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ut when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a B woman, subject to the law. 5God sent him to buy free- dom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. Galatians 4:4-5 (NLT)

Not a Human Creation Why did we invent ? And by “Christmas” I do not mean the birth of of Nazareth in a stable in around the year 1 AD, but rather the modern celebration of a year-end holiday that has become a huge cornerstone of our modern western calendar and its economy. Over the past 200 years we have, as a society in North America and Europe, invented and refined and modified this gigantic annual cultural event. From the writings of novelist Charles Dickens (whose best-selling little story put Christmas “on the map”) and poet Clement Clarke Moore (“A Visit from ”), to Coca-Cola ads featuring a fat man in a red coat, to Bing Crosby crooning “White Christmas,” to billions of dollars in advertising, the modern world is unimaginable without Christmas. And it is possible for millions of people to go through an entire December without giv- ing a thought to the actual birth of Christ. Christmas can exist today completely apart from its origins. So the question I will pose and try to answer today is: Why did we invent this whole modern holiday complex?

And let’s make the distinction very clear: We did not invent the orig- inal Christmas. That was not a human creation at all—not a single element of it. The whole thing was completely God’s idea. Not only did He think it up and carry it out without our help or input; it was also something that not a single person even guessed would happen. Nor could we have ever imagined it. The central problem of human nature and human history—namely, how can mankind cure our deadly sin problem and get ourselves back to our Creator?—was un- solvable by human intellect and human effort. Not even the smartest and most pious could come up with a solution.

There were a few human beings who were given by God Himself various hints and glimpses of what He would do. One suggested that a virgin would somehow have a baby, contrary to all nature. Another offered the thought that a special child might be born in Bethlehem someday. And a third predicted that a direct descendant of the leg- endary King David would one day arise. But like people who are each handed just one piece of a complex jigsaw puzzle, no individual had all the information. And even the scholars who had the entire set of Old Testament prophecies at their disposal couldn’t figure it out. Only when it happened perfectly, according to God’s precise plan, did the various puzzle pieces come together and make sense.

And no one guessed the timing of God’s arrival to rescue and redeem the inhabitants of Planet Earth. When He came, He caught everyone flat-footed and unprepared. In hindsight we can see how wise and perfect the plan and its timetable turned out to be. The Apostle Paul (years after the fact) hints at this in our scripture text for this morn- ing: “when the right time came, God sent His Son” (Gal. 4:4).

Today, historians can show us why the first century AD was the best time since the beginning of human history for a world-changing message to be introduced. The Pax Romana, the extensive Roman road system and well-developed sea travel across the Mediterranean facilitated the rapid expansion of news. For the first time in history the civilized world spoke a common language. The global spread of colonies and outposts of Jews formed a ready network of syna- gogues across the Roman world that were perfect launching pads for

 2 the message of the Messiah in every major city. The timing could not have been better.

Even the location was just right: though the Romans thought of their city as the center of the universe and viewed the Middle East as a distant fringe area, when we look at a world map we see it different- ly. That little strip of habitable land known today as Israel was, in fact, centrally located as the land bridge connecting Europe, Africa and Asia. The apostles, fanning out from there in every direction, did indeed have an ideal launching pad for taking their message to the world.

The details of the Nativity story, from Mary’s supernatural pregnan- cy to the “coincidence” of a forced trip to Bethlehem at her ninth month, to the divine appearance of angels and a miraculous star, prompting the arrival of eyewitnesses in the form of shepherds and Magi—all of these elements were too extraordinary and unusual to be invented by even the most creative human being. A George Lucas might dream up a “Star Wars” epic to entertain generations, or a J.K. Rowling might invent Harry Potter and his wizarding world; but only God could have come up with something as outlandish and un- believable as what we find in the Christmas story. It was all His in- vention and His production from start to finish.

The Modern Christmas But the birth of Christ is not central to modern Christmas. We Chris- tians have to work hard just to keep injecting into our culture a few references here and there, as a faint remembrance of the holiday’s origins. The bumper stickers and signs in church yards and bill- boards imploring “Keep Christ in Christmas” appear because His birth is so relentlessly crowded out. But rather than just pointing our fingers at and scolding those who have missed the point, let’s try to put ourselves in the mind of those who are apart from Christ to un- derstand them.

3  I will try to analyze this morning why it is that we in the modern world have invented Christmas the way we have. It is true that, from a historical perspective, a few of our modern had some origin in parts of old Christian customs. For the first thou- sand years or more of the Church the birth of Jesus was not a big holi- day; in many places it wasn’t even celebrated. There was no consen- sus on the date or time of year (many scholars now believe that Jesus was more likely born in the springtime than in December). All the emphasis was on the climactic events of what we call Holy Week: the death and resurrection of Jesus. Those were the milestone holidays.

Medieval churches began the custom of marking a day for Christ’s birth, just as they observed a day in honor of each of the saints. For example, a day would be set aside to honor St. Peter and a worship service on that day would be called “Peter Mass”; other days were “Paul Mass” or “Thomas Mass” or “Mary Mass”; thus, the day to honor Christ’s birth would be called “Christ Mass.” Some traditions began in response to reflections on the significance of God entering the world. Martin Luther is credited with the idea of putting lit can- dles on an evergreen tree—evergreen to symbolize the eternal life Christ brings, and light to signify His entry to a dark world as the true light. Many of the songs—some dating back many centuries, such as “The First Noel”—tell the Gospel message clearly (and secu- lar people today might sing or hum these songs without giving any thought to their real meaning). The tradition of gift-giving to others was inspired by the gifts of the Magi to honor the Christ Child—and, even more, by the words of John 3:16 that “God loved the world so much He gave His Son” as the greatest of all gifts. These have been brought into our secular celebrations, but many more aspects of a modern Christmas have no specific Christian origins.

