Horror for the Holidays?

We don't make a big deal out of Santa in our home. Never have. Our oldest son never really ever believed in Santa. At a very young age he found the whole idea a bit hard to swallow so we didn't force it down his throat. So, we never promoted the stories with the rest of our kids, but we weren't legalistic in the opposite extreme either. For example, although we prefer the message of It's a Charlie Brown Christmas, and watch it annually, we also enjoy movies like Polar Express. We find them entertaining. Tim Allen cracks us up in The Santa Clause and the season doesn't seem complete without watching the Miracle on 34th Street and the Grinch (the original cartoon version animated by Chuck Jones). But the great central focus in our household is the incarnation of Christ.
Here's the problem with too much Santa and not enough Jesus at Christmas in terms of the Church's witness to a skeptical world. It's not just the inconceivability of a jolly old elf transported to millions of households in a single night by floating caribou after leading an army of vertically challenged toy-makers with pointy ears on a year-long mission in a top secret workshop situated in an uninhabitable frozen tundra. The problem is that the story just doesn't satisfy. It's fun for a time but after a rehearsal or two of this tale each year it all comes off very two-dimensional and leaves us feeling rather hollow and sick to our stomachs like when you've eaten too many helpings of birthday cake. The narrative is indeed saccharine sweet. But our hunger for inspiring narrative will  not be satisfied without a healthy balanced diet. With so much Santa et. al. there's just no savory dish on the holiday table. The traditions and stories of Santa leave people wanting more. Something with substance. Some balance. Everyone wants to be inspired by something but humanity needs multi-dimensional narrative that touches the soul to be satisfied. We don't just want to be told to "believe". Believe in what? We need a worthy object for our belief. One that holds up all year round. 

So, to counteract the overwhelming sense that the happy-happy, slappy-slappy Xmas musak and gaudy decorations have gotten way out of control, some people are turning to pagan images of horror and darkness. Consider the effort of some to revitalize the European tradition of "Krampus." "What is a krampus?" you ask. Forget the Grinch, he was a pussy cat compared to the Krampus.

"The Krampus is a character from European Alpine folklore, common in Austria and Switzerland. The creature stands on two hooves and has horns growing out of its skull. An extremely long tongue hangs out of its mouth, and it carries a basket to haul away naughty children...For hundreds of years, the Krampus and Saint Nicholas have worked a kind of good cop-bad cop routine. Saint Nick rewards the good children; Krampus terrorizes the bad." [for more see:  http://www.npr.org/2011/12/10/143485735/naughty-or-nice-krampus-horror-for-the-holidays]

Alright, perhaps this antithesis to Santa has been around a long time in Europe but to me this whole Krampus thing is a brand new beast (and it is something I can't stand in the least). Processions of people dressed up like imps following this demon-like Krampus have already been instituted in the streets of Portland, OR (of course, where else?) and soon in Philadelphia. What immediately comes to mind are the prophet's words: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20) What a way to turn a perfectly merry holiday up-side-down. Don't we already have Halloween? At the same time, when the saccharine sweet Santa narrative has usurped the Jesus narrative, and seems to these folks to be the only show in town, who can blame them? 

I say we must shout over the noise (oh, the noise, noise, noise. noise!). The church has so much more to say at this time of year than it ventures to say. We have so much more, infinitely more, to offer if only we would offer it more completely, more accurately, perhaps more loudly and more accessibly. If we did, maybe people wouldn't be so inclined to dress up like Satan to balance out Santa (spelled strangely similarly, thank you, SNL's Church Lady). The kind of narrative that truly inspires and satisfies is narrative that is REAL. The Nativity is real. And the message of the gospel in the Nativity is power. As powerful and real narrative the Nativity invokes the entire gamut of human emotion including fear and horror, like the fear of shepherds, the jealously of a wicked king and the horror of the massacre of the innocents. But these are balanced with the perseverance of the night visitors on their quest, the shame turned to faith of a tested and trusting husband, the joy of a first-time mother, the great great joy, and the awe when considering the mystery of the incarnation of the Creator of the universe. 

How can our silly Santa traditions even begin to compare to that? In the face of the Nativity Krampus inspires nothing but nausea. It makes me want to wrap both Santa and Krampus up in one big package and drive it "up the side of Mount Crumpit...to the tip top to dump it." 

The Nativity is real. It's about real people with real hearts who really feel. Moreover, real multifaceted human emotion may be the initial draw, but the Nativity goes beyond emotion. The gospel message in the narrative of the Nativity of Jesus satisfies our deepest need. We need deliverance from our depravity. We need hope. We need truth. We need to know the Way. We need eternal Life. We need a God who is with us. In Jesus, God, himself is with us. We have so much more to offer if only we would offer it more completely, more accurately, and more accessibly. We have so much to say at this time of year. Let's venture to say it and say it loudly.