There’s a party going on!
And just like that, we’re in the Christmas countdown! However, in our extended family, December also brings a vastly disproportionate number of birthdays than the rest of the year. Truly, a month of concentrated, supercharged gift-giving fun! As we travel around to myriad birthday or holiday events then, I’m not surprised to find myself frequently humming to the tunes of an old CD called “The Birthday Party”.
To grip you in suspense, I’ll only say now that it features a leprechaun-like man named Stanley Tutter who finds himself early and alone at a birthday party, trying to figure out who it’s for based on the appearance of the gifts. Turns out (obligatory SPOILER WARNING!), each gift represents a different way people might express appreciation for Jesus’ birth. The party ends up being his, a Christmas birthday celebration!
Obviously, we all know that Christmas is named after and primarily meant to celebrate Jesus’ entrance into our world. It’s called Christ’s mass for a reason, not Family-mas, Food-mas, Commercial-mas, or Santa-mas. Many at least somewhat include and/or worship Christ in their gatherings. But how often do we truly celebrate this event – and its build-up – with the same fanfare and attention toward him that we give anyone else’s day of birth? This question is echoing through my mind once again, and three different responses come to mind…
1. Do – don’t just say – what we appreciate about God
Talk is cheap, right? We all say things that we either don’t mean, can’t mean, or won’t fulfill, as we have seen from many elected officials over the last decade. Of course, that doesn’t make it right. Think about all the Christmas/worship songs that get sung without serious reflection of what is being said from a person to Jesus! Modern worship is notorious for spur-of-the-moment, virtually impossible commitment phrases like “I surrender all”, “I will follow you all of my days”, or similar promises we won’t remember an hour later. Promises we often can’t even fulfill if we wanted to! If I don’t or can’t mean what I sing, silent honest worship is far superior to 9th Commandment-breaking anti-worship (Click to tweet).
Older Christmas songs more appropriately focus on praising who Jesus is, rather than on our thoughts on the matter. But even then, they are a lesser gift than actually living who Jesus is (Amos 5:21-26, Matt. 15:7-9). In the opening verses of Romans 12, Paul defines worship as offering our bodies – not voices – as living sacrifices. Jesus himself exemplified for us perfect worship to our Father seldom in word but far more often in deed. He does – rather than says – the mercy, compassion, and justice that characterizes Him. What greater birthday gift to give than speaking less about and doing more of what Jesus did? Not because the holidays are a time for good deeds, but because Christmas is his birthday to celebrate!
2. Give to Christ more than to others
Surely, there’s nothing wrong with giving others presents on Christmas, but perhaps we all remember (I do) Christmases gone by without even considering why we give presents on that day. Not surprisingly, since Christmas is in fact about Jesus, we give presents in emulation of his gift to us: A supremely sacrificial incarnation, physical life, and undeserved death. As above, this emulation of who he is is rooted in genuine worship, but who can argue that it hasn’t become something much worse?
Like devoting too much money that would be better spent elsewhere. Or complaining about a sub-optimal gift. Or the greed and manipulation of commercialization. Or the stress and even anger that holiday shopping often produces among us. Our giving has become more human than divine, has it not? Fortunately, there are many creative ways to restore gift-giving to – and in honor of – Jesus. Perhaps you can give what you’d spend on a present for someone to a charity they and Jesus would be excited about. Our charity partner Bless BIG is currently running a fundraiser to prevent blindness in kids via Helen Keller International – one of the highest impact-per-dollar charities research has proven. Jesus obviously loves kids and healing the blind, so honor him buy helping them! There’s no better bang for your buck, and 100% of your gift goes to HKI and those kiddos.
Need more ideas? Each year, round-up donatable possessions – even newly acquired ones – to give to those truly in need. Ones that are/will be seldom used or are more-or-less duplicates. We do this with our kids every year, and they honestly love gifting even unopened new toys to Jesus for his birthday! Or maybe it’s the family mindset about Christmas that needs to be redefined. Make a habit of doing together what Jesus did for the people he served, as a motivation for giving that’s a much greater gift to our kids than any toy or gadget.
A good start to a great Birthday Party!
3. Boldly reclaim the Birthday Party for what it is
I will not say celebrating Christmas as Christ’s birthday is always easy, and the different ways our family has explored doing this has met with some resistance. But if you’d oppose making the Superbowl about knitting or Valentine’s Day about war, then oppose Christmas being about stress, greed, and business. Or even about fun traditions, food, and family.
It’s ironically revealing that the most iconic symbol of Christmas to many is an unhealthy-looking, Coke-wielding, very wealthy, white individual who lives 364 days of his life in isolation from the real world…and spends the other day frantically trying to get presents to everyone (Click to tweet). In contrast, a special gift we were given by an elderly friend without much to materially offer says it all (see pic). Let’s take our sick Santa of a Christmas and let him be healed by boldly bowing to the birthday boy.
Which brings me back to Stanley Tutter. After his realization that the party is Jesus’, he makes this statement as the guests arrive. “There’s no doubt who these presents are for, and he deserves every one of them and much more! Come on everybody, this is going to be the greatest birthday party in the world!” May all our Christmases be exactly that.
To further explore the many necessary reasons why Jesus was born as this great gift to us, and how we can emulate his gift-giving back to him and others, check out my Healing Hereafter book series, downloadable free and instantly here!
