First Week of Advent: Wednesday, December 4, 2024

First Week of Advent: Wednesday, December 4, 2024

A Charlie Brown Christmas is essentially a critique of the commercialization of Christmas. The cartoon first aired in 1965, yet the theme of commercialization still resonates with us today. Probably more so, as Christmas has become even more commercialized since 1965.

Christmas wasn’t always celebrated in America. It took the comingling of various European traditions brought to America by immigrants to become a holiday that was widely celebrated. Beginning in the 1840s retailers saw the growing popularity of Christmas as a way to sell merchandise.

Dr. Ruth McClelland-Nugent, a pop culture scholar, says, “The elements of this commercial version of Christmas that advertisers created was largely secular…The secularization of Christmas was also intentional... The idea was to create a holiday season that all Americans, Christians and non-Christians, could experience. By sharing the joy, they would also spend more money.”

Columnist Alanna Joachim describes the end result of commercialization on Christmas: Christmas is deviating away from its core meaning, the religious day itself. Now, “Christmas” seems to be a blanket term for the holiday season. When I hear the word, the religious aspect of the holiday is not the first thing that comes to mind. Granted, I am not religious, but it’s definitely a sign that there is something deeply wrong in our society if most people’s first association with a day of religious observance is not with the religion itself, because it makes the holiday celebration seem more superficial…Christmas in America is no longer about the religion itself, but has come to represent a certain time of year. Some retail companies no longer even use the term “Christmas” to describe the holiday, instead opting for sayings like “Tis’ the season,” “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” in order to appeal to a wider range of consumers who are not religious.

Lucy summarizes it well: “Let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big Eastern syndicate you know.”

So the holiday season becomes something of a trap for us in that it focuses our attention on the trappings of Christmas rather than on the true meaning of Christmas. As Christians we have to be a bit intentional about how, exactly, we will keep the true reason for the season before us.

How have you experienced the encroachment of commercialization on your Christmas observations? Has the “spirit of Christmas” become one of stress, pressure, hurriedness, and guilt? If so, you’ll want to read tomorrow’s devotion!

Prayer: Dear Lord, the trappings of Christmas are part of what makes this time of year seem so magical and exciting. But they can also bog us down spiritually by diverting our eyes from the true magic of Christmas, which is that you sent your Son to become one of us, born as a baby in Bethlehem. As I go about getting ready for Christmas, help me to make room in my day to keep that Good News the center of my inner Christmas preparation. Amen.