The eternally liberal town of Eugene, Oregon lost their cross a few years ago. It used to overlook the town from Skinner Butte, but after a heated battle it was replaced by an American flag. This year the diversity police focused on a new target. The Christmas tree in the Hult Center for the Performing Arts was axed - you should excuse the expression - “as a way to honor the city's changing population,” said the center’s administrators. Angry critics made such a fuss that the issue showed up on CNN’s talk-back live last week. CNN’s web page doesn’t carry transcripts from that show, so I have to rely on my memory, but I do remember some of the content.
The chaplain at the State University approved of removing the Christmas tree in the interest of diversity.
A seminary student in the audience felt that including everybody was a better way of expressing diversity than excluding everybody.
But the biggest issue, the one that people spent the most time on, was whether a Christmas tree was a religious symbol or a cultural symbol.
The people who wanted it taken down, by and large, were absolutely certain that it was a religious symbol. The people who wanted it left up understood that it’s cultural - actually, a pagan Germanic custom brought to England by Prince Albert when he married Queen Victoria back in the early 19th century. And since it is cultural, they argued, there could be no first amendment question about the government endorsing religion with taxpayer dollars. Mind you, the Hult Center isn’t the Town Hall - it just receives government funds.
Well, you’re all familiar with the arguments by now, I’m sure.
As it happens, it looks as though Eugene is going to get their Christmas tree back again next year. Some people started calling the Hult Center the Ebenezer Hult Center - in honor of Scrooge, of course. City officials aren't ready to get into a cultural war. "The city is not banning Christmas trees," said a spokesman. "We're not interested in being on the bleeding edge of political correctness." The local paper said that the decision was less a demonstration of social sensitivity than “politically bending over backward until you fall on your head." And a local tree farm has already picked a 20-foot fir as a donation.
Because who could be against Christmas? The “spirit of Christmas” is everywhere. Peace on earth, good will to men - oops! I mean to all people, of course. Santa Claus and presents, angels and babies, reindeer and snowmen and family togetherness. The amount of money spent in this country on Christmas tree ornaments, lawn decorations and lights would probably feed the average third world country for a year. Everybody loves Christmas. Even if they don’t believe in Jesus. And of course as the focus of the holiday moves away from Jesus, more money gets spent on empty things, people hoping to squeeze some sort of meaning out of the tinsel before the tree dries up and has to be thrown out.
But the cross on the hill overlooking Eugene was removed without much of an outcry. After all, there’s no question but what that’s a religious symbol, is there? And the cross doesn’t have the constituency, the fan club, the general cultural popularity that Christmas trees have. Because, of course, the Christmas tree is, they got that one right, a cultural symbol rather than a religious one. It’s a cultural symbol adopted by a nominally Christian country, but it has nothing to do with what we believe, or who we believe in. It’s a cultural symbol standing for those bits of Christianity that offend no one, that can be adopted - that have been adopted - by people who really don’t want anything to do with God.
And that is why we need to examine very closely what it is that we mean by the Christmas spirit. Is “the Christmas spirit” a Christian spirit at all? How much of our activity at this season owes more to the Christmas spirit than to the spirit of Christ?
John gives two tests here, for discerning whether or not something - some teaching, some practice - is authentically Christian.
The first test is, What does this activity or belief say about Jesus?
Now, back in John’s day, the question was whether Jesus was human or divine or some mixture of both. Remember, I’ve been talking a bit about the set of false beliefs called Gnosticism, or dualism. This was a big deal back then. The issue now is a bit different - but the question is still the same. What does this activity or belief say about Jesus?
There’s nothing wrong with Christmas trees. We have three of them right here in the church! All people everywhere express their beliefs in terms of cultural symbols, and the Christmas tree is perfectly appropriate. There’s nothing wrong with lights, either. At their best, they represent the star the wise men followed. They are also appropriate symbols of the wonders of that long-ago night when the angels lit up the sky for the stunned shepherds. Gifts... well, it started as a recognition of the gifts brought to Jesus. And in some countries gifts aren’t even opened until Epiphany, January 6, the day we celebrate the arrival of the magi. But it’s become a bit of a problem. Only a hundred years ago, a typical gift for child would be an orange, a handful of candy or nuts, and one toy. Maybe a pair of socks or mittens. Today... well, I‘ll let you reflect on what’s under your Christmas tree. And I admit I’m as bad as anyone, when it comes to my godchildren. My biggest piece of luggage wasn’t enough for all the gifts I’m taking, I had to pack a large cardboard box as well.
