THE INVINCIBLE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Did you know that at one time in history, Christmas was banned? It was in 17th Century England during the tenure of Oliver Cromwell, Lord High Protector of the Commonwealth, whose Puritan Party passed legislation outlawing Christmas. There would be no more lavish and raucous celebrations, no more commercial exploitation, no more Christmas, period.

The people, of course, were outraged. There was rioting in the streets. Secret Christmas festivities broke out all over the country. Christmas just wouldn’t be denied.

But Cromwell and his dour bunch retaliated. Parliament decreed penalties of imprisonment for anyone caught celebrating the holiday. Each year, town criers went through the streets in the middle of December reminding people that “Christmas and all other superstitious festivals” should not be observed and that businesses should remain open. There were to be no displays of Christmas decorations or anything that smacked of merry-making.

When the Puritans were thrown out of power, Christmas celebrations returned. Except in cold New England, where the holiday remained outlawed (at least in Massachusetts) until the second half of the nineteenth century.

There are days when I get pretty puritanical about Christmas. The extreme commercialization, the frenzy and craze to consume too often drown out the meaning and the message of this sacred season. In many ways, it feels like the culture has robbed us of our holy day.

Christmas is an undisciplined, unorganized, chaotic mess.

But Christmas is also invincible—at least the spirit of Christmas is. It continues to live behind all of the consumerism and holiday fluff.

Many years ago Howard Thurman, the African-American theologian, said, “The spirit of Christmas—what is it? It is the rainbow arched over the roof of the sky when the clouds are heavy with foreboding.

It is the cry of life in the newborn babe when, forced from its mother’s nest, it claims its rightto live. It is the brooding Presence of the Eternal Spirit making crooked paths straight, roughplaces smooth, tired hearts refreshed, dead hopes stirred with the newness of life. It is the promise of tomorrow at the close of every day, the movement of life in defiance of death,and the assurance that love is sturdier than hate, that right is more confident than wrong, that good is more permanent than evil.”

The spirit of Christmas is a mirror in which is reflected the very best that life can be. In that mirror we see ourselves, moved my generosity, inspired by joy, uplifted by love, encouraged by hope–not only for ourselves but for the whole creation, even for people and things we usually find unlovable. The homeless family is transformed in our sight into the very image of Mary and Joseph; the abused little baby, abandoned in a garbage compactor in some squalid tenement house, becomes the Christ child upon which the hopes of the world are seen to rest.

And we, too, are drawn into the drama, agents of God’s plan for the reconciliation of the worldin this small, helpless baby who came into this chaotic, disorganized mess of a planet with the peace and the purpose of God, and who comes even now to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

As we make our way through these weeks leading to the day of Christ’s birth, may the invincible spirit of Christmas find its way to us. May this crass and crazy season, with all its excess, one day fade away. Not because it is forbidden, banned or outlawed, but because the simple truth of God’s everlasting love finds expression in the daily lives that we lead.

Advent Blessings,

Pastor Roy

P.S. Click the picture or link below to read the full December 2024 edition of The Beacon. 

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