Christmas and Sentimentality
The events of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ are meant to stir our emotions. After all, no true Christian can consider the wonder of what God was doing in order to make reconciliation a reality and be unmoved. In the birth of Jesus Christ, we have the highest manifestation of the love of God; the Eternal Son of God coming to be our Saviour, for no other reason than that He loved us.
This is love before time, a love in sweet harmony with eternal justice and holiness in order to bring His chosen and precious ones to the timelessness of eternity.
It is also love in time, as God clearly shows that His ways are not our ways, and that when He wishes, He is able to work both above and through the free agency of human will to bring to pass His wonderful salvation. And it is a love that in the beginning had nothing to do with shopping, art, or Christmas cards!
The Christmas narrative is powerful, and there is something humanly moving in the account of a young mum urgently seeking a safe and secure place for the birth of her son. Though the time and place are far removed from our own situation here in Melbourne, we can begin to guess at the sense of urgency she felt, and perhaps even a tinge of fear. But underneath it all, she had the most substantial grounds to trust—the sure promises of God! Feelings had to yield to faith, and they did.
A major dictionary defines “sentimental” as a state of mind “prompted by feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia.” It is easy to see how a Christmas season can be a sentimental time. As families are remembered, there is the sadness of empty spaces – whether at the table or in the mind – previously occupied by those who have died. For some, sadness and nostalgia blend as memories of seasons long ago when things were different, perhaps even happier, flood back as a romantic contrast to a stark present. For others,the pain of loss can be eased by the tenderness of new-born family members.
Older Christians too may look back with a sense of nostalgia; to Christmas times when community life was different, political correctness was yet to be invented and Churches were full on Christmas Day and perhaps also a carol service or two beforehand. Well, memories such as these may be good and helpful, so long as they remain in their proper place and context. We do not live in the past and the contrast with our own day should only serve to drive us the more to missionary prayer. That is a valid consequence of the incarnation and life of Jesus.
Above all we must never forget that the fundamental message of Christmas is, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,” as John puts it. And the one born in Bethlehem grew! And He lived, died and rose again and has ascended on high, utterly triumphant! Jesus Christ is King, now, with all authority in heaven and on earth and the consequence of this simple fact should shake the complacent to their core. Put bluntly, understanding the Lordship of Jesus is not enhanced by dwelling on pictures of babyish cuteness, imagined halos and rays of light, sanitised shepherds or worshipping animals!
We fear that as wonder at the true purpose of the Incarnation diminishes, it can all to easily be replaced by a soppy sentimentality which warms our hearts but challenges no-one, and reduces the whole of the gospel message to a romantic myth seen good for children but something to be left behind by the end of Primary School at the latest.
Being sentimental at Christmas may be inevitable but sentimentalizing Christmas must be a no-no. May God give you the grace to tell the difference and to influence others.