organic christianity

saint nicholas

The larger-than-life myths surrounding Santa Claus actually emanate from the very real person of Saint Nicholas. It is difficult to know the exact details of his life with certainty, as the ancient records are sparse, but the various pieces can be put together as a mosaic of his life.

Who was Saint Nick?

Nicholas was born in the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. He was born into an affluent family, but his parents died tragically when he was quite young. His parents had raised him to be a devout Christian, which led him to spend his great inheritance on helping the poor, especially children. He was known to frequently give gifts to children, sometimes even hanging socks filled with treats and gifts.

Perhaps his most famous act of kindness was helping three sisters. Because their family was too poor to pay for their wedding dowry, three young Christian women were facing a life of prostitution until Nicholas paid their dowry, thereby saving them from a horrible life of sexual slavery.

Nicholas grew to be a well-loved Christian leader and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, a port city that the apostle Paul had previously visited (Acts 27:5-6). Nicholas reportedly also traveled to the legendary Council of Nicea, where he helped defend the deity of Jesus Christ in AD 325.

Following his death on December 6, 343, he was canonized as a Saint. The anniversary of his death became the St. Nicholas holiday when gifts were given in his memory. He remained a very popular saint among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, with some 2,000 churches named after him. The holiday in his honor eventually merged with Christmas as they were celebrated within weeks of one another.

Reformation Controversy

During the Reformation, however, Nicholas fell out of favor with Protestants, who did not approve of canonizing certain people as saints and venerating them with holidays. His holiday was not celebrated in any Protestant country except Holland, where his legend as Sinterklass lived on. In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kriss Kingle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus.

Santa Myths

The legends about Santa Claus are most likely a compilation of other folklore. For example, there was a myth in Nicholas’ day that a demon was entering people's homes to terrorize children and that Nicholas cast it out of a home. This myth may explain why it was eventually believed that he came down people's chimneys.

Also, there was a Siberian myth (near the North Pole) that a holy man, or shaman, entered people's homes through their chimneys to leave them mushrooms as gifts. According to the legend, he would hang them in front of the fire to dry. Reindeer would reportedly eat them and become intoxicated. This may have started the myth that the reindeer could fly, as it was believed that the shaman could also fly. This myth may have merged with the Santa Claus myth and if so, explains him traveling from the North Pole to come down the chimney and leave presents on the mantle over the fireplace before flying away with reindeer.

These stories of Santa Claus were first brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In the early 20th century, stores began having Santa Claus present for children during the Christmas season. Children also began sending letters to the North Pole as the legends surrounding an otherwise simple Christian man grew. 

(Mark Driscoll's Blog Resurgence http://theresurgence.com/md_blog)

rules for breaking the rules

While trying to discover a relationship with Jesus and community of believers free from man-made theologies and ideologies I am concerned about "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."  I tend to break rules simply because they are rules.  What if during my frenzy of hacking up all the rules I destroy ones that are actually good for me and God desires me to live by them.  Here is a blog entry by Steven Furtick that addresses my concern and gives a warning to anyone willing to dare to do things differently.   

"My generation of pastors is full of rule breakers.  We don’t dress the part.  We speak out of turn.  We pride ourselves in making burgers out of sacred cows.

That’s okay.  John the Baptist fit all of these descriptions.  So did Jesus, actually.

But I’m afraid some of us are missing a key point:
You’ve got to know the rules before you can break ‘em.

If we’re going to discard a time-honored methodology, it can’t be because we’re too lazy or ADD to continue it.  It must be because we’ve found a better, more Biblical way.

If we’re going to use strong language in our sermons, it can’t be because we’re covering up a lack of content with shock value statements.  It must be because God has burned a prophetic sentiment in our hearts and we’re compelled to express it in an unconventional way.

If we’re going to teach topically rather than verse-by-verse, book-by-book, it should be born out of our sincere belief that this is the most effective and appropriate way to preach God’s Word, not just because we fear that book-by-by teaching is boring, or dread the hard work of digging into the text.