Christmas Fulfills Human Needs What is it inside of us that caused us to want to invent the annual holiday of modern Christmas that is so central to our society? I be- lieve there are five core human needs that are fulfilled by our hodge- podge of cultural traditions.

 4 1) Christmas was invented because we all have a need for Sabbath. The natural tendency of humans is to emphasize work above all else, and to require it of others. was the prototype: in his relentless pursuit of wealth and success, he resented giving his overworked clerk Bob Cratchit even one day off! It’s an easy and seductive lie— that the meaning of life is found only in our work and its financial rewards. All the way back in the earliest days of the nation of Israel, the principle of Sabbath was laid down for the good of mankind. The Sabbath was not an act of strict regulation and legalism, but of grace. People need time off to be refreshed, renewed and recreated. We need regular reminders of the sacred to balance out the secular demands of work. And what we have invented in our modern holiday tradition is, consciously or unconsciously, meant to fulfill that deep human need. Those who are clueless to the meaning of Christ’s coming to earth still look forward to time off, to the holiday or vacation inter- ruption in the regular flow of work. Even the federal govern- ment and nearly every employer (except those like hospitals which are essential to survival of their patients) expect and look forward to their Christmas holiday.

2) Christmas was invented to remind us of the seasons built into the rhythm of life on earth. In the Northern Hemisphere many of our secular Christmas traditions are really built around finding good things in the otherwise-negative season of winter: snowmen and sleigh rides and “white ” and roasting chestnuts in a fireplace on a cold winter night. We have made this annual holiday a way to lighten the bur- den of cold and storms and dark nights that come at this time. (Of course, we in Florida have to adapt to the irrelevance of all the cold-weather imagery—and those customs make even less sense in Brazil and South Africa, where it’s the middle of summer.) Why has the 21st century embraced celebrations of winter? Because our technology has allowed us to be climate-

5  controlled indoors, and to avoid the rhythms of seasons that were so much a part of life in previous generations. And God intended life on earth to exist in a rhythmic pattern. Ecclesias- tes 3 says, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”

3) Christmas was invented because we need to bring families back together and reconnect them. In past times and other places, people tend to live all their lives in the city or town where they were born, and to be constantly living with their relatives across multiple generations. It is no longer that way in a world where generations scatter. How common is it for an American family to have children, parents and grandpar- ents all living within a few miles of each other? It’s increas- ingly rare. So, whether by careful thought or just by circum- stance, Christmas has become that glue that holds together far-flung and separated families. It is the time of year when those relationships are renewed. And we need that. It’s a good and blessed thing to reconnect with those we love.

4) Christmas was invented because even a scientifically and technologically advanced world needs to experience the mystical and spiritual dimension. We have relentlessly tried to drive God out of our lives, and in the process have become one-dimensional. From the very first humans who had brains to think, we have always had a longing for something beyond the physical, the world we perceive with our five senses. We have longed for mystery and magic. We have been touched by love, by wonder, and by imagination. For Christians, the real Christmas story is the time when the spiritual and eternal came down and touched the physical world, altering every- thing. For those who don’t know or believe, there is still a longing for things beyond the material. That is why our crea- tive unbelievers have invented all sorts of myths and stories (like and his magical powers) to fulfill that inner

 6 longing for something more. It is why the holiday movies and books focus so much on love and romance—those invisible forces that can’t be seen or measured but we know are real.

5) Christmas was invented because a world that is obsessed with the present and the “new and improved” needs to be anchored to its past. Culture changes so rapidly today. In the west, our memories are so short. We are bombarded constantly with the relentless succession of news; today’s events demand our full attention, and we forget what the headlines were last week and last month. Generations are being raised to adulthood with very little knowledge of even their recent past. But we were not created by God to live just in the present. We need to know the past and feel rooted to it. We didn’t invent most of the blessings we enjoy; they were passed down to us as a legacy, and we need to be grateful. Christmas is one of the rare times in the year when even non-believers find themselves looking back and remembering—their own past and their family’s past. Christians are, of course, a people who consciously exist based on the past—and especially the foundations of what God has done for us in Christ and the truths He has given to us in His Word.

It’s become clichéd and timeworn for pastors in the 20th and 21st cen- turies to criticize and bemoan the “secularization and commerciali- zation of Christmas.” I’m not going to do that. Of course it’s true that millions of our contemporaries are clueless to what the original Christmas was all about. But I am grateful that our unbelieving soci- ety has at least adopted the traditions it has. I may prefer the world to be more Christ-centered, but I will celebrate even the non- Christian dimensions to this time of year—because they have been invented to meet real human needs and longings. They fulfill some- thing, no matter how imperfect they may be, of what God our Crea- tor put inside all of us.

7  The Bonus As believers, we can fully enjoy the secular Christmas without shame. Watch and cry during Hallmark movies. Wonder at and en- joy the artistry in the displays of light and decorations and Christ- mas trees. Sing the old songs about sleigh rides. Buy your gifts and wrap them brightly. Bake your Christmas cookies. Send your cards. Celebrate with those you love.

And as an extra bonus, we get to add to all the pleasures of the Christmas season the incomparable joys of knowing personally the One who came down to earth at Bethlehem so that He might live in our hearts forever. 

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