Monday Morning After
December 19, 2011
I try to avoid any conversations about Santa. Let’s just say, we have a history. My pat response to children’s questions about Santa is: “I don’t know much about Santa, but I do know about Jesus”. It’s too bad, because there are a lot of interesting illustrations that arise when people consider Santa’s godlike qualities. It has always been easier to believe in Santa. You know what he looks like. You can go sit on his lap and hear his voice. And you can make a request and actually get it. Try asking God for a video game. Good luck with that.
The comic strip Calvin & Hobbes often included conversations about Santa this time of year. The young boy Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, who comes alive when no one but Calvin is around, are having one of those Santa conversations as Calvin is about to club Hobbes over the head: “Boy, if it wasn’t so close to Christmas, I’d pound you good.” Or on another occasion, they are sledding and Calvin brags that he has been good all day so far. “I’ve been wondering, though. Is it truly being good if the only reason I behave well is so I can get more loot at Christmas?…Is that good enough, or do I have to be good in my heart and spirit? …In other words, do I really have to BE good or do I just have to ACT good?”
The father like character in another comic strip, ADAM, recently joined the conversation. The boy asks his father:
Boy: Does Santa judge me only by my actions or by my thoughts as well?
Dad: Uhh…Just actions
Boy: So I can think bad things as long as I can control myself?
Of course, Christian teaching would remind us that no one is good, in actions or spirit. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But their question is intriguing in regards to motivation and real change in our lives. We say that God looks not on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. (I Samuel 16:7) We might naturally conclude that doing good with a conflicted heart is meaningless, but sometimes it is by doing loving acts that we discover love for another. It may be by doing servant acts that our hearts are opened.
The Bible teaches that heart and action must go together, but as Christians we understand we are still a work in progress.
“For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey Him, and then helping you do what He wants.” – Philippians 2:13 (Living Bible)
That’s enough about Santa.
On Sunday, the choir sang like the angels and the songs were fresh and familiar at the same time! We read a letter left by the Magi and reflected on their search for God that lead them to the wrong place. When they got to the Holy Land, they seemed to abandon the star and head for Jerusalem, the natural place to find a new born king. But they were wrong. They learned that God often is found in unexpected places, Bethlehems instead of Jerusalems. The children talked about complaining while we read the story of the Grumpy Shepherd. What a great day! You had to be there. Maybe you were.
