So this is Christmas…

Merry Christmas, everyone. At the risk of being a bit of a grinch, I thought I’d share this video set to the Christmas classic, Happy Xmas (War is Over). I know I should probably just sit back and enjoy the time of relaxation and indulgence that typically characterizes this holiday, but something within me is irked by a combination of guilt and [likely self-righteous] indignation.

I think what it boils down to is my [unfortunate] inability to turn off the consumer-critique that often accompanies my observation of almost all North American “holidays,” an inner-monologue that tends to preoccupy my thoughts in the absence of my usual work. So while I should be working toward being fully present with my family, I can’t help but feel a little angsty about how shallow and self-centered Christmas seems to be.

In the midst of the gluttonous meals, needless consumption of retail goods, and hurried schedule from one thing to the next– all in the name of “celebration”– it is difficult to know how Christmas can, by any means, take on the significance that it is supposed to. A Christian understanding of Christmas, in spite of its pagan roots and syncretistic tendencies, is a holy day of remembering that God has begun the work of reconciling the world to God’s self– and that God’s grand mission of restoring his broken creation is initiated in a most unexpected way: by God showing up in solidarity with our humanity.

This foundational tenet of Christianity (“God with us”) should not be sentimentalized by the theological equivalent of “holiday cheer;” rather, it should compel us to reflect and act on the reality that we have been commissioned into a world of violence and poverty. We cannot celebrate without remembering those who suffer, and we cannot remember without making their pain present among us. In short, Christmas is a time for compassion over consumption, for suffering with, not spending on.

And so this is Christmas for weak and for strong,
The rich and the poor ones, the road is so long.

And so happy Christmas for black and for white
For the yellow and red ones let’s stop all the fights.

A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.

And so this is Christmas and what have we done
Another year over, a new one just begun.

War is over if you want it, war is over now.

Peace to you and yours.