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Today is the third Sunday of Advent. Christmas is fast approaching. Have you been depressed by the merchandizing, the lack of Jesus and the misplaced enthusiasm? Allow me to ease your distress.
Pope Julius the first in 320 AD designated Dec 25th as a holy day – to counteract the Saturnalia celebrations in Europe dating from pre-Christ times. It didn’t work. People enjoyed their revelry and celebrations, choosing to repent afterwards.
Things were so bad in England in the 1600’s that one of the planks of Oliver Cromwell’s political party was to ELIMINATE Christmas! He won, but later the Pilgrims were thrown out of power by King Charles II, who promised to make Christmas as wicked as before! Talk about pagan! Most genuine Christians loathed Christmas, considering it an instrument of the devil.
When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, they OUTLAWED Christmas. There were no church celebrations, businesses were ordered open and anyone caught celebrating was subject to arrest and fines. And that’s the way it was in America – for over 200 years. In fact Congress continued to meet on Christmas Day up to 1856.
However the excesses of an Old English Christmas had true appeal to the unregenerate flesh, and gradually the outrageous English Christmas re-emerged in America. It was NOT Christmas as we would think of it or as most of us would want it.
But on the continent of Europe things were changing. In the early 1600’s, much of Europe, especially Germany, celebrated the season as a joyous and warm family time. Carols were sung in the churches, thanks in large measure to Martin Luther, who did not fear to bring the easily sung and well loved tunes of the streets into the church setting.
Huge changes then occurred in the first half of the 1800’s. In 1822 Clement Clark Moore wrote “T’was the Night Before Christmas” and for the first time Christmas was seen in America as a joyous holiday for children and a wonderful family time.
In 1834 Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” and Christmas in England was never the same. The crushing dehumanizing industrial revolution had to give place to a time to consider the wonder of the birth and life of a Savior.
In 1840 Queen Victoria of England married Prince Alfred of Germany, and the warm German Christmas traditions were imported to England and embraced.
There’s more, but gradually over the rest of the century, joy, family, giving, and worship replaced pagan debauchery, lewdness, revelry and drunkenness on both continents. Kind of.
What about gift giving, you ask? The tradition of gift giving, at first a simple and modest gesture, exploded in America following “T’was Night Before Christmas.” Merchants, sensing opportunity, placed Santa everywhere and people quickly adjusted their celebrations to include him. And spending. A lot of spending. With WWII and the time it took to send gifts to loved ones half a world away, the Christmas buying season expanded (to the delight of merchants) to a full month before Christmas.
So the cry to “Put Christ back into Christmas” stands on pretty weak ground historically. Jesus’ birth, despite the angels, the wise men, the fulfillment of prophecy, was never the official focus of Christmas in England or America.
BUT— Don’t be depressed! This Advent season, I suggest – you decorate! Decorate – yourself – with Christ! It’s Biblical – Gal 3:26: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” May others see you — adorned with Jesus. He is the Good News the world needs. Share Him. Help others — COME ALIVE!
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