Can I tell you a secret?  I completed my M.Div. recently.  I didn’t enjoy it.  I don’t know if I would do it if I had it to do over again.  And I do not recommend every aspiring pastor follow suit.
But it sure is nice to know the rules before you break them.

Let’s don’t masquerade our ignorance with hype.
Let’s don’t substitute heat for light.
Let’s know what rules we’re breaking…so we can break ‘em on purpose…and break ‘em right down the middle."

I hope this helps you to stop for a moment like I did and reflect on humility and the need to allow God to help us to do the right things and hear His direction more clearly about what rules He wants us to break.  The last thing I want to do is miss the mark just because of my pride, arrogance and need to rebel but I also don't want to lack the courage to break some of the rules that hold myself and others in bondage to religion. 

where did the love go?

Christians emphasize that our connectivity to God is through a relationship with Jesus.  We talk about giving him our hearts or inviting him into our hearts.  We use love language to talk about committing our lives to him.  Then, as soon as the deal is done, we switch the language and go to head stuff.  We pull out the notebooks.  We go over what we believe, information about the church club, and so on.  We use words like assimilation into the collective as if we were the Borg (sorry about the Star Trek reference).

I'm so glad that my wife did not turn to me on the way to our honeymoon and say, "Now that we've gotten the wedding ceremony behind us, I've taken the liberty to putting together a notebook...."  I have learned a few things about Charlotte in the last four years that we have been married.  I know what she likes and dislikes.  I have learned about her family.  I don't know about her.  I know her!  She and I have achieved an intimacy that comes from hanging out together, sharing dreams and hurts, raising our son, experiencing vacations and fun together and from all the routine errands we run everyday.  I know what she thinks about a lot of things now without having to ask anymore.  We have had romantic moments and contentious arguments.  This is what a relationship is. 

A person who claims to be a follower of Jesus claims to have a relationship with him.  This means they know him, not just about him.  Yet we have turned our churches into groups of people who are studying God as though they were taking a course at school or attending a business seminar.  We aim at the head.  We don't deal in relationship.  And we wonder why there is no passion for Jesus and his mission?  In our efforts to disciple people, we've been barking up the wrong tree. 

My journey is to discover a way to help people foster a genuine relationship with Jesus where they hear His voice and know His presence and don't feel like they were sold on a relationship with Him only to receive a club member manual. (excerpts from The Present Future, by Reggie McNeal)

strengths

Could we be holding ourselves back from greater success in our family and workplace because we are more focused on our weaknesses than on our strengths?  What if focusing on our weaknesses and becoming at best mediocre at them only causes us to be balanced, which ultimately makes us ineffective?  What if balance isn’t what we need and we need to be totally unbalanced?  

I believe that when we work on our strengths and grow in them that we have a better chance of experiencing success, although it doesn’t come without risk.  You could tell your boss that you don’t deal well with confrontation and she might tell you to get over it.  You could turn down a promotion because you know it only will cause you to work at a greater level in your weaknesses rather than quitting and working somewhere else where you can play to your strengths.  

A writer once said, “and the day came when the risk it took to remain all tight in the bud became greater than the risk it took to blossom.”  There are risks to betting your life, satisfaction and career on your strengths.  But there are a few truths.  

1. You have strengths, certain activities that make you feel strong.
2. No one has quite the same configuration of strengths that you have.  The least interesting thing about you is your age, race and nationality.  The interesting things are deep down inside, which only you have.  You are one of a kind.
3. You’ll be your most creative, productive and resilient when you play to your strengths.   

Everyone will win when you play to your strengths.  Let tomorrow be a stronger day for you.  Trust yourself and be proud of your strengths and make your mark.   Focus on your interests and don’t right them off as merely hobbies.   They might be a key to your next job.  The risks of not doing so are far greater. 

(If you want to learn how to focus on your strengths read The Truth About You by Marcus Buckingham.)