Is Christmas good for the Economy?
1 Peter 3:15
It’s that time of the year again. Black Friday sales are everywhere. We are beckoned to go out and buy gifts for our loved ones. Businesses everywhere are hoping for good sales this season. It is known as Black Friday because it is during this season that merchants hope to break into the black on their ledger sheets. Without a good Christmas sales season, many merchants may go bankrupt. this year is especially troubling as forecasts are that it will be a subpar shopping season. People’s lines of credit are tapped out, and with the rising prices, there just isn’t any room to spend. It seems as though Santa Claus might not be able to work his magic this year.
Is Christmas good for the economy? Let us answer this question first. Then me might speculate that if it isn’t good for the economy, what then is it good for?
At least in the West, people tend to spend everything they make. they also tend to spend everything they can borrow. This would be true, even if there was no Christmas. They would spend it on birthdays, national holidays, and the such. In order to prepare for the Christmas season, they have to pay workers overtime to make the gifts. They have to build warehouses to store these gifts. Then they have to hire extra help in the stores to sell the merchandise. Then they lay workers off in January and we have to pay unemployment benefits. This means that concentrating so much of the shopping into a narrow window actually adds unnecessary costs and diminishes profits. In an economy in which spending is more evenly distributed over the year, there would be less cost and greater profit. Birthdays are distributed throughout the year. why not concentrate our gift-giving on these days instead? Just thinking.
Merchants have tried to overcome the pitfalls of concentrating shopping into a narrow window by extending the Christmas season. This started with the Friday after the American Thanksgiving as the official start of the Christmas buying season. At first the gimmick worked. The people piled into the stores on Black Friday to grab up the merchandise which was supposedly on sale. It was so good that many stores opened up for Black Friday at 6 PM on Thanksgiving to deal with the crowds. Then came Cyber-Monday for online deals. They merchants wanted to make sure that their “Black” season got off to a good start.
Eventually, Black Friday started losing its influence. Many realized that if they only waited a few days that they could get better deals. In fact, many waited for the after-Christmas sales to but the heavily discounted merchandise that the stores were eager to dispose of.
Then Black Friday sales started moving to before Thanksgiving in the hope to regain sales momentum. Then came Christmas in July sales. They wanted to exploit the idea of Christmas into months in which sales are flat. From an economic point of view, this seemed like a good thing as it intended to spread sales throughout the year. This is because the word “Christmas” has been associated with buying. If Christmas is good for the economy, then why not Christmas in February too? But the abuse of such a holiday dilutes its significance. Christmas in an increasingly secular society is losing its grip. But no worry for the merchants. They will find some other gimmick to replace it with. There is no end to the genius of the marketers.
I would suppose if one’s business was to sell Christmas trees and decorations that Christmas is indeed good for their economy. But it is no big deal to change the decorations. Now there are Halloween lights, for example.
The United States and Europe have become multi-cultural. It used to be that they were “Christian” nations. But now there are people from all over the world. Some are Jewish. Some are Buddhist. Some are Muslim. Some are Atheists. For Christmas, at least in the sight of the merchants, in order to be of universal appeal to such a diverse group, must not be seen as being “Christian.” One of these adaptions was in the rise of the modern conception of Santa Claus, who little resembles the St. Nicolaus of history. This adaption was made to appeal to Jewish people to whom the story of the birth of Jesus Christ was of little importance. In many respects, even today, The Gospel of Jesus Christ is anathema to them. Santa Claus included them as well. As Santa is a known fiction, so one need be offended at a jolly fat man. He might put coal in your stocking, “so be good for goodness sake.” Pay no attention to the Lord Jesus who lights the coals of judgment and hellfire. They say that Santa knows if you’ve been bad or good. There is a general appeal to morality, but as a fiction, he need not be taken seriously. And if one is offended as being white, he can be recast in any color, or any gender as well.
Is Christmas good psychotherapy? It is well-known that many are affected by what is known as Seasonal-Affective Disorder (SAD). As the days shorten, people tend to become irritable and depressed due to the lack of sunlight. People knew this long before Freud. there were many Pagan festivals centered around the winter solstice as well. The idea of feasting provided therapy to these psychological effects. Is Christmas good therapy then? As we have already seen, there are alternatives to Christmas directed at the sadness that shortened days, cold, and dark nights. Secondly, the Christmas season seems full of ill-will. People fight in the lines at the stores. Crime goes up. It does not seem that if it is therapy, it is not particularly effective therapy. One could say that it would be far worse if there wasn’t a Christmas or some sort of solstice festival I can’t answer this directly. Let it be said that Christmas is of limited efficacy at best. Maybe it actually brings out the worst in us as well as the best. One can also observe that in times of loss, especially of loved ones, Christmas serves as a reminder of this loss. Songs like “Blue Christmas” or “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” testify to this sadness.
