Several years ago, when Donald Trump was running for the US Presidency, he wanted to convince evangelical voters that he was one of them, so he let it be known that he was a Christian, born and raised Presbyterian even. That was a bit of a surprise to us Presbyterians, but no matter. Reporters pressed him on that and asked which he preferred, the Old Testament or the New. He said he liked them both. They asked him what was his favorite Bible verse; he said he didn’t have a favorite, he liked them all. Uh-huh.

Well, most of us do have a favorite or two, and I would be willing to bet (although raised as a Presbyterian, I was taught early on that such would be frowned upon) that many would choose John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” An unusual text for this time of year, eh? Not really. Stay with me (John 3:16).

Admittedly, things can be confusing right now. You are familiar with the cartoon, “Family Circus.” At Christmas time, Big Sister comes to P. J. and says, “Want me to tell you a story, P. J.? Jesus was born just in time for Christmas up at the North Pole surrounded by eight tiny reindeer and the Virgin Mary. Then Santa Claus showed up with lots  of toys and stuff and some swaddling clothes, the Three Wise Men and the elves all sang carols, while the Little Drummer Boy and Scrooge helped Joseph trim the tree. In the meantime, Frosty the Snowman saw the star...”.¹

Hmm. As we say, confusing. It is even confusing in the church — congregations regularly wrestle with how to go about the celebration. We look at the calendar and see that December 25^th has not come yet — but there is still the temptation to jump right over Advent and directly to Christmas in our music and worship. The mall does it; why not us? Then there are the obligatory annual reminders that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season,” and to “Keep Christ in Christmas,” despite the fact that we know he has never left it. We come into church on a Sunday and beat ourselves up about excessive spending, excessive partying, excessive scurrying, excessive excesses, then go out and repeat the process all over again.

The reason for all the confusion is that we are celebrating two holidays at this time of year, not one. They are related — both are called Christmas — but they are very different; one is sacred, the other, as young Marvin would ruefully note, is secular.

If it is any comfort, the confusion goes way, way back. If you look up the origins of Christmas in the encyclopedia, you will find material like this:

The reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains uncertain, but most probably the reason is that early Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the “birthday of the unconquered sun” (natalis solis invicti); this festival celebrated the winter solstice, when the days again begin to lengthen and the sun begins to climb higher in the sky. The traditional customs connected with Christmas have accordingly developed from several sources as a result of the coincidence of the celebration of the birth of Christ with the pagan agricultural and solar observances at midwinter. In the Roman world the Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and exchange of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of the Persian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness. On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor.²

Okay. You have probably heard all that before, or at least variations of it. But, to be accurate, the choice of December 25 as the date to celebrate the holy birth is not as mysterious as some would have us believe. You see, there is another festival which the church has observed for centuries (and even before any celebration of Christmas) called the Feast of the Annunciation. It is observed on March 25 and commemorates the angel Gabriel’s visit to Jesus’ mother: “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” (Luke 1:30-31). Do the math. Nine months from March 25 is December 25. Voilá! Christmas. Is that really the date of Jesus’ birth? Probably not, but at least you can see where it came from — it is more than simply a “Christianizing” of Saturnalia.

Yes, the celebration became a big deal, despite the fact that the church insisted then (as it does now), that the really big deal is Easter. By the fifth century, the Festival of the Nativity had taken on such importance in the Christian world that it signaled the beginning of the liturgical year. This continued up until the eleventh century when the period of Advent was added to the Christmas cycle and the first Sunday in Advent from then on became the start of the new liturgical year, a practice which, as you know, continues to this day.³

Along the way, Christian beliefs combined with existing pagan feasts and winter rituals to create many of the long-standing traditions of Christmas celebrations which we continue to observe. Christmas trees, decorations, parties, gift giving, and so on. Mistletoe? Ancient Europeans believed that the mistletoe plant held magical powers to give life and fertility, to bring about peace, and to protect against disease. Northern Europeans associated the plant with the Norse goddess of love, Freya, and developed the custom of kissing underneath mistletoe branches. We Christians stole the practice, and I, for one, am forever grateful!

Of course, the celebrations can become excessive.  For  a  brief time during the seventeenth century, the Puritans banned Christmas in England and in some English colonies in North America because they felt it had become a season best known for gambling, flamboyant public behavior, and overindulgence in food and drink. Sound familiar?

