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All about Christ, Authentic Faith, Banksy, Christ with Shopping Bags, Christmas, Easter, For the Life of the World, Materialism, Vitality of Christ, Wardrobe Door to Narnia, Where did Christians go?, Where did Christmas go?
“Christ with Shopping Bags,” by Banksy
While the faithful wonder “where did Christmas go?”- the purchasing public decry how materialistic Christmas has become. Christmas didn’t go anywhere. It has become what “we” wanted it to become as materialism has waxed and faith has waned. Don’t blame me; I try to keep Christmas simple and enfolded in family, while admitting that Christmas was not a “high holy day” in the early formation of Christian faith. It is not Christ’s birth that is of supreme worth to Christians; it is His life, death, resurrection, and ongoing spiritual presence that the authentic faithful value.
Even street artist (and modern day prophet?) Banksy gets the irony of having the Crucified Christ holding the self-contradictory shopping bags in His outstretched arms. If there is something to be remembered in Christmas – it is Easter!
Perhaps the real question is: “where did Christians go?”
As Advent begins in the Christian calendar, it is worth asking where have Christians hidden or escaped? While Christians are being displaced in much of the 10-40 Window, those in the opulent West have been displaced from the eternal by the trinkets of modernity. It is a profoundly unfair trade deal that betrays how much worth has been forgotten, and how much monitary stimulation has been apprehended.
“Only the wealthy,” Craig M. Gay writes, “can afford to place all their aspirations in this age.” The loss of the eternal is not merely a philosophical funeral, it is the void that siphons vitality out of every value of human living. Christians who still apprehend the eternal are to be salt and light for the life of the world.
Christmas: a doorway to a wider wonder world
Christmas is a spiritual marker of the eternal into the temporal. Those who have trust awakened in them to seek the Christ of Christmas soon find that it is rather more like the Wardrobe door into Narnia than like the musty confines of a closeted religion. “I am the gate,” Jesus says, “all who come in will go out to a wider wonder world.”
Where did Christmas Go?
The irrelevance of the question ought to jar us out of our spiritually-diabetic slumber so that we would seek the authentic over the virtual-but-not-real reason for the season. Once you find the One who is finding you, you’ll get it; there is nothing about Christmas worth saving if it isn’t about Christ.
More Enigma Than Dogma 
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Love Love Love this Rusty. How did you know how to put this so succinctly?
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In contrast to my other rather long winded posts, this seemed to write itself for the least verbose of my writing. “Still learning,” I say, thus I thank you for your encouragement. May you continue to “Bless.”
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Brilliant – Love the comparison between Narnia and the closet – great thoughts
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Rusty, nice thoughts as well. Thanks for sharing and for working to help Christmas remain Christmas. God bless.
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Good words. You’re right. What’s worth saving about Christmas if Christmas is not about Christ?
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Beautifully put! One of the ministries God has given our family is to reach out to visiting Chinese scholars – there are hundreds of them at our local state University. Christmas has become, as you write, a wonderful gateway to introduce them to Christianity. Even the younger people now celebrate Christmas in China, though they know nothing of the meaning – they just like to get together for dinner and exchange gifts. But that makes them curious to learn more about this Western holiday when they are here in the States. So they eagerly accept an invitation to a Christmas party. Because they want to experience the culture, we just go about singing carols, full of the gospel and truth, and reading the Christmas story that evening. Depending upon our relationship with them, we may even give them a Chinese/English Bible. This year God impressed upon me to make sure that they hear the Gospel even a bit more clearly, so I would take the time to pray, and what did He want me to pray about but the truth of Easter?! Now, because they had so much fun celebrating this American holiday, they are interested in experiencing other American holidays. So then we invite them to Easter and do all of the fun stuff, but also make sure to talk about the real stuff! Thanks for your post as it is so encouraging to read others write what God impressed upon me this month. Many blessings!
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I am grateful for your mindfulness to be a clear voice of the gospel where you are. Christmas is a wonderful time – and has become more wonderful for knowing the Christ of Christmas. May you see the fruit that is on our Father’s heart – to see people come to love the One who made them for Himself. Grace, grace, grace.
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