Dichotomy between Christmas and Christianity

THE EDITOR, Madam:

It is a foregone conclusion that any connection between Jesus and Christmas is at best hopeful and superficial. Even for those who wish to attach some level of religious significance to the occasion, it becomes compromised in the observance itself. Frankly, Jesus would have been offended for having a day that avoids all he stood for to be named in honour of his birth, even as such time of birth remains mysterious.

Economics and spiritual interests are not compatible, since loving one and hating the other is inevitable (Matthew 6:24). Not that sustainable spiritual life can be devoid of economic consideration, but, in celebrations such as Christmas, merchandising and commerce are really the primary engines that drive the occasion while ‘Christianity’, for what it’s worth, is only the decorations, or the cart that is pulled along by fiscal interests.

Perhaps this explains why so many are shamelessly rich and pursue a lifestyle of affluence and ostentation. I am sure a letter like this is merely whistling in the wind against an annual celebration that has been entrenched over the traditions that matter. Yet, if someone desires a celebration of life that culminates at the ending of each year, that’s a separate matter – but to mark a day of pleasure and avarice in honour of someone whose material life was sparing and of basic simplicity is crazy.

Christmas is definitely not about any spiritual moment, nor should it be. It is a season of the market and economic space, an occasion that unites the greed of merchants with prodigious consumers. Sadly, Christ’s name is used to soothe the conscience against overindulgence, and even drunkenness. For, if one were, to be honest, Christmas time is really a collective celebration of pleasure which is seen as payment for enduring another year – a harvest of abandonment that is gathered at the end of each year.

Maybe people subconsciously celebrate enduring trials such as COVID-19 and mistakenly attach a spiritual flavour to it. However, there seems to be an obvious dichotomy between Christmas and Christianity – and hardly a compliment to the one who said: “My food is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work” (John 4:34).

HOMER SYLVESTER

Mount Vernon

New York