Many Christians are apt to be just a little bit churlish when it comes to Christmas. I sometimes get a sense that Christians are resentful that “our” festival has been stolen, taken over by revellers who are happy to sing carols and watch a school nativity play but will give little or no thought to the gospel for the rest of the year. Jesus is for life, not just for Christmas.
We have a particular problem with Father Christmas (or Santa Claus, if you must). Never a year goes by without some story in the news of a conflict between the church and one of her most widely celebrated saints. Here’s one from last year. I have spoken to many Christians over the years who have tied themselves up in knots over whether to allow their children to enjoy this particular bit of fairytale. Here’s Josh Claybourn having an anti-Santa moment:
For good measure, we even celebrate Santa and one of the most significant Godly holidays on the same day. Is it any wonder that a child’s perception of God can often get tangled up in the mythical character of Mr. Claus?
For Christians this poses an obvious problem. Children are taught to believe in both, and when the non-existence of Santa becomes a reality in adolescence, God will likewise get scrutinized. The blatant lying to children about a figure they already associate with God cannot yield beneficial results. Anecdotally, I know of a number of folks who resent their parents lying to them about Santa, and if they lied about Santa, the belief is that they lied about God, too.
I am of the very un-festive opinion that lying to your children about anything is bound to have negative consequences, but particularly when it involves a figure like Santa.
We should stick to what Christmas is all about. Like Dickens’ Gradgrind, we should confine ourselves to the facts. “Bah, humbug!” (to change my Dickensian reference) to the rest.
Attitudes like this are a terrible shame, or so they seem to me. Children are creatures of wonder and imagination, both qualities which can nurture faith in the Living God. They thrive on storytelling and their world is naturally full of what we adults, poverty-stricken by reason, regard as naive personifications. One morning on our walk up to school, my then 6 year old daughter asked me: “Daddy, why does Jack Frost come?” Should I have scotched this bit of her mythology fearing for the development of her scientific mind? After all, she had already decided she wants to be a doctor. Perhaps I should have explained that frost is spicules of ice which form on solid surfaces when they are chilled below the deposition point. It is never too early to start thinking about physics! But I confess, I simply said that Jack Frost comes when it is cold. That seemed to do.
Likewise with Father Christmas. He has a place in our family storytelling, part of the mythology we share. To suggest that this amounts to lying to our children is as ludicrous as the notion that the ‘facts’ of the Nativity can be easily and plainly stated.
I was reminded recently that ‘gospel’ was, in Old English, ‘godspel’ and, though I am sure that this is etymologically unsound, I am taken with the idea that the incarnation of Jesus is “God’s spell” — a moment so wondrous that it takes imagination, not reason, to apprehend it.
Of course I’m not here arguing for abandoning the achievements of the Enlightenment, for discarding reason entirely in favour of mythology and superstition. But perhaps Christians before all others should recognize that stories, imagination and wonder are a vital part of our lives. Let’s not deprive our children of them too readily.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
ee 12.21.07 at 2:57 pm
I’ve been debating this for years, so I just did a blog entry about it to invite people to tell me what to do. At the moment, I will be telling my child the Santa myth by six votes to two. Additional contributions welcome (click on my name to get to my blog).
Bene D 12.21.07 at 9:57 pm
When I was a kid, listening to or watching NORAD tracking Santa kept the fear and unpredictability of my parents at bay for a bit.
Of the memories of childhood and Christmas I recall, that volunteer effort was a port in the storm.
And the Canada Post volunteers who made it possible to get a letter to the ‘North Pole.’
Mailing that letter was a big deal.
Getting one back was even bigger.
God bless them.
I had adults all to willing to take away childhood, to have so many willing to give it back was really something.
Richard Bott 12.22.07 at 5:48 pm
A couple of years ago, I wrote a story about Santa showing up at church. (http://richard.peacefulwaters.org/?p=544) I got to use it as the reflection on St. Nicholas’ day this past year.
I don’t think that Santa has to be in opposition with faith-filled celebration of Christmas… but I do think we have remove some of the baggage he’s carrying.
Peace in your Advent waiting, Richard!
