By James Wilson
My very favorite Christmas decoration is a kneeling Santa – red suit and all – at the manger holding Baby Jesus. My favorite thing to do in church on Christmas Eve is to invite Santa to join us – explaining his presence and work, worshipping the Lord, taking Holy Communion with the children ahead of the rest of the congregation.
We sing our carols and read the Christmas story from Luke before I invite the gentleman in the white beard to join me up front. I ask him why he is in church this night and he explains that while he has many visits to make all over the world before dawn he believes in doing the first thing first. He comes to worship the Lord Jesus who – by His gift of Himself – makes all giving possible.
St. Nicholas is a very real guy. Born in the late third century to Greek parents he embraced Christ during a persecution of believers. He was tortured for his faith but survived while standing fast in his conviction. He became a bishop in the Turkish city of Myra and helped craft the Nicene Creed, the only summary statement of the Christian faith to be universally accepted by leaders of all factions. He was known throughout his lifetime for passionately defending the faith as revealed in the scriptures, his empathy with people at risk such as sailors and children, and his gifting for dynamic healing prayer. It was his habit of secret giving that roots the traditions we have today for Nicholas.
He would be thrilled to be associated with the Christ he worships and adores on the day commemorating His birth. He would be horrified to find himself substituted for Jesus on this day or any other. Who is the really real Person of Christmas?
Jesus of Nazareth – named for the city in which He was raised – was actually born in Bethlehem, according to every written record we have of His birth. (Revisionist scholars love to debate the location but their speculations stand against an exclusive written record that includes eyewitness accounts.) His birth and earthly career coincides with literally hundreds of predictive/prophetic statements recorded centuries before His arrival and uttered by persons related only through their shared devotion to His Abba – Father – across those centuries. He claimed to be the bread of life and Bethlehem is Hebrew for “house of bread;” He was known for feeding thousands of hungry people with bread He multiplied from a few loaves on multiple occasions. He claimed to be a healer who could open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, cure diseases and reverse injuries. The pages of scripture are shot through and through with eyewitness accounts affirming His claims. He said His followers would operate in His Name and surpass the things He did; I have personally witnessed thousands of miraculous interventions in His Name including the kind of creative miracles that result in multitudes being fed. Yet He said nothing pleased Him more than one person who commits himself to new life in His Name. He was executed and rose from the dead.
In the beginning He was laid in a manger – again according to the only written accounts we have – a feeding trough for animals, because His family was caught without more comfortable shelter when this Baby decided to enter the world. In addition to the prophecies regarding the location and manner of His birth a bunch of shepherds reported seeing angels filling the sky with their song for this Child. Is it not just like God to choose shepherds – in first century Judean culture their reputation for truth telling was so abysmally low their testimony was not admissible in a court of law – to share a story so compelling it stands without reference to the credibility of the tellers? Later the family was visited by pagan astrologers who traveled hundreds of miles on the strength of portents they witnessed in the stars; they worshipped the Baby as God just as the shepherds did. And is it not just like God to use astrology – a discipline originating in God’s mortal enemy, Lucifer – to goad His chosen people to realize that if they will not shout His praise even the stones of the road will cry out the revelation?
Many voices annually urge us to focus on the “real” meaning of Christmas – the love, peace and joy of reunion and reconciliation of separated and lost ones. These real meanings are made possible only by the presence and ongoing life of the really real One who embodies them. His Name is Jesus – Yeshua – and St. Nicholas serves Him.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
