Anyway, Scarlett and I were at Kroger Saturday, and there was a man dressed in a Santa costume near the check-out lines. Interesting random note - Scarlett was delighted to see him, just as she was excited by the person in a turkey costume last week. It's just funny, as she seems to be a reserved little person in general, but greets these characters with great gusto, rather than any kind of reservation, and in fact chased the turkey around the very busy store last week. Likewise, she hailed the Santa person loudly, and was going to go after him, but he made his way over to her. And of course, he opened with the typical question, before doling out a candy cane - "Have you been good?'
I've never launched into a tirade against well-meaning people who ask that question around Christmas (or before - since for heaven's sake, I'm just looking forward to Thanksgiving at this point), but I did say, as I always do, "Of course she's been good," because yes, on one level, she's been quite good. Her existence is good thing. I give her good gifts because she's mine, and I love her, not because she behaves in convenient ways. So I wanted to say, "Do you intend to give her a candy cane or not? Let's just don't do the 'have you been good' dance." But, as I mentioned, I didn't. I did, however, start thinking about the "good" concept as we drove home a few minutes later. I was reminded of the passages in Romans that the kids are studying this year, particularly the memory verses on which Ryan worked very hard (and got a question on in the quiz meet last week!). "As it is written, none is righteous, no not one. No one understands; no one seeks for God." (Romans 3:10-11).
Here we are in the holiday in which many kids are led along by the "have you been good enough?" notion, and my kids are reading, hearing, learning, memorizing passage after passage that tells them in no uncertain terms, "It doesn't matter who you are, or what you do, you are, in fact, NOT good enough." And that's what I love about Bible quizzing. I know I've said it before, but it's one of my favorite things - quizzing gives kids God's Word straight up, no frills, no niceties. And at this particular time of year, it puts in bold terms what is the real and true wonder of Christmas. Because Paul doesn't leave it at that, of course, but spells out over and over again, that we aren't good enough - or too bad - for the the free gift. There's no "magic" here, people, because magic is unreliable. And there's no dancing around all year to see if you can land on the spirit of Christmas. Did you get it right? Gifts. Did you throw a tantrum in the store in October? You skirted on the edge of losing it all - whew. Well, actually, maybe you did! How could you possibly know? Well, there were gifts, so it must have been okay - do the dance again next year and hope it turns out again!
No, here, the gift is completely free and completely available - it comes through one man, Jesus, and it makes all completely set right. Completely. It's done. No questions, no doubts,, no manipulation, no guilt, no condemnation, That's what makes the difference between Jesus and Santa Claus so sharp, and that's why those of us who choose to steer clear of the Santa routine do what we do. Can you enjoy some aspects of the Santa thing and still keep the message of this free gift in Jesus pure? Fine! Have fun! (And you know what? We watch movies like Elf, and sometimes sing Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer.) But when Santa (or any other Christmas tradition) starts overshadowing the truth that Christmas is all about NOT being good enough - and about the free gift that was offered at great cost for no other reason that that God loves us - then I don't have a problem saying that it's not a good thing.
Also, when you're threatening your child in Target to stop throwing a fit or "Santa won't come!"...well, that gets a bit of a rise out of me, too.
Here we are in the holiday in which many kids are led along by the "have you been good enough?" notion, and my kids are reading, hearing, learning, memorizing passage after passage that tells them in no uncertain terms, "It doesn't matter who you are, or what you do, you are, in fact, NOT good enough." And that's what I love about Bible quizzing. I know I've said it before, but it's one of my favorite things - quizzing gives kids God's Word straight up, no frills, no niceties. And at this particular time of year, it puts in bold terms what is the real and true wonder of Christmas. Because Paul doesn't leave it at that, of course, but spells out over and over again, that we aren't good enough - or too bad - for the the free gift. There's no "magic" here, people, because magic is unreliable. And there's no dancing around all year to see if you can land on the spirit of Christmas. Did you get it right? Gifts. Did you throw a tantrum in the store in October? You skirted on the edge of losing it all - whew. Well, actually, maybe you did! How could you possibly know? Well, there were gifts, so it must have been okay - do the dance again next year and hope it turns out again!
No, here, the gift is completely free and completely available - it comes through one man, Jesus, and it makes all completely set right. Completely. It's done. No questions, no doubts,, no manipulation, no guilt, no condemnation, That's what makes the difference between Jesus and Santa Claus so sharp, and that's why those of us who choose to steer clear of the Santa routine do what we do. Can you enjoy some aspects of the Santa thing and still keep the message of this free gift in Jesus pure? Fine! Have fun! (And you know what? We watch movies like Elf, and sometimes sing Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer.) But when Santa (or any other Christmas tradition) starts overshadowing the truth that Christmas is all about NOT being good enough - and about the free gift that was offered at great cost for no other reason that that God loves us - then I don't have a problem saying that it's not a good thing.
Also, when you're threatening your child in Target to stop throwing a fit or "Santa won't come!"...well, that gets a bit of a rise out of me, too.
1 comment:
I through a tantrum for a few months... thank the LORD my goodness is not weighted for gifts for Christmas :-) I have calmed down now after a few months of pouting and fussing. He is SO patient with me... and I think I have grown up a little in the process!!! Love your blog :-)
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