Bad Santa?

Every December a former member of my church would mischievously take delight in pointing out that Santa was an anagram of Satan. It was all tongue in cheek but was designed to touch on some of the evangelical sensitivities around Christmas. Indeed there is often a delight in the broader culture in pointing out the pagan origins of many Christmas traditions. My barber, knowing I was a Christian, took great pains to explain to me that Christmas trees, Yule Logs and fairy lights are not actually in the Bible. I think he thought this might correlate to being faith shaking news to me. I was happy to reassure him that I was aware of these omissions and none of them undermined my confidence in Christianity or indeed my enjoyment of Christmas.

Indeed the very appropriation of old pagan symbols to Christian usage is an example of the Gospel redeeming all of creation and culture back for God. Now, of course, care is needed in this because not everything can simply be rebranded or helpfully turned back for good spiritual purposes. There are some things that are so antithetical to the Gospel that no amount of adjustment could make them acceptable to Christians – pagan sacrifices, for example, could never become Christian sacrifices because Christians could have no other sacrifice than the one final and forever sufficient sacrifice of Jesus. However, feasts and celebrations previously misdirected can surely become all the better once focused on the One for whom all praise and thanksgiving is due.  Which is a somewhat long-winded way of saying, I'm fairly relaxed with Christmas trees and decorations!

Father Christmas, however, raises another set of concerns for evangelicals. Firstly, the element of ‘make believe’ regarding children. Some fear that if Christian parents participate in such pretence it will undermine their children’s faith in what they tell them about the Bible. The fear being that when the child inevitably discovers that Santa isn’t real – they’ll look at their parents and wonder if all the stuff about Jesus is fake too. I’ve never been too concerned about that – indeed I think you would only be really worried about that if you believed Christianity rested on essentially the same evidential basis as a belief in Santa Claus. I mean all the kids from non-Christian homes don’t discover the truth about Santa and conclude that William the Conqueror, their great grandparents, or the Moon Landings must be fake as well.

In practise my own approach, for what it’s worth, was to play along with the general story of Santa coming on a sleigh to leave presents (just as I’ve done with the Tooth Fairy and standing on cracks in the pavement), but to become agnostic on the subject of Santa Claus when asked specifically about his existence. Children are very apt at distinguishing between myth and reality, fact and fantasy, make believe and reality – it is a skill they quickly develop, as seen through their growing suspicion of things like Santa as they grow up. So when, about 5 or 6 years old, the inevitable questions are asked such as, ‘Is Santa real?’, my tactic is simply to reply with a rhetorical question and keep answering every question with a rhetorical question until they give up. Ok, a bit of a cop-out but the kids cotton-on pretty quickly and see it for what it is - a bit of childhood fun. 

Another objection to Father Christmas is his ‘be good or you’ll not get any presents’ ethic, something that is rightly pointed out as being a works based premise for receiving gifts and thus the very opposite of grace – the heartbeat of the Gospel. Well yes absolutely it is – but what a great opportunity to tell children exactly why Jesus is so much better than the world Santa represents. What a wonderful way to show why Jesus truly is the star of Christmas, why His coming is the greatest gift humanity has ever been given, and why our thanksgiving, praise and celebrations at Christmas can only ever ultimately be about Jesus.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!  (2 Corinthians 9:15)