I've been noting several ideas floating around for extending Christmas, some old, some new. Some seem to think of extending Christmas as a way to keep getting gifts that you don't have to pay for, like winning the lottery, or winning at the casino. Neither the lottery or casino existed in my early life, and I really wish they didn't exist now.
Of course not everybody wants to extend Christmas. For some there is no real celebration in it, so they just want to see it over with. I also note that some people just can't stand what seems to them as the superficial cheerfulness of the season.
Some would point to certain TV shows, with themes that seem to suggest that if everyone just acts cheerful and goes all out to decorate and be Christmasy, then everything will be hunky dory and magical, and everything will start going right for us all. I even noted an ad last week for some "uncheerful" music for those who have had a little too much of the fluffy seasonal cheerfulness.
Frankly, I have some sympathy for this outlook, since I don't think Christmas is about superficial cheerfulness, but about real hope for a hard and harsh and troubled world. But at the same time, Christmas is certainly not a time to be a Scrooge and to spread negativity all around. I'm always glad to see people getting away from cynicism and lamentations about everything getting worse and worse, so they can become part of the search for better things and can contribute to a hopeful outlook in life. It is right nice to see people greeting each another with some kind of friendly greeting and with a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
A few days ago a cartoon on the editorial page showed Santa approaching some officials in the University of Arkansas offices, and had them putting him off because, as one said, "It's Christmas every day around here." That was what I would call a cynical and presumptuous cartoon. Some seem to be ready to presume guilt and to presume the worst about people, no matter what the available facts show. I'd wish we could reserve judgment and not be hasty to think negatively and cynically about all our public officials. It bodes ill for us all if we expect ill from them all.
Christmas as a festival began with the Christian church centuries ago, as part of a Christian year involving the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost, all as a way of celebrating and teaching the whole gospel of Jesus Christ throughout a year. The Advent season is four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, a season of preparation and anticipation. The Christmas festival begins on Dec. 25 and continues until Jan. 6, and is followed by Epiphany, which celebrates the revealing of the Lord's Christ to the wider world.
Needless to say, our wider world seems not to think of Christmas in this way. This year my favorite car dealership had a 20 days of Christmas new car sale. We didn't buy one. Now I hear from them that by popular demand they are extending the new car sale until Dec. 31. I guess that's one way of extending Christmas.
Many years ago when I was getting to be a grownup in Pea Ridge, one of the pastors of our church decided to hold a Christmas observance in July. He had an interesting point, that Christmas has a message for all the seasons and for all the world, and for everyone, rich or poor. Frankly I was never inspired by the effort to be clever with a Christmas in July, but a morsel of truth was there.
One of our Christmas cards this year wished us the blessings of Christmas throughout the year. I really liked that one, among all the good ones. The blessings of Christmas be yours, now and throughout the year.
As the Holy Bible in Luke 2 tells the story of the birth of the Christ child in Bethlehem, it says that Mary his mother kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. That suggests a better way of extending Christmas. The idea is that Christmas is an enduring gift to all of us and that the gift gives us a lot to think about. One season is not enough for us to fathom all that our Creator has done through Christ to restore us and to renew us. It is something to ponder for a lifetime.
Also, in Matthew 2, the Bible tells about wise men coming from the East to see the Christ child, bringing him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This is the Christ who would later say that when you help someone, with a drink of water, or in some other way, you have done it unto me! How about that as a way of extending Christmas, to extend caring and mercy and kindness throughout the year?
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621. The opinions of the writer are his own, and are not necessarily those of The Times
Editorial on 01/01/2014