Is Christmas good for social cohesion? Social cohesion works at several levels of society. The first is the family unit. We well know that the definition of “family” has deviated quite a bit in society from the Christian standards of a man, his wife, and their children. Divorce has led to single moms or dads raising children and stepchildren. The family unit is a disaster, so anything that can stimulate social cohesion would be good, one would think. Could Christmas help fill the bill. Some would think so, and consider Christmas to be a family holiday. It is a time for the family to exchange gifts and come together around Christmas dinner. Connections can be made with extended family as well. We send those obligatory Christmas cards. Some think this family re-connection is good. In fact, it is proven difficult for me to even have Christmas Eve services at the church as members are entertaining their earthly families or shopping the last minute Christmas sales. This connection is more important to them than connecting to one’s Christian family and Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve is on Sunday this year, yet many will be missing.
As far as whether this family connection is improved by Christmas or not is an open question. I would not doubt that it is a benefit to some. But there are others who have just been through a divorce or whose family situation is so unstable that celebrating Christmas in this matter might make things worse.
The next level of social cohesion is at the community level. There are Christmas concerts, tree lightings, and other community events. People have the opportunity to come together as a group. We might meet new people as we munch on cookies and hot chocolate. Is Christmas good for social cohesion? Again, the verdict is mixed. When society in America was more generally “Christian” it served many useful purposes. If we were to look at such a time, we can see this benefit. I remember watching a video about Christmas celebrations in Tudor England before the Reformation. It dealt with the tenant farmers who worked the monastery farms. I was impressed at how harsh life was for the peasants. Besides helping to support the monks, they had to provide most of the things their economy needed. the monks did supply the people with the improving technologies of that day, so I can only wonder how bad it was before, They had to distill their own salt from plants. Salt was necessary for the preservation of food, In order to boil off the water and salt mixture, large pans had to be made of lead. This means they had to refine the lead as well. And there was need of tons of firewood as well. They had to grow their own food, graze their livestock, gather flax to make clothes by hand. Kings were always demanding taxes to fight wars over overseas possessions. Life was harsh and unequal as well.
The twelve days of Christmas helped to at least provide a little cheer to the peasants. It was a lot of work to prepare for Christmas, but the twelve day party made it worthwhile. There would be plentiful food, including imported items like dried fruit which was expensive. Time would be spent preparing delicacies like the stuffed boar’s head. Decorations such as holly were used to make wreaths and centerpieces to brighten the homes at the darkest time of years. Extra provision was made for the poor who could not provide this richness for themselves, and the peasants knew who there people were and brought food to them that they might celebrate, Christmastide began after the Christmas Eve service at the local monastery church and lasted twelve days. During this time, a degree of social reversal happened. A boy was made bishop for a day, and later a peasant was made the lord of the feast for the day. Even those higher in society bended the knee to the chosen peasant. This helped to reduce friction between the classes of people. So, here is an example of how Christmas benefited society. It was a twelve-day vacation from a miserable and hard life.
But there were excesses as well which the later Puritans disliked. there was much drunkenness which led to the loosening of morals. Christmas celebrations were actually banned at one point. I do respect the idea that the Puritans wanted to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Yet, in a way I find it hard to blame the celebrating peasants under the circumstances. But it also seems to me that the plight of the peasants could have been improved by reducing the stratification of society which made a great distinctions between the haves and the have-nots.
As far as today is concerned. I think Christmas in the Christian sense has little role in providing for social cohesion, at least in the multicultural west. In order to make for any unity, the Christian message must mostly be done away with. Schools increasingly ban the singing of true Christmas carols. They are reduced to singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Jingle Bells,” “Chestnuts Roasting over an Open Fire” and other such secular songs. In order to be “inclusive,” Christ must be excluded from his own holiday. Why call this “Christmas” at all. Some have suggested that this winter holiday be renamed “Winterval.”
