Presents, Lights, & Parties

These are the things which mark the holiday season. We buy and give gifts; we decorate with lights, ornaments, and wreaths; and we come together for parties that usually include a lot of food and drink. I’ve often found that dedicated, well-meaning Christians think it is their duty to complain about these activities in order to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. That is, there is a tendency among Christians to adopt a negative attitude toward things that we would otherwise enjoy quite thoroughly, and we adopt this attitude because we think it’s our Christian duty to make sure everyone’s thinking about Jesus.

This sort of approach to the traditional activities preceding Christmas makes Christians a bunch of killjoys. Don’t mishear me: there are indeed times when Christians must indeed be killjoys, namely when the “joy” is in fact nothing more than a perversion of joy that leads participants down the path of sin against one’s God and one’s fellow man. (The perverted enjoyment we have in gossiping about people is a good example.) At such times, the Christian is rightly a killjoy.

However, the activities of gift-giving, decorating, and celebrating have the potential to serve the rightful point of the Advent season: pointing ahead to the Christ who came and is to come. For example, giving gifts to one another can be an appropriate expression of God’s gift in Christ. If our gift-giving is to recall and point to the gift of Christ, then it need not be extravagant. We would do well to recall that the gift of Christ arrived in a lowly manger. Nevertheless, Christ is indeed a gift, and our gift-giving can point to the primary gift God has bestowed on us.

Similar things can be said about decorating and partying. To fill the darkest time of the year with lights is an apt symbol for the coming of Christ. The Gospel of John speaks of Christ in this way: “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) Putting up lights and decorating with things that are lively (i.e. wreaths, Christmas trees, etc.) need not be activities that distract from Christ. If done faithfully, they will point not to themselves but to our Lord.

Parties can do the same thing. Certainly the coming of Christ is something to be celebrated. Jesus speaks of the Last Day as a banquet at which we will eat and drink with Him. (See Luke 13:29 and 22:28-30, among others.) Thus, enjoying one another’s company while we eat good food and drink good wine can serve as a great foretaste of that feast to come.

In short, Christians need not be killjoys during Advent. Many of the activities of this season can serve the same function as John the Baptist. It is written about John that “he himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” (John 1:8) The same is true of us and of the things we do. The moment the activities of the holiday season point merely to themselves or to us, or if we begin to think that everything has to be “just perfect,” we have mistaken their purpose. When that happens, we must remember John the Baptist’s words: “He must increase, I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

However, insofar as the activities of Advent point to the One who came and is to come, they are to be fervently enjoyed. Indeed, our hopeful anticipation during Advent and our joyful celebration of Christmas are previews and rehearsals of the coming Kingdom of God.