It used to be the case that in the secular sphere traditional tellings of the Christmas story were frowned upon, lest offence be caused to those of another faith or none. So for a while news stories were full of latest examples of “Winterval” and other so-called politically correct expressions of the season.
But over the past few years I have noticed a change. As knowledge of the Christmas story has declined, it’s become OK to tell it once again, as somehow vaguely it is felt to be something to do with “British” values. But because the meaning of the Christmas story is hidden to many, this telling of the story now has to sit side by side with all the folklore of the season. Which bits of the overall message you actually believe in, well, that appears to be up to you.
This thought struck me as I was watching a school performing the A-Z of Christmas this week. We moved seamlessly from “Hark the Herald Angels sing” to “Frosty the Snowman”. No-one paused to reflect on the wonder of God and sinners reconciled, or the mystery of the Godhead veiled in flesh. For this generation of children, at least, such deep theological truths will pass them by as the obscure lyrics of carols sung once a year, trappings of a festive season which can be kept or discarded as appropriate. Welcome to the ultimate postmodern Christmas.
I then went to another school performing what seemed at first a more straightforward Christmas carol service. That is, until the choir starting singing, “She tied him to a kitchen chair…Hallelujah”. The head defended the song by saying you can unpick the lyrics of any song, which of course is true. If you applied detailed scrutiny to some of our carols such as “Away in a Manger” or “We three kings” the lack of meaning would soon become apparent.
But it seems to me we are dealing with a deeper problem here. As knowledge of the Christmas story diminishes, so any song which appears to have some kind of spiritual overtones is seen as religious. That Leonard Cohen song, after all, recently featured on Songs of Praise, presumably included by someone who thought the word “Hallelujah” meant it was something vaguely Christian. Or to take another example, many years ago I attended an ecumenical service where beforehand the school choir was singing, “I believe in angels” by Abba.
This one reason why I believe when we plan to reach out, we need to make sure that our attempts to be culturally relevant don’t simply reinforce the message that the good news is one option among many. So in our Christmas celebrations we have decided to not include Father Christmas in our all-age outreach, although, I concede, we do have a stable and a donkey. Somehow we need to point to Jesus and show the real difference he makes, trusting that even in the darkness of a postmodern Christmas the light still shines, and the truth will set us free.
The Covenant Renewal Blog 