Whose Celebration is it Anyway?

ADVENT I

“A New World Order”

Isaiah 2:1-5

A Sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

December 2, 2007

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

 

            Tis the season to be busy. 

Tis the season to be filled with joy. 

Tis the season to anticipate the coming of Jesus. 

Tis the season to be generous. 

Tis the season for merchants to finally come into the black. 

Tis the season to give thanks for family and friends. 

Tis the season to reconnect with people from near and far some in person, some via Christmas cards, some only in memory. 

Tis the season for all of this. 

Tis even the season of aching backs and gleeful children as snow adds a dimension of complexity to our world.

            Tis the season for celebration. 

But whose celebration is it anyway? 

These next four weeks, as we inch our ways closer and closer to Christmas, we’ll look at whose celebration it is.  We’ll unpack a few of the traditions that have sprung up around Christmas.  We’ll look at those ancient traditions that have been subsumed into the Christmas celebration.  We’ll look at our tendencies to lump things together and even ignore the symbolism imbedded in our Christmas celebrations.  Maybe we’ll even reclaim some of them along the way.  Whose celebration is it anyway?

            In the coming weeks, we’ll look at the tradition of Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas; we’ll look at the Nativity Stories from Matthew and Luke; and we’ll look at the solstice celebrations that several religions claim as the day of the returning of the sun and the hope that this brings for the world.

Today, I want us to briefly look at the early church and see how those ancient Christmas celebrations resembled our modern day celebrations.

            Let’s say this first.  Christmas was not a big holiday in the early church.  Easter rated higher than Christmas.  It certainly did for the Biblical writers. The birth of Jesus is ignored by Mark’s Gospel and is at best spiritualized in John’s Gospel.  There is no evidence of Christmas celebrations in the early church.  The date of Christmas is never recorded until the fourth century.  

            Why was it chosen to be December 25^th, you may ask?  Was there a scripture reference?  Well, not really.  We know that John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus, since their respective mothers visited each other during pregnancy.  John’s Gospel records John the Baptist saying “He must increase while I decrease”.   If Jesus was born on the Winter Solstice and John was born on the Summer Solstice, then in fact, the days would increase after Jesus’ birth and decrease after John’s birth. 

            There is another tradition, this one referenced by St. Augustine, that says that Jesus was both crucified and conceived the same date or March 25^th (according to the Roman Solar Calendar).  Add nine months to March 25^th and you get December 25^th. 

            Now, the Armenians use a different calendar and they believe that Jesus was born on January 6^th, what we westerners call Epiphany, or Three Kings Day.  The intervening days between Christmas and Epiphany or Western Christmas and Eastern Christmas are known as the 12 days of Christmas.

            Then there is the fact that there were other religions that signified the birth of their great leader on December 25^th.   The Persian leader Mithra, for instance, was born of a virgin on December 25^th around 500 BCE.  His birth was witnessed by shepherds and gift-carrying Magi.  During his life, he performed many miracles, cured many illnesses, and cast out devils. He celebrated a Last Supper with his 12 disciples. He ascended to heaven at the time of the spring equinox. 

Another Roman religion was the one where Attis, son of the virgin Nana was born on December 25^th. He was sacrificed as an adult in order to bring salvation to humanity. He died about March 25^th, after being crucified on a tree.  He descended for three days into the underworld and on Sunday, he arose, as the solar deity for the new season. His followers tied an image of Attis to a tree on "Black Friday," and carried him in a procession to the temple. His body was symbolically eaten by his followers in the form of bread.

The Greek god Dionysus was said to be born on December 25^th.  His followers symbolically ate his flesh and blood in the form of bread and wine. He was viewed as the son of Zeus, the Father God.  That made Dionysus the son of God.

            In Egypt, there was the god Osiris born on December 25^th who was called Lord of Lords, King of Kings, God of Gods...the Resurrection and the Life, the Good shepherd  and the god who made men and women be born again. Three wise men announced his birth. His followers ate cakes of wheat which symbolized his body. (much of this information  comes from religoustolerance.org)

            Then there is the Roman tradition of Sol Invictus, or the Sun God, who was born, drum roll please, on December 25^th.  When Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine in the 4^th Century, Jesus became for many a manifestation of the Sol Invictus.  It helped that Jesus was referred to as Light over and over again in John’s gospel.

            In 321 CE Constantine also signed an edict saying that all office should be closed on the venerable day of the Sun.  Therefore making Sunday the new Christian Sabbath instead of Saturday—it has its derivation in homage to Sol Invictus, who was eclipsed (so to speak) by “true light from true light”, Jesus the Christ.  Whose celebration is it anyway?

            When we speak about Jesus’ birthday on December 25^th, we are possibly connecting him with a legacy of hopeful gods of history, of a people in need of a savior and the celebration of that need. 

            All of these gods did great things and called upon people to recognize the best in themselves and the best in others, we could certainly hope. 

            So, what if the Christmas celebration or at leas the date of December 25^th is a conglomeration of other religious traditions?  Can we fulfill the best of the desires of all religion if we take this incarnation seriously enough?

            This morning’s Star Tribune had an article about the sesquicentennial of the founding of the State of Minnesota.  Governor Ramsay called for the extermination or removal of the Sioux or Dakota people.  We need to remember the story behind the story of our history.  We ought to remember who has been conquered and repent of our tendency and temptation to forget or ignore parts of our collective histories. 

            The reason for the date isn’t really all that important.  What’s important is what comes about from us because of this Christmas event. 

            Jesus’ favorite Hebrew Bible figures were the prophets.  His favorite prophet among the prophets, at least by the number of times he quoted him was Isaiah.  Isaiah longed for a new world order for the people of Israel.  He longed for the day when nation would not raise up sword against nation, neither shall they study war anymore.

            Maybe what we’re supposed to be creating is a new world order, where people can believe as they see fit, and all seek to let others live life with abundance. 

Think about it.  What would a new world order look like that was the culmination of the best of all religion?

People would commit to live in peace with one another. 

We would protect instead of abuse our environment. 

We would treat all people with respect.

We would not use debt or race, or class, or gender, or gender identity, or age, or ability, or affectional proclivities, or political parties to divide us.

We would not hurt or kill on God’s holy mountain which would be every mountain and valley in the world.

We would respect each other.

We would define success by the way we have been able to help other people.

We would define holiness by our humility before God.

We would define sanctification by our work of relieving suffering.

We would make great music, celebrate great art and see each moment we have as a gift from God.

We’re obviously not quite there yet, but at Christmas time, we hold a bit of that in our minds and in our hearts.  There is a bit of that looking toward a new vision of a new world order.  We actually remember the words of Isaiah.  We light candles and sing about peace on earth, good will to all people.

And if we let ourselves breathe just a bit in our Christmas frenzy, we just might find a portion of that peace, holiness and hope in our lives as well.

I hope as we celebrate this Advent Season, we’ll consider whose celebration it is anyway.  We’ll remember the gods who have gone before.  We’ll remember the hopes across the centuries that spur us on to see the world with a bit more light, freshness and hopefulness.  For ultimately, that new world order is what Christmas is all about.  It’s what we long for.  It’s what we wait for.  Come Lord Jesus.  Lighten, enlighten, enliven our world.  Live on in us this season.