Yes, Virgina, There is a Jesus Christ

It is the Christmas season. A local church is advertising on the radio that Santa Clause will be coming to visit on a certain Sunday. When I arrive at my own church it is filled with men wearing Santa ties. As I go about my day, good Christian people ask me if Santa is ready to come to see my daughter. I suspect nothing I have said is new to anyone reading this article.

On the flip side we have a story related in Sunday school of a woman objecting to “Rudolph” being played in school because it is too “Christian”. Apparently she came to this conclusion, because the movie uses the word “Christmas” too often. And then there is the very public spectacle up in Washington state where the governor has allow the agnostics1 to put up a declaration of the “myth of Christmas” right beside a nativity scene on the state capital steps.

We are embracing the Santa Claus myth at every turn and the agnostics are attacking even the words that contain “Christ” at every turn. Might I dare say that the Agnostics know more about our Holy Day than we do?

You may say that having Santa in our homes is a personal family choice, but not so. Think about the effort to which we go to keep the Santa myth alive. Macy’s and CBS do their part with in store Santa’s and re-runs of Rudolph.But it does not end there. The neighbors ask the kids about Santa, the post office takes letters, the meteorologists track the unholy elf and his possessed reindeer. All the members of family, including older children are in on the joke, pretending for the benefit of the younger children. All for the purpose of keeping the little ones happy with a myth of a jolly fat man.

What if we spent this kind of effort on teaching them about the truth of Christ? How would the agnostics respond to that kind of resolve from the Christan community?

But the story of Santa Claus is nice / cute / teaching the joy of giving…” You keep telling yourself that. The story of Nicholas the Priest was a good story. A man with little means himself, throwing money in the shoes of the poor children to teach them about the undeserved gift that God gave us when he sent his own Son. The monstrosity that has become the Santa myth is far removed and has divorced itself completely from the story of Jesus and his miraculous birth.

As Christians our purpose is to worship our Lord and tell others about Him. To do so would include telling the story of the birth of Christ. The Jolly elf and his magic reindeer with the endless bag of toys (built by elves but looking very much like Sony products) doesn’t quite seem to fit. We are called to be holy, as this day is a holy day (holiday). The word means to be set apart.

When this time of celebration comes around, should we be joining the atheists in defeating the true meaning of our holiday or should we be standing apart and standing for the true story of Jesus’ birth? When we run into each other at Wal-mart, should we say \is Santa Claus ready to see you?” or should we say “are you ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth- day?”

Yes Virginia , this really is a Jesus Christ.