The question which heads this feature article may perhaps be regard­ed as being merely rhetorical. Of course, we should celebrate Christmas! Christmas has through the ages become the Christian feast par ex­cellence, a day commemorated not on­ly by Christians all over the world but also enjoyed in some way by many non-Christians. Christmas has become a people's fest, an international event, a family tradition, a commercial success. Who could imagine life without "Christmas"?

It may be good, however, to ponder anew the question, "Should we celebrate Christmas?" For through the centuries there has been much discus­sion and controversy about this very issue. And often the debate was not restricted only to the celebrating of Christmas but expanded to include the entire Christian calendar of feast days. Have these feast days not tended to become more important than the only regular festive day which the church must maintain according to God's law, namely, the Sunday?

Is it not a sad fact that many peo­ple who attend church on Christmas Day will not otherwise be found in the house of the Lord? Is there the danger that our way of celebrating "Christ­mas" with its nostalgic sentimentality and seasonal trimmings does not real­ly enrich our lives but instead accentuates our spiritual poverty? The "warm Christmas feeling" lasts only for so long and is soon lost in the frigid grip of winter. For many people "Christmas" is merely another form of escapism from the hard reality and demanding rigor of life.

Pagan Origin⤒🔗

We need not try to disprove the pagan origin of celebrating a special day on December 25, for the facts are quite clear. The Christian Church has from the beginning of its existence ap­parently had to compete with heathen feasts.

From a historical perspective, "Christmas" is at least partly an at­tempt to counter heathen festivities connected with the "winter solstice", the day when the sun "stands still" in its northward motion and begins to creep back to the south. So it was originally a feast connected with sun worship. It has been documented that December 25 marked the "birthday of the sun" in Rome long before there was any notion of a Christian celebration on that day.

It was particularly Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor who encouraged the adaptation by the Church of various aspects of heathen sun-worship. Constantine even built the famous St. Peter's church on the Vati­can Hill where the sun was already worshiped in the ancient Mithras cult. There is unquestionably a big dif­ference between the worship of the sun and the worship of the Son, but the date of December 25 does not give evidence of this antithesis.

December 25 became widely ac­cepted as day of Christ's birth only in the fourth century and its swiftly rising popularity in those days perhaps has something to do with the Christo­logical controversies of that time and the battle against Arianism (which denied the divinity of Christ), as Peter Cobb suggests in The Study of Liturgy (Ed. Cheslyn Jones, SPCK, London 1978). Yet the day itself has nothing to do with the real event. Its origin as festive day is pagan, not Christian.

Romish Deformation←⤒🔗

When December 25 became a Christian fest day in name, this did not mean that it became fully Christian in content. True, the birth of Christ was placed in the centre of attention, but soon all kinds of questionable ceremonies and obscure rituals crept into the celebration.

The worship service on the eve of December 25, the Christ-mass, became the most important church fest of the entire year — besides the holy week of Easter—, requiring special prepara­tion. Specific liturgies were written to accommodate and express the signifi­cance of this high mass. As usual, ritualism was combined with sym­bolism, one of the main exhibits being the "nativity scene." Various dependent feasts, devoted to Christ's family and companions, were soon organized in relation to Christmas.

It is remarkable that the celebra­tion on December 25 has never been able to extricate itself from its pagan origin and subsequent deformation. As Christianity moved through Europe in­to the new world in the course of the centuries, Christmas picked up all kinds of new pagan symbols. The Christmas tree, the yule log, candles, the colors red and white, holly, Frosty the Snowman, stars, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, and Santa Claus himself have nothing to do with the birth of Christ but are heathen addi­tions to a feast which already has a questionable origin.

Reformed Resistance←⤒🔗

It need not surprise us, then, that the Reformers who opposed the entire festive calendar with its abundance of holy days, developed by the Romish church in the Middle Ages, also re­moved "Christmas" from the ec­clesiastical activities.

Already as early as 1520, Martin Luther expressed his desire that the Christian Church would maintain the Sunday as its only feast day. In Geneva, the feast days were abolished under the influence of Farel. John Calvin later expressed his agreement with this action.

Calvin correctly held that these holy feast days (including especially Christmas) were not divine ordinances but human inventions which robbed the weekly Sunday of its prime impor­tance. Calvin was also convinced that the abundance of these (obligatory) holy days was the cause of much wild feasting and raucous partying. It is a well-known fact that Calvin once on December 25 simply continued preach­ing with a series of sermons on Deuter­onomy. He preached on the birth of Christ on the Sunday before December 25!

