By James Wilson
Daddy! Daddy!
Read the story. Please. “Twas the night before Christmas and all
through the house…” Before long he got
to the part where the round and rather elfish fellow in the red suit slides
down the chimney and leaves the presents.
The best part for me was not the presents. It was decorating the tree and laying the
fire – which never hurt Santa – and pretending to be sitting next to him while
we shared the milk and cookies that were always left for him. It was the essence of family in my
imagination. It was a warm and wonderful
fantasy, and when my parents told me there was no Santa I just kept imagining
the Christmas scene anyway. It was too
wonderful to let go.
Trouble
is – if you want to call it trouble – there really is a Santa. His real name is Nicholas and he lived in the
city of Myra in what is now called Turkey.
He was a bishop in the Catholic Church in a time when there was only one
Church. He served during a time of
savage persecution of Christians; he was arrested and tortured for his faith,
although he did not die of it. He was
one of the leaders participating in the Council of Nicea, called by Emperor
Constantine after legalization of the faith, and he had a hand in composing the (still) only universal
summary statement of the Faith. He was
designated a saint following earthly death and hence the Santa joins the Claus
in his name.
The
most amazing news about Nicholas is that – amid all he suffered and labored and
tended to in his life and ministry – he found great joy traveling the streets
of his city and leaving coins in the shoes children placed on their window
sills at the end of day. He had a
special heart for sailors as well as for children, and he may even be the
left-handed source of the proverb that God takes care of sailors and
children. His concern for the poor was
both real and poignant, yet he is remembered not just as a man of compassion,
but of compassion laced with whimsy.
Reminiscent of the God He served so well.
In
our time we are much more attuned to a fat man in a red suit who will give us
anything we ask for – and especially a new boy or girlfriend for Christmas if
the seasonal movies tell us anything – than to the child of a carpenter born to
die for us in a shabby manger located in a small cave in a forgotten town in
Judea where all they produce are the lambs to be ceremonially killed in the
capitol city. The fat man requires
nothing of us but a willingness to be dazzled by fantasies like my
five-year-old Christmas scene; the child wants our whole life to be given over
to Him as He gives His for us. On top of
that, the child insists on meeting our needs rather than our wants. The trouble is, what powers the fat man’s
generosity is the child’s sacrificial reality. Nobody is more aware of that than a fat man
who gave his heart and his body in gratitude for the Child.
When
I was a parish priest we observed a Christmas custom in each church I led. I had long since replaced cookies and milk
with the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper on Christmas Eve, although God
knows to this day I still love the Christmas scene I cherished when I get home
from church. At the church we would have
one of our members dress as Santa and enter the nave or sanctuary just as I
prepared to pray over the Supper. I
would catch sight of him and greet him from my station behind the altar. I would acknowledge the pleasure of seeing
him, with all the work he had ahead of him this night. He would tell me he wanted to do first things
first – on this night of all nights – and that meant worshipping the living
Reason for the Season. He would then
come forward to receive Communion with the church’s children in tow, and all of
us would receive a joy-filled and much needed adjustment to our perspective.
Santa
Claus is real, a servant of God and no substitute for Him. Nobody is clearer than St. Nicholas on the
nature of the relationship. He is first
to say, “Jim, your idea of Christmas as a child comes true only because another
child was born, lived and died for you.
First things first.”
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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