A word on tmatt’s Christmas ‘rant’

December 27, 2010 By

Let me start by offering a “Merry Christmas” to all of you pro-tradition Christmas lovers who are celebrating the full season between Dec. 25th and the all-to-overlooked Feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6th. We are talking about two crucial days that form bookends that support one another.

This brings me to a “Houses of Worship” article that ran in the Dec. 24th issue of the Wall Street Journal. I have received quite a few emails and Facebook messages about this, for reasons that will soon be apparent. I hesitated to write about this here, except that it actually focuses on a few issues of history and fact that affect reporters who cover both the ancient churches and the many Protestant flocks that place little or no emphasis on the Christian calendar.

The article was written by a Protestant writer named John Wilson who edits the respected bimonthly called Books & Culture, which is part of the wider world of the company best known for publishing Christianity Today. Here’s the headline:

Do Christians Overemphasize Christmas?

Some theologians claim that Easter is more important. That’s wrong. When we celebrate one, we celebrate the other.

Part of the problem is tied up those words “some theologians,” especially when linked with the words “more important.” Here’s the extended opening of this piece:

One of the hallowed Christmas traditions is the Anti-Christmas Rant. It takes many forms, and anyone reading this newspaper will be familiar with most of them. But unless you routinely hang out with people who argue about theology the way many Americans argue about politics or football, you may not have encountered one variant of the Rant that has been gaining momentum in recent years.

It goes like this: Christmas isn’t simply bad for all the usual reasons — the grotesque materialism that its celebration encourages, the assault of sentimentality and kitsch that somehow seems to grow worse every year, and the smarmy wrapping of it all in the most inflated spiritual rhetoric.

On top of all that, says the Ranter, there is a grievous theological error. In placing so much emphasis on Christmas, Christians fail to grasp the meaning of their own story — in which Easter clearly should take pride of place. This complaint isn’t new, but it’s been voiced more frequently of late. And not from the fringes, where members of tiny sects patiently explain that Christmas and Easter are pagan holidays that conscientious Christians must boycott. Well-respected voices are making the argument.

There’s Terry Mattingly of getreligion.org, for one, and N.T. Wright, a former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. And Rodney Clapp, who presides over Brazos Press, a major Christian publisher.

Where to start with what’s wrong with this analysis?

First, let me join in the views of many of my online correspondents who noted that I should be proud to be included as a “Ranter” in this lofty circle. Indeed, that is true!

What does Wilson say is the key content of our rants? Well, here is one of the key quotes selected from Clapp:

“The climax of the four Gospels is not Christmas … but the events we celebrate as Easter.”

Now, as it turns out, my ranting views are not actually quoted in the WSJ piece.

However, I know from correspondence with Wilson that it was a GetReligion post written last Easter that underlined our sincere differences of belief. Click here to read the whole “What’s Easter about, anyway?” piece, if you wish. Here is an early chunk of material that includes my alleged rant.

My family returned to Baltimore last night after celebrating a joyful Pascha (that’s Easter in the ancient churches of the East) at a church in Salem, Mass., with family and soon-to-be family. Anyway, as we drove home from the airport we made a tiny detour to buy some fried chicken — which is the kind of thing that Orthodox people do when they have a teen-aged son and the family has gone vegan for all of Great Lent.

As we walked in the store, there was an interesting dialogue going on between a patron and the young man behind the counter. To cut to the chase, they were listing all of the reasons that they dislike Easter.

Well, you know, the holiday kind of messed up some people’s work schedules, there weren’t any good parties to go to and, other than the odd chocolate bunny or two, the whole thing was a bit of downer in the gifts department. And then there was the fact that it was so much more religious than Christmas. What was that all about?

Chicken in hand, I joined in for a minute or two. There isn’t any doubt, I noted, that Easter is the single most important day in the Christian calendar.

This statement drew puzzled looks. Easter, asked the guy behind the counter, is more important than Christmas? Why? Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, he said. Easter was about “all that rising from the dead stuff. Right?”

Right, I said.

Please note that in this rather humble exchange I referenced the traditions and rites of the Christian calendar. It’s also crucial that the marketplace apologist with whom I was arguing was offended by the intensely Christian content of the Easter season.

What? As opposed to the faith-free season of Christmas?

Here is the ultimate irony. I have, in the past few decades, poured out oceans of ink arguing that — in the context of post-Christian America — hardly anyone is celebrating the actual 12-day Christmas season, as defined in Christian doctrine and traditions. In fact, I may have written more articles and posts about this subject than any other linked to worship life in the modern church. I mean, click here or, if you dare, here.

