JAKARTA, INDONESIA — I love singing Christmas carols but while I’m singing, I also ponder many times what Christmas is really all about.
For many of us, the spirit of Christmas has been relegated to spending our bonuses, making a list of what to put on the table come 12:00 midnight of Dec. 24, thinking what to buy for our loved ones, buying the latest electronic gadget, the latest car or where to take a vacation. Unfortunately, Christmas has become a buying frenzy for millions of people all over the world.
Sadly, we have forgotten that this is really the time when we reflect on those who may not be able to afford presents under the Christmas tree, or who will be separated from loved ones during the holidays. It is really a time of generosity toward others by giving of one’s spirit, not just giving material things. This is a time when we hold our loved ones close and celebrate the blessings we have been given.
We’ve all heard that it’s better to give than to receive, that it’s the thought that counts and every Christmas season, we are directed to the reason for the season by someone born more than 2,000 years ago that gave it all for us. Yet, we still forget the real spirit of Christmas.
But what is the real “spirit” of giving during Christmas? What does that mean in the grand scheme of things? Giving what, based on what? Giving what to who?
The celebration of Christmas can be hollow and frustrating, especially if we don’t have access to its deep layers of history and symbolism. We may feel desperate and panicky looking for gifts, rather than understanding that gift-giving is a way of being in family, friendship, and community, and that Christmas is a time for modeling a Utopian gift economy.
We may feel that Christmas is a license to eat and drink too much, and yet the idea of transcending ordinary limits has been part of solstice celebrations for hundreds of years. We don’t have to go to literal extremes of course, but we can stretch our personal rules, based on the idea of liminal time, a period of days or weeks set aside to celebrate an important aspect of life. We could aim for a paradoxical “moderate excess.”
It would be better to enter the spirit of the liminal rather than fight it. Step outside of ordinary time: be of good cheer, give some real gifts, make some good food, and spend more time than usual with friends and family. The best way to deal with the exhaustion of the holidays is not to withdraw but to enter them thoughtfully.
Sing the carols, knowing that this is the expression of angels, mysterious separate beings who represent the invisible factors that influence all our lives. Decorate a tree, knowing that its symbolism reaches deep. String some lights, appreciating that light is the main theme of the season.
Christmas is a holy time that invites us to reflect on the most important issues of life, especially escaping the darkness of ignorance and arriving at the light of new understanding and possibility. It ritualizes the birth of our soul.
For me, personally, Christmas has many rich layers: warm memories of my family from childhood; the brilliant, lighted and festive Christmas Mass; carols and other music associated with the season and somehow of the highest quality; and the theology of incarnation–living a spiritual life deep in the ordinary world.
For our lives, incarnation means being focused on the spiritual and the eternal but bringing that focus deep into life. It also means having the capacity to be both carnal and spiritual, in love with life and yet able to connect with the eternal and the divine. This is really the heart of the Christmas theological message: Live in two worlds that overlap but are distinct. Don’t be a materialist, but don’t sacrifice your ordinary physical life for any spiritual ideal. Be lowly and lofty.
This teaching, like all good theology, is not aimed only at those who dedicate themselves to the Gospel teaching, but to all people, from believers to skeptics. I wish that those who associate Christmas too closely with Christianity would look deep deeper and see the universal symbols and truths contained in the festival. Isn’t that why so many people of different backgrounds are drawn to Christmas? It’s because they see the natural symbols and basic realities celebrated at this time of year.
If you take Christmas to heart and get past the anxieties in arranging for gifts and parties, you will rediscover yourself every year at this time and experience a birth in yourself, just like the one so beautifully described in the Gospel stories. It will be a celebration of both the birth of Jesus and the birth of your own soul.