The same resistance to the celebra­tion of Christmas was apparent among the Presbyterian and Reformed Church­es in Scotland and the Netherlands. Following the reasoning of the Reformers, also the Puritans tried to suppress the celebration of Christmas both in England and in America.

These churches were not extreme­ly successful in keeping December 25, and other "holy days" out of the liturgical year. In the Netherlands, for example, under the influence of the civil government, the synods reluctant­ly allowed the churches more and more room to observe such days. The reason­ing was simple: if the civil government declares these days to be civic holidays, the churches ought to give such days a Christian character and to organize church services to prevent idleness, the parent of vice.

Present Practice←⤒🔗

The Reformed Churches today do not accept any specific day as being "holy" above others. The Reformed conviction is still the same as that of Luther and Calvin: the Sunday is the only day of worship required by God in His divine Law to which we are bound. Therefore in the Reformed Churches weekly worship is emphasized and the significance of special feast days is ap­propriately minimized.

This does not mean, however, that in the Reformed Churches there is no appreciation for specific commemora­tions. In Article 53 of the Church Order of the Canadian Reformed Churches (edition 1983) under the title "Days of Commemoration" we read, "Each year the churches shall, in the manner decided upon by the con­sistory, commemorate the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as His outpouring of the Holy Spirit!"

The point is here that not so much the specific day is of importance but certainly the historical event is to be properly remembered in a manner that is glorifying to God and edifying for the congregation. The Reformed Churches yearly commemorate the main facts of salvation and do so most­ly on the Sunday closest to the com­monly accepted date. The only special days (other than Sunday) are Christmas Day (December 25) and Good Friday (including, in some places, Ascension Day).

The question, "Should we celebrate Christmas?" has often been answered by Reformed Christians with a sincere and firm NO. But this firm­ness has softened in the centuries after the Reformation. Suggestions made at times (for example, as late as 1946 by the Rev. G. Visee of Kampen, the Netherlands) to abolish all historically determined feast days were never real­ly accepted. For many reasons, historical, social and psychological, the churches went back to maintaining December 25 as special day of worship. The prevailing thought is: if we are go­ing to have a special day, the most im­portant thing is that the Word of God is preached so that the celebration is truly Christ-centered.

Commercial Exploitation←⤒🔗

While Reformed Christians have mostly come to accept "Christmas" as a legitimate feast day, they have still op­posed its worldly direction and com­mercial exploitation. As long as I can remember, Christmas Day was celebrated in a sober manner with the congregation and in the family. The popular paraphernalia which the world uses to create the artificial and super­ficial Christmas atmosphere was most­ly avoided. Christmas decorations were simple and modest.

It appears to be very difficult, however, to draw an exact line between the permissible and the intolerable. In the past decades, I have seen in Chris­tian homes a noticeable increase of secular Christmas items. Outside Christmas lights and decorated trees in­side are no longer uncommon. Ex­changing presents on Christmas Day has also become a much more accepted activity. Elaborate Christmas dinners, not without extravagance, have become traditions also in Christian homes. We have perhaps succumbed to the com­mercial exploitation and secular at­mosphere more than we like to admit. And experience tells us that it is hard to turn back the clock.

Many of these things are maybe not wrong in themselves, although I cannot honestly find any Christian ra­tionale for a Christmas tree. Who will begrudge his neighbor some seasonal lore? But the truth is that nothing stands on its own or comes by itself. Sometimes I wonder if the increase of secular emphasis in our homes at Christmas is not accompanied by a decline in overall spiritual commit­ment. It is wrong to generalize, but the question may be asked how we can dream of a white Christmas when many Reformed schools are operating in the red.

I once heard it said that satan does not mind if we celebrate. He loves a party himself. Except, he wants to take Christ out of the celebration, and he does so slowly but surely by intimating that we really do need worldly elements. He always asks, "What's wrong with it?" His favorite text is that "all things are lawful'' but he conve­niently forgets to add that "not all things are helpful" (1 Corinthians 6:12). Some things prove to be harmful only in the course of time, through the generations. That is the danger which we constantly face, and this danger is not removed by merely attending church on Christmas Day.

Should we celebrate Christmas? This question has been asked many times by Christians. The decisive ques­tion is how we will celebrate it, not just physically but spiritually. Which Christmas atmosphere do we pass on to our children? The Word of God and the Spirit of Christ must dominate our celebration from beginning to end. That is the Reformed understanding which we may never lose. Otherwise, before we know it, we have come full circle and are right back at the pagan origin.