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    ‘Tis the season to moan about the commercialisation of Christmas

    Strangely, I’m so used to the Christmas has become too commercial meme that I can’t even get angry about it anymore. It’s like when the coalition invaded Iraq after I’d been out marching on the streets for months and it was like my spirit was so crushed that I no longer cared. Which is why you can go somewhere else to read a blog post moaning about Christmas being too commercial.

    Of course the commercial Christmas thing is fairly superficial – people notice it, have a little spit but I don’t notice much reflection beyond the recognition that it’s a bit inconvenient to go shopping at this time of year. Sometimes the mainstream media picks it up but it’s a pretty empty protest and is usually just part of fund-raising for charities that care for kids with heartbreaking diseases.

    Father Bob got on his podcast the other day saying that Christians should get over it and get on with it. It’s the same as the Iraq war thing – it’s not going to change so why waste energy on it when nobody’s listening.

    So that’s why I didn’t really get angry today when we went to the Christmas decorations super-store discount warehouse and after looking through the whole shop (and having a ball I must say) I couldn’t find a single nativity scene – not even a reference to the Christian religion. I located a black Christmas tree with dice, playing cards and casino tokens but no nativity. And I was glad – what could be worse than a neon Mary with flashing Jesus halo – with animatronics .

    In some ways Christmas has gone underground – it’s like this hidden minority thing which I think gives Christians a lot of opportunity to make it very meaningful seeing as no-one really pays attention to what we do now anyway. We really can get over it and get on with it – get on with focussing on what Christmas means to us. Stop worrying about trying to lay the guilts on mainstream society, stop preaching the we are so righteous because we know the true meaning of Christmas sermons and focus on the true meaning that we claim to know. Maybe this underground alternative celebration of Christmas will gain traction after awhile.

    Related Posts:  »Christmas Greetings »So this is Christmas… »No Church at Christmas II

    Posted: December 9th, 2006 under Big Questions, Seasons.
    Comments: 5

    Comments

    Comment from James the cat
    Time: 9/12/2006, 7:44 pm

    http://foamy.dementio.com/
    See No. 64, No Christmas for you.
    I think we looked at this last year, but it is worth another airing, while on the topic…

    j

    Comment from James the cat
    Time: 9/12/2006, 7:46 pm

    ps, foamy the squirrel has a dirty mouth

    but so funnty.

    you are warned.

    Comment from djfoobarmatt
    Time: 9/12/2006, 8:26 pm

    Things to moan about at Christmas:

    • John Lennon’s “So this is Christmas” performed as if it is not being sarcastic.
    • Children misbehaving and mothers yelling at them: Sit on Santa’s lap or I’ll give you a smack
    • Office Christmas parties where all the partners don’t know each other
    • People who moan about Christmas

    Comment from Sheena Walsh
    Time: 11/12/2006, 11:29 am

    Dear Matt, try Oxfam, also the chemist at Milton has about three rather lovely Nativity scenes, and David Jones/Myer also stock them. I must admit I feel a bit more hopeful about the whole thing after attending three Spirit of Christmas concerts on the weekend – all were full, and all contained several traditional Christmas carols which were sung enthusiastically by the audience and a Christmas message about the extravagence of God’s love by a Uniting Church minister. Even if the people attending didn’t call themselves practising Christians, they absorbed the Christmas message through the music etc. I think the prevalence of community Christmas carols is also a hopeful sign, people getting together to sing about Jesus might make them think a bit about Him and the place He has in their lives when they wouldn’t otherwise.

    Comment from djfoobarmatt
    Time: 11/12/2006, 12:19 pm

    That’s excellent Sheena – exactly what I’d like to see more of. Just get on with preaching the gospel and not get all bent out of shape about the presence of Santa, Rudolph and corporate sponsorship. Railing against that stuff turns people off.

    I’m being very preemptive here because I haven’t actually come across many Christians moaning about the commercialisation of Christmas this year … yet.

    However, I’d also like to see a bit of focus on extending ‘good-will’ to the impoverished and powerless of society which many Christians do a good job of all year.

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