What it all amounts to is this: confusion. Yes, as people of faith at Christmas we celebrate God’s incomparable gift of Jesus, the one who bridges the gap between earth and heaven, our Redeemer, our Savior. But as products of our culture, we also celebrate the secular appurtenances that have grown up around the festival. Both are called Christmas, but they are very different. One holiday has fir trees, tinsel and trappings, and these days, secular Christmas begins with TV commercials as soon as the back-to-school specials are done in September. The other holiday has a humble birth, lowly shepherds, heavenly angels, God in human flesh, and begins on Christmas Eve. Two Christmas celebrations. Very different, but I would insist that they need not be mutually exclusive.  If we can learn to separate them, then we might actually come to enjoy both. They can complement one another rather than compete with one another.

Now, with that in mind, hear again this  favorite scripture text: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) For God so loved the world that he gave... What could be more “Christmassy” than giving? Christmas is the one time of the year when our thoughts tend more toward giving than to getting. Even the most selfish among us find our thoughts turned toward others. We go out of our way to consider family and friends. We even do things for people we normally forget: food baskets for the poor, toys for tots, and so on. You remember what happened to Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol — after being the stingiest man in all of literature, because of Christmas, he changes. And finally, he vows near the end of the story to “honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” In my files is a brief note recalling a television show that was on years ago, “Doogie Howser, MD.” Remember that one? I never bothered to watch very often because the premise of a teenage physician weighing matters of life and death equally with the trials and tribulations of puberty was a bit too silly for me. So saying, I do recall seeing an episode around this time of year which had Doogie spending half of the show trying to get out of working on Christmas Eve so he could go to a party, and the other half of the show repenting of the deception he had employed to accomplish that questionable end. At the end of the program, Doogie sat down in front of his personal computer and made an entry into his electronic journal. He wrote, “Getting is good — Giving is better. Once you understand that, it’s always Christmas.” Hear, hear!

Christmas text: “For God so loved the world that he gave...”

And who is the personification of giving in our culture? Our kids know if we don’t — Santa Claus. Christian pulpits occasionally object to putting too much emphasis on Saint Nick, and there is no question that it happens. But if Jesus has to share these celebrations with anyone, I am glad it is Santa because that jolly old elf with the strange wardrobe and the desperate need of a haircut makes the idea of giving come alive in ways that no pulpit ever has. The sacred and the secular meet. God bless Santa!

At this time of year, we hear again that famous editorial that appeared in the New York Sun in 1897 in response to a little girl’s letter. She wrote, “Dear Editor: I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, `If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth — is there a Santa Claus?” and the letter was signed, “Virginia O’Hanlon.”

The response was a classic. It read in part, “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist... How dreary would be the world   if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias...

“No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia... no, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”⁴

It was a beautiful response to a little girl’s question. Of course, as Virginia grew older, she began to conceive of Santa Claus in a different way than when she was eight years old. We all do. As Paul wrote, “When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me” (1 Cornthians 13:11). But the image of that broad, happy face “and a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly” continue to bring us joy no matter how old we become. It is an image of giving, of generosity, of unselfishness, of love, that is without parallel in all of mythology. That is why I say, “God bless Santa!”

Yes, there is a parallel between the myth and the fact. It cannot be pressed too far, but this spirit of giving that we celebrate in Santa Claus finds its root in the other celebration, the real Christmas story. It was totally generous, totally unselfish, totally loving for God to give us Jesus...our Savior. As scripture has it, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” (Galatians 4:4-5). Children do not have to worry about “better watch out/better not cry,” because he seems to come to  us most especially at the point of our tears. Children need not concern ourselves that “He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice,” because he already knows all the things that make us fail to live up to even old Scrooge’s promise about honoring Christmas all the year. He comes to us and invites us to accept the gift he offers. The Christmas verse is, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”

Giving is what Christmas is all about. God has given us a wonderful gift. Jesus. Celebrate the gift. And celebrate the other Christmas as well, the one that features Santa, our culture’s personification of giving — sitting there in the center of the mall with kids on his lap, standing on  a street corner ringing a bell beside a kettle, going “Ho, Ho, Ho” as he rides his sleigh into the night sky of your TV screen — because Santa is about giving too. God bless Santa.

Which holiday are you going to celebrate this year? Both, I hope. Both are wonderful. If you are like me, before December 24, you went to the parties, sent Christmas cards, decorated the house, and probably spent more money than you had planned. But now that the holy night has arrived, you leave the noisy party and join the commemoration of something beyond imagining - the incarnation, the coming of the Lord of all the universe in human flesh in the person of the Babe of Bethlehem. Amazing! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” No wonder it is a favorite verse of many Christians. Enjoy the celebrations. Enjoy both Christmases. And God bless us everyone!

Amen!