In short, I am about as pro-Christmas and Epiphany as a guy can get. I would argue that Christmas — the actual season — doesn’t get enough MSM coverage, as opposed to “The Holidays,” the cultural phenomenon in the marketplace.

I would go even further the say that the other great feasts of the Incarnation — especially that of the Annunciation — are sinfully overlooked in most churches, especially in Protestant sanctuaries (but sadly in Catholic and Orthodox settings as well). Thus, these feasts get very little news coverage, as well.

But that isn’t the real issue here, methinks.

Based on the content of the WSJ article (included material that was edited out), I am confident that Bishop Wright and Clapp would join me in wanting to ask Wilson this question: So simply noting the historical fact that Christmas is the faith’s second-ranked feast (with Advent/Nativity Lent as the second-longest penitential season), in comparison with Pascha as the great feast of feasts (preceded by Great and Holy Lent as the longest and most intense penitential season) is a rant against Christmas?

One more question: Saying things like this will get you lumped, even tangentially, in the Wall Street Journal with fringe folks who claim that Christmas should not be celebrated at all?

Now, I think I had better stop right there — before I am tempted to rant.

Meanwhile, let me once again urge GetReligion readers to be alert to mainstream-media coverage of the 12-day Christmas season and/or Epiphany. And, once again, let me offer to those who are celebrating this great fast of the Incarnation: Merry Christmas. And to the Orthodox: Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Filed Under: Anglicanism, Catholicism, Evangelicals, First Person, Godbeat, Orthodoxy

‘Orthodox’ complaint by reader

January 24, 2010 By

Trust me, I am aware that the Eastern Orthodox Churches have some rites that are unique and, to the eyes of outsiders, may seem a bit on the wild side.

I mean, watch the video attached to this post, which focuses on traditions — I stress that they are what we call “small-t traditions” — observed by some Orthodox believers during the recent “blessing of the waters” celebrations of Theophany (called Epiphany in the West). It is one thing to see people jumping into blessed waters as they observe these traditions in, well, South Florida. It’s something else to see it taking place in Russia, even in, let’s say, Siberia.

Nevertheless, I do not believe that it is time for reporters to start using the word “Orthodox” — with a large “O” — in the following context. If you happen to be Orthodox, you may want to sit down before reading the following chunk of this very strange story.

This is from The Star-Ledger in New Jersey:

A New York City woman on trial for starving four of her children was brought up in a “cult-like” religion that prohibited its members from direct contact with the outside world, her brother testified yesterday.

“It was an almost cult-like existence. We weren’t allowed to watch TV, go to the movies, or vote,” said Frederick Phillips, 45, of Manhattan, describing the lifestyles of members of the Brooklyn-based Church of the Brethren, an Orthodox Christian church that believed in a strict interpretation of the Bible.

Say what? Needless to say, the Church of the Brethren is not part of the ancient churches of Eastern Orthodoxy. In fact, I am not even sure if this story is describing a congregation that is linked to the Church of the Brethren, as traditionally understood.

So what is going on here? I know one thing. GetReligion reader Jason Gilbert of Topeka, Kan., was right to pen the following letter to the newspaper.

I am writing about a factual error in your story, “Defendant raised in cult-like faith, brother testifies.” You use the term “Orthodox Christian,” which a proper noun that does not apply to the organization described. Additionally, your general treatment of the defendant’s religion in this story seems flawed.

Firstly, to capitalize the “O” in “Orthodox” means that the church is “Orthodox Christian;” that is, part of the Eastern Orthodox communion of churches (“Greek Orthodox,” “Russian Orthodox,” etc.). I am certain that the Church of the Brethren is not part of this communion.

The second error is more vague and perhaps forgivable. If you had not capitalized the “O,” then you would merely have been describing the church as “orthodox” in the sense of adhering to traditional Christian dogmas, beliefs, or practices. Nowadays, with the complete shattering of a cohesive Christian identification, it is understandable that a reporter is unable to pin down exactly what those are, but from the small about of space given to the description of this organization’s dogmas, beliefs, and practices, they don’t appear to fit the definition at all.

