Christmas with Trevor Phillips

This is my reply to Trevor Phillips' article "Why be ashamed to celebrate Christmas", 10th December 2007, page 13.

There's nothing wrong with celebrating anything on principle, but it helps if you know on what basis you are celebrating it. There is actually not a single word, anywhere in the Christian New Testament, about celebrating Jesus's birth. Two out of the four Gospels (Mark and John) don't so much as mention the birth: they just have Jesus appearing out of nowhere, being baptized by John the Baptist, and getting on with his mission.

To my knowledge the only birthday in the New Testament is found in the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew. The birthday concerned was that of Herod, and according to the story on that day he gave orders for the execution of John the Baptist. Immediately thereafter follows the story of the feeding of the five thousand, which is meant to contrast the spiritual kingdom of Jesus with the earthly kingdom of Herod.

According to Christian tradition, there are twelve days of Christmas, and they start on Christmas Eve, when you put your decorations up, and finish on Twelfth Night, when you take them down. According to the way that Christmas is celebrated in my neighbourhood, you have a seasonal bad taste competition, which begins in early December. The object is to erect the ugliest possible effigies of Santa Claus, reindeer, and snowmen in front of your house, and to decorate its exterior with the most garish flashing lights that money can buy. The winner is the householder whose seasonal display afflicts the most passers-by with a migraine. There's a consolation prize for the size of your carbon footprint.

If you take out of Christmas all the commercial elements, you would have very little left. It's essentially a secular festival. That doesn't make it wrong. But if you are looking for a way to celebrate your Christian beliefs, there are other ways of so doing that could work better.

When I was a Christian, I used to organise Passover (Pesach, for my Jewish readers) celebrations. I reasoned that Passover was in the Bible, unlike Christmas, and that it can carry a Christian message of redemption from spiritual bondage, as well as a Jewish one. It also seemed a bit odd to me that the Church didn't make more of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection and the ascension, or indeed of Pentecost, which is the day, it is said, that the Holy Spirit was given to the Church. They are no less important in Christianity than the birth of Jesus, are they not?

Alternatively, you could perhaps celebrate Jesus's first miracle, which according to John's gospel was turning water into wine, although some may suggest it would encourage drinking to excess (and Christmas doesn't, I suppose?) or else that he withstood Satan. This last is reminiscent of both Moses and Buddha, in that they are said to have gone into the desert in order to deal with their strongest illusions.

Alternatively again, there's always Harvest Festival. This encompasses thanksgiving to God for the food, and beside that the harvest is seen as a synonym for the Last Judgement: there's plenty about that in the Gospels. It could also be seen as about generosity, kindness, and benevolence in general: doesn't it teach us that God is good to all, whatever we may think about Him, and that is how we are meant to be?

If we can get that last point across to the world in general, it would take a lot of the fear and misunderstanding out of religious discussions.

My opinions on anything are subject to change. My love for you will not change.