Christmas Creep
In September, sometimes as early as late August, Debbie Brown of York, Pennsylvania, starts fluffing trees. Good tree fluffers are hard to find. They are hard working, skilled, and highly trained professionals. Here's what they do: They go to retail stores, unpack the artificial Christmas tree inventory, set up the trees, and create attractive displays of those trees for the purpose of selling them. It's an art.
But Christmas tree fluffing is a science too. The really good fluffers have learned the technique of hiding the wires and pointing the branches heavenward in such a way that the artificial tree looks as though it's growing toward the sun. Lifelike, I guess you could say. Debbie Brown is very good at it. That's why she is asked to fluff hundreds of trees in dozens of stores every year. And to fluff that many trees, you've got to start early. One day, while Debbie was out fluffing trees, I called her spouse David, who is associate pastor for public worship at Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene, and invited him on a field trip. We both love books, and since moving to York, David had never been to my favorite discount bookstore, Ollie's. They sell 'good stuff cheap,' especially books and dog food.
At Ollie's, David and I were shocked to discover their Christmas display was set up, including two or three very unprofessionally fluffed Christmas trees. Lights, cards, wrapping paper, battery-operated dancing Santas—already on bold display. And this was the first week of October! "I can't believe they are selling good Christmas stuff cheap already!" We both exclaimed. Merchants start earlier every year, or at least it seems that way to us. Leave it to an academic to come up with a term for this trend. Leigh Sparks, professor of retail studies at the University of Stirling uses the term 'Christmas Creep' to describe the growing trend of starting Christmas sales earlier, as early as September, and extending sales later, into February sometimes. Sure, the January and February sales are called by various names: winter sales, white sales, and so on. But you and I know it's an attempt to sell the stuff still on the shelves after Christmas. It's Christmas creep at its best, or worst, depending on how you look at it.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what motivates this creepy behavior: Money, money, money! For most retail stores, the Christmas season provides the most sales of the year. Many retailers sell more stuff at Christmas than the other eight or nine months put together. Thus the creepiness. Actually, Christmas creep is nothing new. For hundreds of years, the Church of Jesus Christ has established a record of starting the Christmas celebration rather early and extending the Christmas celebration into January and February. Of course, it's a different kind of Christmas creep than retail creep. This is the result of a desire to prepare the Church for Advent and extend the celebration into the New Year.
The Church realized that Christians needed an entire season to prepare hearts for Christmas Day, a season similar to Lent.
So, Advent became a month-long celebration of Christmas, since the first Sunday of Advent is nearly a full month before Christmas day. The Advent season initiates us into the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ.
But for the Church, the Advent season has never been enough. Epiphany is the season after Christmas day, lasting four to nine weeks, depending on the date of Ash Wednesday. Just as Advent prepares us for Christmas, Epiphany encourages the believer to continue to reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation. Thus, the creepiness of Christmas. So why all the fuss over Christmas and two seasons of emphasis?
In the Incarnation, we are confronted with the fact of how deep and wide and long God's love really is.
He gave His Son because of the mess we made of ourselves and of our world. He gave His Son to redeem us. He gave His Son because He wants to be near His children. These themes creep into our preaching and teaching and, our conversations with one another. After all, without the cradle of the Christ, Jesus' death upon the cross would have been just another run-of-the mill Roman execution.
This particular cross was so special because the Word became flesh and blood and died there. The babe of Bethlehem was nailed to that Roman cross. So the Incarnation is a pretty important doctrine, don't you think? The doctrine of the Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh, fully God, fully man, is the astonishing fact that the Word of God, true God as He is, took upon himself man's nature. Maybe we need to explore, explain, preach, teach, and live this doctrine beyond the time limitations we have placed on it, that is the Christmas season only.
Maybe the message of His Incarnation and our incarnational mission should creep into the life and ministry of the church and into our conversations January through December. Christmas creep. Doesn't sound like such a bad idea after all.
Bayse H. 'Bud' Reedy Jr. is senior pastor of Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene in York, Pennsylvania.
Holiness Today, January/February 2009
Please note: This article was originally published in 2009. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.
