavenly Hosts singing. Surely these were powerful signs of hope to those who looked to the birth of the sun at the solstice each year for hope in the future of crops, life, and the human race itself.
And out of this need for hope, for days to get longer and the cycle of life to continue comes the most profound image of the Christmas season: The Madonna, Mother Mary with the baby Jesus. I am reminded of James Michener’s book “Mexico” where he told the story of an Aztec-like kingdom, dominating the land prior to Christian conquest.
These rulers were a brutal war-loving culture who conquered much of Mexico and were hated for it by those they conquered. They would march conquered soldiers back to their pyramids and sacrifice them to their gods. It was a society that celebrated war, fear, conquest, and death. When the Christians came, although they reconquered the same people, they brought a different religion.
At first, the Mexican people did not understand the Bible or the native tongue of the new conquerors, but they did understand that these conquerors brought a religion that honored life: for the symbol that spoke most powerfully was the Madonna, Mary with the baby Jesus. How could such a religion, that understood the importance of Mother and Child, and honored life, not be an improvement over what they had previously suffered under? Mary with the baby Jesus is at once a symbol of hope and love, of maternal tenderness, care, and protection, of life itself.
We live in a patriarchal society that often imagines that men are more powerful and more important than women. Our Biblical story of creation holds that God (the father) created Adam from dust, without help from a woman, and created a mate for Adam out of one of Adam’s ribs.
In Greek mythology, Zeus gave birth to Athena full-grown from his head. There actually was a role for a woman in this birth, however: Zeus did mate with his consort Metis first, and then he ate her before giving birth to Athena!
So, it’s not surprising that Jesus was a son instead of a daughter in the Christmas story. Biologically, patriarchal stories of birth by men such as Zeus birthing Athena or the Biblical creation are utter nonsense. A strong case can be made that the y chromosome actually evolved from the x chromosome!
Women played a modest role in the Old Testament: Eve, for instance, was secondary to Adam, and eventually blamed for the sin of humanity.
But in the New Testament, Mary, the Mother of Jesus is actually celebrated! By the time of Jesus’ birth, people would not likely believe that God would just create Jesus out of clay like he did Adam. Instead, we have Mary miraculously impregnated by the Holy Spirit to give birth to Jesus! At least there was a role for women, an acknowledgment that women are vital to the very existence of the human race. In the Christmas story, we see the elevation, importance, and honoring of tenderness and care between mother and child.
New life is miraculous, wondrous, and for those of ancient times all too familiar with death, new life was literally a salvation of the human race. This was so important, by the time of Jesus, that we see Joseph, the family patriarch, making sure Mary is comfortable and that mother and child are fed, sheltered, and safe. It’s not all about him! In childbirth, women take primacy over men, even in patriarchal societies.
There is something awe-inspiring about birth. What was hidden is now revealed, new life in all of its purity, beauty, and innocence emerges. With care and nurturing, this new life will thrive, grow up, and become the future.
So, Christmas is a life-affirming holiday, and thus, by necessity, a woman-affirming holiday that honors care and nurturing. For a patriarchal religion with no goddesses to protect and inspire women, this is as good as it gets!
Now, what about the accuracy of the Christmas Story? Does it matter? It actually doesn’t matter to me, in the same way, that it doesn’t matter to me that a stained glass window doesn’t accurately portray reality. Instead, it inspires, it lifts, and transforms us, liberating our spirit from the mundane world to a higher plane. Music and art do much the same thing. That is the wonder of Christmas.
And so, as Scrooge’s nephew Fred said of Christmas: “God Bless it.” And I will now add, “And Goddess Bless it, too.”