In defence of the commercialisation of Christmas

Ah, Christmas! The chill bite in the air, the smell of chestnuts roasting and that unmistakable jingling sound: money changing hands.

Some people say Christmas has become too commercialised. That the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is belittled and tarnished by turning the remembrance into a festival of commerce, over-indulgence and gift-buying. And you can see their point. Or, rather, you can see that they have missed the point.

Jesus is not the reason for the season, not for most people. And puffing our cheeks and going red in the face like Christmas gammons about it won’t change the facts.

Brendan Walsh, Editor of The Tablet, wrote recently that “without its commercialisation Christmas might have gone the way of Whitsun which nobody has found a way to monetise and hence has more or less vanished from the national calendar.” And he’s right.

Sure, be uncomfortable at rampant consumerism and commercialisation. But feel that way all year

The truth is that the appropriation of Christmas, its co-opting in various ways into the service of ideals and causes not specifically Christian, is what is keeping it alive among the majority secular population.

The reason for the season

Christmas, if most of our holiday plans are anything to go by, is about family. That’s what the movies tell us, too (though they also tell us it’s a time for career-oriented women to move to small towns and meet beefy love-interests – all to the sound of sleigh bells ringing and priorities straightening).

For many, it’s a time of indulgence, of loosening waistbands and having that second helping of something nice. Mostly, though, we think of Christmas as the moment for expressing love and joy through the giving and receiving of gifts.

WRONG, say some Christians. It’s about Jesus, and if it’s not about Jesus, it’s not Christmas.

Well, bah humbug to you, too, Pastor Scrooge. Who needs lessons from a seasonal scold? Who wants to hear glad tidings from the Joy Police?

Let angelic hosts proclaim

Christmas is an incredible opportunity for the Christian message to find its way into culture. We should be grateful it happens at all, instead of getting hot under the stockings about people ‘doing it wrong’.

Yes, people will use the day to over-indulge, to give in to consumerism and materialism, to ‘make it about presents and not His presence’ (or whatever cheesy epigram is passing for spiritual wisdom this year), but so what?

They’re also singing songs that echo the angelic host, letting their children participate in little plays that tell a story that is mostly from our scripture. The radio and TV spend an inordinate amount of time talking about Christmas and playing Christmas music, generally bestowing on the foundational event of our faith the kind of privilege other religious traditions can only dream of. And yet we complain.

Oh, the children from non-Christian households aren’t expressing your particular theology or sticking to the letter of our holy text?

Boo-jingling-hoo.

People are saying ‘happy holidays’ as a way of including other faiths and that makes you angry?

Cry me (and every faith group) a river.

Making the case

People are focused on loving each other and having a good time during literally the darkest part of the year AND crediting Jesus for it, but that’s still not good enough for you?

Sure, be uncomfortable at rampant consumerism and commercialisation. But feel that way all year. If you worship at the altar of GDP in your politics or justify cuts to public services that will affect the people Christ called “the least of these” but oppose taxing the rich more, you don’t get to complain about the market intruding on your holiday.

If you’re anti-capitalist and simplicity-minded all year round, by all means, grinch it up in December. Encourage people to do a Buy Nothing Christmas. But using ‘commercialisation’ as camouflage for a desire to tell people off or push for more privilege fools no-one.

The truth is that the appropriation of Christmas is what is keeping it alive among the majority secular population

Christmas, commercialised and secularised as it now is, still features the story of God humbling himself to become a poor child. It features the story of his birth, usually with angels signing praise to God the Father, and carols with overtly Christian language being sung with gusto and played on radio all season long. What an incredible opportunity for witness! What a witness in itself!

All that’s missing, in many cases, is a Christian presence of goodness and mercy that makes the practical connection between the seasonal songs and our living faith.

If our presence in the world is kind and generous, maybe they’ll hear us when we tell them that that baby Jesus is the hope of something greater. But if we’re expecting the secular world to do all our witnessing for us, or if we refuse to pipe down and let people enjoy things, we haven’t got a snowball’s chance of reaching anyone.