What does this glut of gift-giving say about Jesus? Does it say anything about Jesus? In my opinion, Christmas as practiced in this country has almost nothing to do with Jesus. To the extent that it does say anything about him, I think the message is that self-indulgence and materialism is a legitimate expression of Christianity. That is a dreadful distortion of the gospel, and participating in our culture to the extent that we do probably does more damage not only to our witness but also to our practice than we know. Our willingness to extend our generosity outside of our own families, as evidenced by the pile of presents under the tree for the children who lost their mother, goes part of the way to mitigate the charge, but not entirely. We’d be a lot better off if we gave presents to each other at a different time of the year.
The second test for Christian authenticity that John prescribes is, "What does the world think about it?"
John points out that if the world approves of a practice, that’s an almost certain signal that it isn’t truly Christian. And that’s the key here. Notice that the cross was rejected, while the Christmas tree was embraced. The world has found a way to turn a profit on Christianity at Christmastime; but it can’t do anything about the cross - except turn it into a fashion statement. Crosses are popular nowadays, I’ll admit ... but I’m convinced that the fashion industry is responding to a widespread spiritual hunger rather than leading the charge.
But Christmas ... you really have to hunt, don’t you, to find religious meaning hidden under all the wrapping paper. The central symbol of the world’s Christmas is Santa Claus the sugar daddy, not Jesus Christ the savior. Santa doesn’t even leave lumps of coal for naughty children any more, it might damage their little egos. Angels have become popular, it’s true - but the angel pin on your lapel or the crocheted angel on your tree would never need to say, “Don’t be afraid.” The shepherd with the lamb is cute and cuddly, rather than a dirty outcast.
The Christmas spirit that is abroad in the world says nothing about Jesus. The Christmas spirit abroad in the world has been taken over by what John called the antichrist. And the antichrist - however you define him, as a personal evil or simply the spirit of the age - is strengthened whenever and wherever people cling to the belief that you can have what Jesus promised - without Jesus. People want what Jesus promised - peace, love, togetherness, harmony and understanding - but they don’t want Jesus. Because the baby in the manger is the same Jesus who went to the cross. They don’t want that Jesus.
The same sacrificial spirit that Jesus showed when he went willingly to the cross was present in his birth at Bethlehem. To be born human, subject to cold and hunger, misunderstanding, rejection and contempt, took as much love and courage and dedication - if not more - than death on the cross. Jesus lived about 33 years in human flesh, out of love for lost and desperate humanity, claiming nothing as his own except his relationship to God. The agony of the cross lasted 24 hours. And most Christian sacrifice involves living a humble life rather than dying a spectacular death. Martyrdom has adrenaline to sustain it - as well, of course, as the grace of God. But a humble life gets no applause.
People want what Christmas proclaims. People want what Jesus promises.
People want peace - peace within their own families and peace in the world - but you cannot have it without Jesus. Making peace requires forgiveness, and it is only possible to forgive the unforgivable when you realize that Jesus has paid for ALL sin, and that God will take care of justice.
People want love - love from friends and family, children and parents. But no one can love enough to satisfy our deep hunger - except God.
People want togetherness - but how can all of us very different people simply accept each other as we are even delight in one another - without demanding that you or you or you fulfill our expectations - unless we trust the Holy Spirit to make us one as we follow Christ together?
How can we understand each other - or our world - without submission to God’s revelation in Scripture and in Christ, showing us our sinfulness, our need for forgiveness, our fallen and hungry humanity?
People want joy - and discover that chasing pleasure can’t even buy its poor relation happiness. Being human means experiencing pain and loss and suffering - as the Buddha rightly discovered - and neither tablespoonsful of sugar or voluntary starvation can disguise the bitter taste for long. The only solution is the sure promise of new life, one without pain and loss and suffering, the one purchased for us by Jesus Christ.
After the presents are opened, the lights and ornaments are removed, the sweet-smelling needles dry up and fall away. Strip the branches off and you have a bare tree. Take one of the discarded branches and turn it perpendicular to the trunk and you have a cross. Its shadow lies across the Bethlehem manger, its power fuels the Bethlehem star. The spirit of Christmas flowers at Easter on the cross. Under the celebration of Christmas lies the recognition of our broken humanity.
Not one of us can experience the true meaning of Christmas unless we face up to how desperately we need the gift God has given us in Jesus Christ. The proper response is awestruck and humble wonder. And then we are open to receive the joy and triumph with which we come to worship at the manger. They are God’s gift, not our right. Because what we celebrate at this time of year is not a general feeling of goodwill, but a decisive act in history that changed the world.
What is proclaimed here on the tree that is cut down to shine for a moment is something even greater than the beauty of God’s creation - it is God’s redemption. It is no wonder that the world rejects it. The spirit of the world desperately denies our need for redemption, and rejects the spirit of Christ, because fears it. And rightfully so, because Jesus Christ - on the cross - has already exposed the world for what it is - and defeated it.
