AUTHOR: Joseph Kelly
PUBLISHER: Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2010, (126 pages).
Christmas is just around the corner. Unlike the season of Lent where there is an emphasis on fasting, when it comes to the Advent and Christmastide, feasting is more the nature of the celebrations. With the modern symbols of the Christmas and the commercialization of this meaningful end of the year event invading the Church, even Christians can be confused about the true meaning and symbols of Christmas. What does turkey has to do with Christmas? How does Christmas trees and lighting fit into the picture? Do the Early Church celebrate Christmas at all? What about the Middle Ages? What is the origins of Christmas? How do we make sense of what is religious and what is secular when it comes to the Christmas season? One of the ways to understand this is to look back at history and let the unfolding events of the past guide and teach us on the true meaning of Christmas.This is where this book comes in. Beginning with "Christianity without Christmas," Kelly looks at the tensions throughout history between the religious and secular thought surrounding Christmas. Though most of the Western world had selected December 25th as the day for Christmas, no one really knows exactly how and when that happened. The Russian Orthodox Church chose January 7th as their Christmas Day. The best estimates was that December 25th was chosen sometime in AD335 in Rome with the title "dies natalis Christi" (birth day of Christ). In fact, the early Christians do not pay much attention to Christmas at all. Only the gospels of Matthew and Luke recorded the Christ birth events which Kelly attributes to the anticipation of the world coming to an end quickly at that time. The gospel of Mark bypasses the birth narrative and hurriedly tells of Jesus works and ministry. The reason why Matthew and Luke included the birth narrative is to emphasize the fact that God recognized Jesus as His Son, and that the birth of Christ was a direct fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Matthew focuses on the similarities between Moses and Jesus on how their lives were in danger at very early age. While Matthew writes to Jews, Luke focuses on Gentiles. Matthew's genealogy traces back to Abraham while Luke goes all the way to Adam. Luke meticulously records the birth narratives both before and after the birth of Christ, which makes the gospel of Luke a favourite Advent sermon choice. The feasting for Christmas is linked to the fabulous feast and spread of the Roman culture, where the secular Romans celebrated the pagan festival called Saturnalia, between Dec 17-23. This involved much eating, drinking, and celebrating. This would influence the way Christmas will be celebrated.
