Practicing the Claus

This blog is for "nonbelievers" only, "believers" should seek parental guidance before continuing...

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22, 23 NASB)

It's interesting to think about really. No one prior to Jesus (sans the Jews) was troubled with buying or eating meat from the temple meat markets. It was cheap, nutrious, and everyone was doing it. It was the advent of Jesus and the new makeup of the people of God that caused believers to think there way through or out of feasting on post-sacrificial meat. Suddenly, cultural worlds collided as God brought together both Gentiles and Jews into one body of Christ, and basic, every day practices became the source of division. In Romans 14, the Apostle Paul gives some good practical, yet theological advice about how to approach such matters. This may sound odd, but you should know that Santa Claus is my post-sacrificial meat.

Before I go on, let me say one thing about my purpose in writing these words. I intend to sort through my own convictions about "Practicing the Claus" in my home with my children. The goal here is not a global docrtine but instead a personally applicable conviction. I truly have no qualms about how others choose to observe the Claus, and naturally ones eternal status has little to do with whether or not you tell your children that a jiggly old man breaks into your house once a year. I do think, now that I may be passing this tradition on to my children, that I should deeply reflect on the matter before I dare say anything to my daughter. If first century Christians in Rome were troubled by whether or not it was appropriate Chrsitian behavior to participate in the common practice of eating meat sacrificed to other gods, then perhaps it isn't completely ridiculous to wonder whether 21st century Christian should practice the Claus.

"I'm sorry dear, but because you told daddy that you were in your room when you were really at the mall, you are grounded for three hours" . . . "but Daddy you told me my iTab Blaze was from Santa Claus when it was really from you and mom." 

It's probably because I've only been a parent for a few months that the thought of systematically manipulating children is a bit unnerving. I imagine the longer I'm a parent the more comfortable I will be with using the tools necessary to get my children to behave appropriately. Now you should know I don't belong to the philosophical school of "Never Liers," but I wonder why the Claus is so sacrosanct we don't even give pause to the notion that it's lying. I'm not ready to expound upon when lying is necessary and/or appropriate, but I will ask why lying about the Claus is necessary. I can't help but feel somewhat dissatisfied by the usual responses; "It's . . . harmless/fun/Christmas." A common lie is no less a lie, and perhaps we shouldn't be so eager to wield it ourselves.

"Okay kids, it's time to open your presents from Santa, but before you do, I want you to ask yourself a question, 'Were you good this year?'" "Yeaaass!!!" "Okay we'll find out, because if you were good, you get exactly what you asked from Santa, but if you were bad . . . you get coal."

Let me say this as plainly as I can, Santa Grace is opposed to God's grace. It seems odd to me that we would raise our children growing up in churches hearing about the unfathomable grace of a God who offered up his own Son for the sake of reconciliation with his people at the exact time that they deserved coal in their stockings. There two ways of understanding the picture of grace that the Claus teaches, and I'm uncomfortable with both.

1.The judge reads down his list of name, and uses a binary classification to decide who is "good" or "bad." Based on that designation, you get what you deserve, a gift or coal.

2.The judge reads down his list of name, and uses a binary classification to decide who is "good" or "bad." And regardless of that designation, you get a gift. After all, no one actually gets coal anyway.

Both versions of Santa Grace are deeply concerning to me because (to be frank) its a perversion of God's grace. I know that not only do I deserve coal, but I have slathered every atom of my being with sinful soot. I am "bad," we all are. But the difference is that with God I understand (a) that I'm in need of a bath, (b) that God has washed me with the blood of the Lamb, and (c) that I ought to now live washed in the reality of my newness before God and others. As far as I can tell, Santa Grace does not lead to repentance, and while that's not it's intent, perhaps we should be more careful in offering alternative versions of grace to our Children.

"MOM, DAD, GET UP!!! Santa was here last night, and brought gifts. Oh boy, am I excited."

We all know what Christmas is "really" about. I know. I get it. But think about it. On Christmas morning, whose advent are our children excited about? If children are more excited about the jiggly old man than the Jewish infant, why would this not cause us to reconsider how we or if we practice the Claus. We cannot simply be able to talk about what Christmas is about without it also being the actual practice of our observances of Christmas. Otherwise, we will relegate the advent of Jesus to something we do in our churches and the annual advent of the Claus in our homes.

Despite my various thoughts and passions regarding practicing the Claus, I'm not entirely sure yet what I/we will do in our home. The Claus did not ruin my faith or childhood; I rather enjoyed it really. However, I don't want to do the "Jesus Nod" during the holiday season and then get on to the real fun. More importantly if "Christ"mas differs in no substantial way from "X"mas, ". . . Do not even the tax collectors do the same?"

If practicing the Claus is my post-sacrificial meat, then this really is just a matter of personal conviction, I know. Perhaps though at the very least the issue should be brought to the table and chewed on a bit before swallowing it whole.