Defenders of cultural 'Christmas' add to its dilution

(Vancouver Courier, Dec. 15)

Christmas is under attack. And the situation is dire.

So says Lord George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, whose leaflet campaign launched last week in the United Kingdom aims to save Christmas from history's dustpan.

"The attempt to air-brush the Christian faith out of the picture is especially obvious as Christmas approaches," reads Carey's leaflet dispatch. "The cards that used to carry Christmas wishes now bear 'Season's greetings.' The local school nativity play is watered down or disappears altogether. The local council switches on 'Winter lights' in place of Christmas decorations."

Carey's complaints, echoed in precincts worldwide, apply to Vancouver and tap the memories of people old enough to recall nominal Christianity's influential role in Canadian life.

But with all due respect to his lordship, Carey's outrage is misplaced.

Christmas has been "under attack" for 2,000 years. Christ was born on the lam, fleeing Herod's bloody decree. Thirty years later, during his subversive three-year ministry, Christ dodged the authorities, evaded scheming enemies, until finally meeting the cross. His message is anti-materialism, anti-establishment and counterculture. And it's been rejected by every generation.

Canadians who grumble about the exorcism of Christmas from our multicultural society, and grieve for the good ole days with a Santa in every store window, embrace the worldly trappings Christ warned about. Today, for most people, Christmas success is measured in material things. Failure is found in empty stockings and barren trees.

Last Friday at Pacific Centre on Granville Street, shoppers moved swiftly against the clock, weaving through crowds of stoned-face consumers as secular Christmas music droned into the recycled air. Outside The Gap, Angela Coleman, a slightly dishevelled mother of three, dangled a rainbow of shopping bags from both sleeves of her grey overcoat.

"I took the day off to get my last bit of shopping done," she said. "I figured I might beat the crowds although it's pretty crazy right now."

Coleman acknowledges the mass consumerism of Christmas yet capitulates in familiar spirit. "What can you do? You want the kids to have a fun holiday. I remember Christmas morning being the most exciting time for a child. I want to make that happen for my kids."

Family is important this time of year. The holiday, with its official days off and social gatherings, is designed to bring people together. Ten blocks north of bustling Granville Street, inside an old hotel near Main and Hastings, Don, a 44-year-old longtime Downtown Eastside resident, points to a dark spot on the wall in a room barely big enough for his twin mattress and box spring. "I've told them every week that this place is covered in mould. I can feel it in my lungs."

On an old wooden crate near his bed sits a weathered and over-exposed Polaroid of a woman and two young men next to a maroon 1983 Chrysler Newport. Don's gaunt face and ragged beard barely resemble the thicker tanned person in the photograph. He hasn't seen his mother since 2005 and has lost contact with his brother. ("Dead, maybe, or in jail.") He's got a daughter in Prince George who shares his last name but little else.

Like many people in the neighbourhood, Don dreads Christmas. When the calendar strikes December, a sinking feeling takes hold.

"It's the worst time of the year. I just try to keep busy and get through it. I miss my family all the time, but around Christmas it's real tough."

Christmas under attack? Depends what you mean by Christmas.

Last month in Chilliwack, the school board voted to restore the term "Christmas holidays" to describe the two-week "Winter break." School board trustee Heather Maahs, the driving force behind the change, acted on principle.

"That's what it is, so we should call it that," said Maahs. "We get a Christmas tree and we go Christmas shopping. It's just simple."

The Christ of the New Testament did not come to establish a new religion--or a related holiday with parades and midnight mass. He opposed all formal worship, rejected the Sabbath and hung with the homeless and unclean. He trumpeted a cleansing of the heart and a fellowship with all people despite nationality or socio-economic status, where "God's reign is in your midst." (Luke 17:12)

That message will withstand any change in culture or tradition. Clichés notwithstanding, it's the true meaning of Christmas, the shining star in the sky, and the eternal hope and joy for mankind.

 

 

 

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