12.1.2022 Christmas Challenge: Biblical and Cultural

“Christmas time is here.”  So says the opening line of the classic Vince Guaraldi composition of the same name. This is a song you hear during A Charlie Brown Christmas. It may not have the finger-snapping joyousness of Linus and Lucy, but it captures, in its own way, the essence of Charles Schultze’s presentation of the childhood wonder of Christmas. 

    For me, this song encapsulates one of the perennial tensions in preaching. How do we balance Biblical truth with cultural symbols and sounds during the Advent/Christmas season? For all the concern about keeping “Christ in Christmas” and continuing to say, “Merry Christmas”, the fact is that over-exposure poses a greater threat than underexposure or any supposed repression. 

    As preachers and leaders, we set the tone for our congregations. However, during this season it is difficult to be heard, there is a lot of messaging going on! And many of the messages vying for the attention of our congregants, worshippers, and contributors are positive messages. It is hard to make a case for a particular focus when many of the images are positive, kind, wholesome, and admirable. The challenge is leveraging the cultural and social aspects of Christmas to illustrate, illuminate, and instruct from scripture. 

    One of the first truths that we must acknowledge is that the leavening presence of the Church in society has, historically, influenced Christmas more than secular alternatives. Simply put there is no “Christmas” without Jesus. The Peanuts gang, Frosty, and Rudolph may be culturally significant but their presence is welcomed because there is no significant attempt to usurp the place of Christ in the Christmas celebration. The commercial and social expansion of Christmas seems to be capable of absorbing virtually any new, wholesome subplot to the bigger story of Christmas, yet never seems to threaten to replace the central theme of the birth of Christ. So, despite evidence of general ignorance of Biblical information both inside and outside of the Church, the “Christmas Story” still has pride of place among all the cultural cruft. 

    I cited “Christmas Story”, in quotes above, because all of you who preach or are familiar with Scripture know full well that there is no single “Christmas Story” in the New Testament. Matthew and Luke each tell the story of the birth of Jesus from their unique perspectives, according to their own purposes.  John begins his story of Jesus where Moses began the Bible. “In the Beginning”. Mark’s gospel begins by simply stating “The good news of Jesus begins here”. So, in preaching Christmas sermons we are already connecting these multiple threads with other scripture to proclaim the good news of His unprecedented coming. This means constantly formulating ways and means to insert this epic story of incarnation into the various cultural narratives around which people are already organizing their lives. The most positive impact of the Christmas season is that more people pay more attention to our story now than at any other time of year and its resonance within the broader culture is much more significant. People may come to Christmas thinking of Kris Kringle and Rudolph, but they tend to be more open to the manger-cradled King than at other times of the year. This makes pretty good sense because it is still common knowledge that without Jesus, there is no Santa Claus.

    Another heartening reality is that virtually every story; animated, read, sung, or acted during Christmas is presented with a positive tone. Our society is dominated by loud, angry voices. Christmas is a season for tuning out the negatives we hear throughout the year. Though the angelic chorus had a more theological perspective in mind when they talked about “peace on earth and goodwill upon those whom God favors”, a little peace & quiet never hurt anyone and this is the time of year not only to experience it but to share it.

    The Gospel is “good news”. This should be the heart of our preaching throughout the year. However, a commitment to Biblical preaching finds us preparing and serving a balanced diet from Scripture to our world-weary and often famished congregations. That balanced diet, depending on the Biblical book, can have long stretches of correction, warning, reprimand, and repentance. I am not suggesting that we should alter what we say to be “nicer” (I’m rarely accused of being a “nice guy”) or that we should water down the truth of Scripture in any way, at any time. Yet the texts commonly used at Christmas tend toward, shall we say, the less disciplinarian side of God. Truly the Gospel (as Mark puts it) begins with Jesus, bringing grace, truth, love, and peace to our conflict-wearied world. Yes, Herod slinks into Matthew’s story as a prototype for all Grinches to come but even the carnage he causes is quickly contained within the story by the courage of Joseph and the creativity of the Magi. 

    Another helpful Christmas reality is the vast abundance of illustrative material. The characters, issues, and often the very words are embedded in our collective cultural dictionary. To be able to take a common word or phrase and use it to emphasize Biblical truth not only saves time but almost guarantees that people will understand what you are saying and be able to make the connection you intend. 

    Finally, let me remind you of how fun and joyous the Christmas season can be. As the years pass by each of us is storing up memories that can enrich our relationships and deepen the empathy of our preaching. Christmas is the season when Jesus seems the most human to us. We’ve all seen cows and sheep; we’ve all held a baby. We all are stupefied at the odd idea that anyone, in their right mind, would invite a diminutive percussionist to entertain a sleeping newborn. We not only know these stories, but we’ve also lived them. And that is the secret to the best preaching. The Bible and contemporary culture come together every Sunday, in every Sermon, in every Preacher; if we accept the challenge.