You may have wondered why we read from 1 Peter which talks about giving a defense of our faith. What has this to do with Christmas? The answer is simple. One of the things which Christians must give answer to is to answer the question “What is Christmas?” If Christmas is not about the economy, a useful psychotherapy, or a means of social cohesion, what, then is it? The very reason such a question is asked in the first place implies that the Christian celebrated Christmas is radically different from the world’s celebration. To the Christian, it isn’t about the economy. It isn’t about psychotherapy. It isn’t about social cohesion in the world. We are united in Christ. He is our cohesion. He has delivered us from sin. He is the only source of healing for the soul (psyche) in Greek, And he is our economy as well.
What do we mean by “economy” in the Christian context. The word is a compound of two Greek words “oikos” which means “house” and “nomos” which means “law.” So economy basically means “rules for the house.” In the Greek world, a house was a plantation which was ruled by a master. Around him were the individual shops and houses (oikia) of the skilled laborers. Then there were slaves. The master hired a servant to manage all the matters of the household who became the chief economist. He was responsible to see that order was maintained and that everything that was needed was provided for the household. If necessary, he would trade with merchants and other plantations for items which the local plantations did not produce. He made sure tutors were hired to teach the master’s children. This was a job with great responsibilities. Jesus identified Himself as the master of the plantation who went into a far country and left the operation of the plantation to his economists and servants. He said “Occupy until I Come.” He expected the rules which he had set for the house were followed. When He returned, he expected His servants to be busy at their tasks and that everything might be in order. The Church serves Jesus in this manner. When the servants are doing what they are told, then the economy is good. The Church helps organize to provide the members of the household of Christ with all that is necessary, whether it is food and shelter or spiritual gifts.
We see that when Jesus came to the Temple, that He expected to find everything decent and in order. Instead, He found that it had become a house of merchandise rather than a house of prayer. The rules of the house had been grossly violated, so He cleansed the Temple and drove out the merchants. In many ways, Christmas has become a den of merchants rather than the prayer of contemplating the true meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger in Bethlehem, of a child who would later cleanse the Temple, die on a cross for our sins, rise the third day, ascended into heaven, and finally to return to judge the living and the dead. It is a time to wonder why the Word became flesh. It is about God’s gift to us which surpasses any gift we could give each other. The gifts of the Magi also pale in comparison.
In other words, Christmas is for Christians. Those outside have no right at all to celebrate Christmas at all, even if they call it “Christmas.” Instead the birth of Christ places them on eternal condemnation. Unless they believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, they are entirely misguided.
The verse in Peter which we read tells us that we must give an answer about why we believe in Jesus. I guess the trick here is to get them to ask the question. Do they see anything in the conduct of our lives which would prompt them. In Peter’s day, he mentions that the world thought it strange that the Christians who had once immersed themselves in riot and debauchery no longer lived that way. We see in 1 Peter words like “strange,” “strangers,” “pilgrims.” and “peculiar” are used to describe the Christian. these Christians were being persecuted because they dared to deviate from the ungodly norms of the world which surrounded them. So if we today celebrate Christmas like the Pagans, will they ever ask? If we want to make common cause with the world, will they not think that all is OK wit them. They love the message that “God is love” which means that God’s demands can be safely ignored. There is no confrontation with the Christ of Christmas.
We are expected to be Christians at all times. In this time of year in particular, this means being a Christian in a world that thinks that Christmas is about the economy, a psychotherapy, or a means of social cohesion. But it must be clearly seen that there is something “peculiar” about our understanding of Christmas. We might do some things the world would do on the surface. Christians are to celebrate Christmas. But they celebrate the birth of the Savior. We rejoice with the heavenly hosts and not with the world. On the first Christmas, the world was conducting business as usual. Augustus was issuing his decrees. Merchants were going to and fro. Armies marched to war. People looked for any occasion to get drunk and debauched. Only Joseph, Mary, and a few shepherds came to the manger. when Jesus was presented in the Temple, He was not dedicated according to the Law by the High Priest, but by the common priest Simon. He was also blessed by the widow Anna. Were there any others there who were aware of the significance of this child? the answer to this is that there were those who heard the words that came from their mouths. We would think that some believed, others mused, and yet others mocked. This family was so poor that they could only offer two turtledoves for the rites of purification. The important thing is that they were told. They were told in a Temple which had become full of worldly corruption. Likewise ,we proclaim the true meaning of Christmas in a thoroughly corrupted world. Some will believe, others will muse, and others will mock. The important thing is that they have been told, even if they did not ask. What is important is that it would be good for their economy to receive Christ as Savior and become part of the household of God.