Richard
Joel 12.22.07 at 9:33 pm
Richard,
I’m not sure you fully grasp what has happened to “Santa” in the U.S. He has no connection to spirituality or faith, to mystery or transformation. He doesn’t represent hope, nor the expected, or fuly enacted triumph of good over evil. In the U.S. Santa has become the alternative fixation for those who wish to know nothing of Christ, and who are repelled (if they had heard it) of John the Baptist’s call to repentance. Here Santa doesn’t represent preparation for Kingdom living, but a promise that you can have it all now and also that if you can give your kids or other loved ones more, better, or more expensive Christmas gifts, you have triumphed this season. Santa of today isn’t a kindly figure who represents giving as an act of love or charity. Instead, he spreads the message that greed is good, that you are what you own or have the ability to give others. No homemade gifts, as most of mine were this year. Santa of modern America represents the spirit of the many sports columnists who wrote about Thanksgiving that it is a season for “food, family and sports.”
Kids all over the USA will sit on Santa’s lap this year, but never be introduced to the mystery of the Table. Santa may ask if they have been “good” but will never inquire if they’ve been on a mission trip, served in a soup kitchen, or visited a nursing home. “Good” only means waiting your turn in line at school, minding manners at home amd not kicking the dog. Santa will re-enforce a narrow sense of “works-righteousness” in which the reward is essentially for works and not for “faith.” Many of them that do grow up and enter or stay in the church will proclaim proudly in Sunday School that despite what the Bible says, one will enter the Kingdom for “living a good life.” And their idea of God rewarding the obedient will simply mean that if your country calls you to war, it is irrelevant as to whether or not your Biblical understanding supports that kind of obedience.
Yes, I grew up with Santa, who was a minor tradition in our home, the same being filled far more with Christian symbolism. But that was another era where Christ and Santa were more in an uneasy tension. Now, at least in the USA, they are in competition, almost a war even. The fables such as “Lord of the Rings” teach of a higher spiritual power. The Santa of today speaks to a country that seems to believe more and more that “this life is all there is. Get the most from it, via Santa or whoever, that you can and while you can.”
And Santa has become entertainment, which fits with a Church poised on the brink of showmanship, theatrics and gaudiness and that in some quarters is in danger of promoting histrionics over the history of the living faith.
I don’t know how Santa is experienced in other countries, but if he represent some kind of Godly father figure here, then our prayer could be “shallow is thy name.”
chrise 12.23.07 at 12:19 am
Interesting debate this, especially when one considers that the root of Santa Claus actually predates Christianity. His origins (and his appearance) actually go back to ancient Shamans who dressed themselves in the red and white colours of the Fly Agaric mushroom which they delivered to their guests via the ‘chimneys’ of their huts. Even the notion of the flying reindeer is from this background as the reindeer often partook of Fly Agaric and would often act quite mad under its influence.
steph 12.23.07 at 7:04 am
Gosh Joel, how seriously sad. I almost feel guilty for enjoying the magic of Father Christmas when I was little. Christmas was special - from carols by candlelight because it was Jesus’ birthday and all the magic the stories entailed, to Father Christmas who of course came on that special day for all the good children. Despite not having served in a soup kitchen, he crept down the chimney (and ate all the biscuits and drank all the beer (and his reindeer drank all the milk), and filled my brother’s rugby sock at the end of my bed, with an orange, a couple of simple surprises, tied at the top with a balloon on a string. I was quite distressed when, one Eve, I managed to stay awake and discovered the truth. No, I don’t feel guilty. I loved every minute and now I love the memories. I’m glad for all the inspirations, imaginations and storytelling from my childhood. They taught me how to think and reason and create.
Dave Warnock 12.23.07 at 8:41 am
I watched the TOTP2 Christmas show last night and was struck by one song which seemed to illustrate Joel’s point.
Santa Baby (this one by Kylie) shows a Santa that is entirely different from the Father Christmas/St Nickolas tradition.
steph 12.23.07 at 10:28 am
So kill ‘Santa’ and bring back Father Christmas. I always knew those supermarket ‘Santas’ were pretending. Their breath smelled, there beards moved, their accents didn’t ring true and they seemed to have clones round every corner. Father Christmas was a mystery - you never actually saw him. In any case the real Father Christmas, or St Nikolas, was otherwise occupied on Christmas Eve and all the rest of the year he looked after the poor and sick. Don’t deprive children of a couple of years of magic. I didn’t think anyone still listened to Kylie.
Joel 12.23.07 at 3:09 pm
To put my views in context, I should note that I not only allowed but approved of St. Nicholas making a visit to the children during our worship service this past week. The Santa of the past, and of my childhood in the U.S., unlike Christ, cannot be resurrected.
I think Richard’s view of removing the baggage from “Santa” is well-intended but nevertheless naive as such relates to the Santa of American culture.