Missing the Forest for the Christmas Tree
by Nicole Brown Dominguez | 23 December 2024 |
In my grandparents’ church, there is a member who refuses to enter the sanctuary for the entire month of December. Why? Because the platform has a Christmas tree on it.
I briefly was the moderator of the General Conference Instagram account. I once suggested doing an Advent reel a week. I was warned not to do anything “Christmas-y” lest I invite the wrath of those who see any Christmas decor as hedonistic paganism.
In a video where I shared the blessings of the first day of Advent, inviting listeners to set their hearts on the coming of our Savior, the first comment was from a woman who informed me that my mascara and tinted lip balm were “too much” and that I would never be listened to if I kept up such a whorish display. By week three of the Advent series, it took 20 minutes of frantic checking to ensure the background wasn’t too inflammatory, that my face didn’t look too made up, or that none of the Christmas decorations my mother lovingly arranges every year would be visible on camera.
Don’t offend anyone!
If you do any form of Adventist ministry, 60% of your efforts will be spent avoiding the blazing indictment of the Heavy Sevvys. In attempts to avoid the landmines of being seen as too soft, too progressive, or too heretic, we can end up spending more time placating the temperamental legalists than sharing the gospel. We feel like Sisyphus: constantly doing work while making little progress.
Though I am a lifelong believer, because of my age I am still considered a young believer. Yet in my brief time on earth, I’ve discovered that certain people will always find something to be angry about. There is a fine line between respect and fearful placation, and I will always choose the former over the latter.
When I was growing up, Christmas was the best time of year. It was a cozy, red-ribboned time where we would celebrate Advent, anticipate Christmas services at our local church, have a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” party every year, and enjoy three gifts each, the same number Christ received. Santa Claus was never a legitimate figure for us, but a playful caricature. The center of Christmas was always Christ.
So understanding the outrage of certain believers who tried to discredit the holiday due to pagan roots seemed odd to me. And I still think that the rage over red cups and “Happy Holidays” has been misplaced. We Adventists, in particular, are a denomination that says we’re looking forward to Jesus’ return. Yet we major in minors, leaving Christ shivering in the cold because he came on the wrong day and in the wrong form.
Yet, while policing others’ celebrations, we should address the irony of such ire. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” As we know, Immanuel means “God with us.” Isaiah 9:6 goes on to say, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Here we are learning the titles of the coming savior, God coming to earth to fulfill a covenant between creator and creation by placing himself in the most vulnerable position known to man to accomplish a task so crushing only God himself could do it.
God favors all of us!
In Luke 2, as Jesus’ birth is recounted, we learn the context of his entrance into earth. We enjoy talking about his humble origins. But too often we remain at a sanitized primary school level comprehension.
The angels in verses 10 to 12 describe Christ’s coming as bringing “good news of great joy for all the people. To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord,” and then in verse 14 the heavenly host gathered to sing “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”
Perhaps we think “among those whom he favors” means Adventists. But when we criticize others for their Christmas trees, we are in fact surrendering our opportunity to glorify God with the good news of great joy to all people. In those swaths of angry comments, we are exposing what the Christmas season is really about: not good news of great joy for everyone, but our own righteousness.
When the Pharisees asked Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40 which commandment was the most important, his answer wasn’t, “Love your religion with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and the next one is like it: berate your neighbor as yourself.”
Peace on earth!
John 1:9-14 says:
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Why should we make contentious a holiday centered on peace? Why spend countless words of criticism proving that someone else is wrong? Satan loves it when we’re so focused on self that we miss Christ.
That’s missing the forest for the Christmas tree. Let’s instead turn our attention to the magnitude of God shedding his Godhood, the creator becoming his creation. Of course, the devil doesn’t like that, so he tries to make Christmas argument: a “You could have been right if you hadn’t used that phrase or worn those clothes or decorated like that” kind of combative Christianity that isolates and divides.
It is an act of defiance for us to set our eyes on Christ, to glory in the majesty of his humility and the peace designed to bring goodwill to all mankind.
And to be happy—to celebrate with all the beauty we can find—that “good news of great joy for all people.”
Nicole Dominguez is Adventist Today’s News Editor
