The Spirit of Christmas

Or, what I wish it could really be all the time

I kind of have an issue with Christmas.

Not Christmas, really, but its modern adaptation. I think it started a long time ago, back when Americans found violence a perfectly cheery way to secure the most sought-after gift ever invented - Tickle Me Elmo.

In the years since, loving parents have camped out, lined up, pushed, shoved, yelled, and punched their way to the front of the line to show how much they love their children. Interestingly, one of the only upsides to the increase in online shopping is that it seems to have relieved the pressure on Black Friday madness.

Beyond the shopping - where parents are expected to spend about $500 per child on Christmas - there’s the conflict between the idea we seem to have about Christmas, and what it is in practice.

The story we tell ourselves about Christmas - through our movies, shows, books, and services - is nearly universal. It’s that money, power, fame, and stuff isn’t what life is about. It’s not the stuff that lasts, or that makes us feel that we’ve had a life well lived. Instead, it’s the people that we love in our lives, the love that we share with others, our shared humanity and compassion that is really the Christmas prize.

I agree completely, though I don’t need movies and stories to convince me of it.

Almost without fail, the protagonist in any Christmas story has an epiphany, where they see this truth with clarity. Where they realize all the ways they’ve lived life wrongly, and dedicate themselves to a path altered by love, generosity, and appreciation for their friends and neighbors.

It makes for a very nice story, and leaves us with a soft feeling in our hearts.

Yet, nearly every piece that comprises the structure of our economy runs completely counter to this holiday message. And I find myself wondering sometimes if this pop-culture idea of Christmas that has existed since the 1930s or so - when Coca-Cola co-opted Santa Claus for a brilliant and lasting marketing campaign - is little more than a way to make ourselves forget and feel better for a moment that our systems are not built around charity, kindness, giving, blessing, or love for our fellow humans.

Our systems are built primarily on money, profit, and winning at any cost. We can say that’s not the case, but until I see well-paid lobbyists effectively working to improve the human condition - and finding more success than the well-paid lobbyists working to improve the Corporate condition - you’ll have to forgive my skepticism.

Right now, on this very night, there are people gathered with their families who have never wanted for anything, who have never worried about where their next meal will come from, or how they’ll pay next months rent, celebrating Christ and all his love. They’ll attend Church, and they’ll celebrate the Lord’s blessings and abundance on their lives. And in a few weeks, they’ll earn their living by leading efforts in the Kansas Legislature or in Washington, D.C., to punish the homeless, or help insurance companies deny coverage for needed services, further restrict access to social safety net programs, or secure tax breaks for Corporations that don’t need them.

All of this perplexes me, too, because even the most Biblical reading of the Christmas story tells me that the birth of Christ represents a new path, a new hope, and a new way to form a society. In that telling of Christmas, we build a system upon Christ’s love for us - and use that grace to extend love to others, without judgement or requirement. In that new system that Christ presents, we are instructed to help others without hesitation, without question, and without conditions that force them to behave as we think they ought to.

But that’s not the message I most often hear outside of the 10 or so days around Christmas. For most of the year I hear how gathering excessive wealth is a virtue, how people on the lower rungs of our socioeconomic ladder ought to just try a little harder, and how God has given us a strict set of rules to follow - and anyone who doesn’t fall in line deserves whatever they get.

In truth, Christ gave us one very simple, overarching, instruction that I don’t see us putting into action all that often…to love God, and to love our neighbors as God loves us. But I know that a lot of our neighbors feel very alone, very insufficient, very stressed, and very unloved this time of year. There are people who are largely forgotten and overlooked, and I think part of our charge is to think about them, too.

I’m not going out of my way to be a Grinch. I’m really not. In fact I’d argue that my frustration with Christmas isn’t rooted in the fact that I’m a Scrooge, but rather in the fact that I think we don’t realize and celebrate Christmas for all that it is, and all it should be.

Proof that I, in fact, have some Christmas spirit if it’s built around what matters.

If our society aligned our actions of Christmas with the ideas of Christmas, if it was truly rooted in a celebration of togetherness, love, compassion, and charity, I’d likely enjoy the holiday considerably more. I’d find it more authentic, and I’d see that we live those ideas for more than a few days out of the year.

I’d sure appreciate seeing a few less advertisements designed to make me want to spend as much money as possible, and a few more messages about the power of community and common effort to make the world a better place.

I do love the best parts of Christmas. Children opening presents and delighting in the day. Family and friends gathered together, sharing meals and time with one another. Laughing. Recalling old stories. Those are great - and the real essence of Christmas.

No matter how you celebrate Christmas, I wish nothing but the best for you. I hope that you are able to celebrate it in whatever way brings you the most joy, peace, and connection to humanity, and to God.

And I hope that you are able to carry that feeling forward with you through every day of the New Year.