Furthermore, if you are going to mention a religious organization in the lede, you should take the time to find at least one other source of information about that organization. It appears that maybe you used “Orthodox” as a synonym for something like “ultra strict” or “controlling.” Some journalists use “fundamentalist,” or “extremist,” which are problematic. Using “orthodox” with a small “o” would also be problematic in this case. However, to make it a proper noun is simply factually incorrect.

Amen, all the way around. Strange, strange, strange.

In terms of good journalism, this story was most unorthodox.

Filed Under: Journalism, Orthodoxy, Religion

No war on Epiphany

January 6, 2009 By

bosch_epiphanyThe Epiphany of our Lord — Epiphany for short — is the liturgical festival observed on January 6. The oldest Christmas festival, and originally the most important, It is still the climax of the Christmas season in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, where it is celebrated as Theophany. Epiphany as a season of the Lutheran liturgical calendar lasts until the beginning of Lent and encompasses four to nine Sundays, depending on the date of Easter.

The festival has not gone unnoticed by the media, which is nice. Much of the coverage is of the local color variety — with brief articles and photos of Epiphany celebrations. The Times Herald-Record (N.Y.) looks at a Lutheran church’s Christmas pageant — held on Epiphany (observed in some churches last Sunday) as opposed to late in Advent.

For those confused about when the 12th night of Christmas falls, this Telegraph story was no help, but it was fun.

Epiphany is celebrated with particular fervor in many Spanish-speaking countries. The BBC‘s brief look at Madrid’s annual parade made me wish I was there. The Los Angeles Times reported on a 1,600-meter-long Rosca de Reyes baked by local bakers.

This Democrat and Chronicle (N.Y.) article caught my eye:

At the Church of the Assumption, part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, packets containing a piece of chalk and a prayer were handed out during the service. Families took these packets home to write “20 CMB 09″ above their front door with the chalk.

The numbers indicate the current year and “CMB” stands for the “Christus Mansionem Benedicat,” which — translated from Latin — means “May God bless this house.”

How bad does your Latin have to be to translate Christus as “God”?

The coverage of Epiphany celebrations in Tarpon Springs, Florida, is truly remarkable. Apparently the Greek Orthodox churches there have huge celebrations that bring in visitors far and wide. Rita Farlow, St. Petersburg Times reporter, has the beat covered, with several stories on the festivities. Here’s a portion of one story:

Between 8,000 and 10,000 people are expected for the city’s 103rd Epiphany celebration today, which begins with services at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral and ends with an eight-hour Glendi.

In between, 65 young men will dive to retrieve this year’s Epiphany cross. The teen who finds the cross will receive a special blessing that is supposed to bring him a year of prosperity.

The reporter profiled a young woman who will release a dove as part of the festivities. A Suncoast News story looked back on the year had by the winner of last year’s dive.

No matter how big or small the stories on Epiphany and Theophany were, they all handled the theological significance pretty well. Some media outlets used the occasion to get into deeper religious themes. The Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette ran a piece by an Orthodox priest. Beliefnet‘s Patton Dodd had an epiphany while teaching an Epiphany Sunday School lesson. The Rev. Peg Chamberlin’s regular column in the Star-Tribune dealt with the topic. And the Santa Barbara Independent had an interesting piece on the similarities between Epiphany and Theopany:

One interesting aspect of these two parallel holidays is that they’re much more similar, theologically speaking, than they would appear. To a secular observer, a visit from three Magi and a dip in the river Jordan are entirely different activities; their connection appears obscure. To a Christian scholar, however, they’re both manifestations of Christ as the son of God.

She goes on to describe particular aspects of how the holy days are celebrated. So all in all, not a bad treatment of this major festival. Please let us know if you saw any particularly good or bad coverage of the day and season.

Filed Under: Anglicanism, Catholicism, Journalism, Orthodoxy, Worship

Farewell to Christmas 2007

January 10, 2008 By

TreeMatt2I have to admit that I opened up the Washington Post snark section today and my little Christmas-loving heart took a leap. There I saw a news feature by reporter Monica Hesse that began like this:

Suddenly, there are Christmas trees lining 11th Street NW and the holidays are over. Yesterday afternoon there was just the one on this stretch in Columbia Heights, a Douglas fir in front of a brick rowhouse, upright in a metal tree stand, looking reproachful.

Now, 55 minutes before sunrise on a January morning, the dim sidewalk is lined with blue spruces, balsam firs, a Scotch pine or two, all lying on the ground in various states of undress.

The residents of the neighborhood might have taken their cues from the first house, looked outside at the Douglas wearing only its shoes and said, “Yep.” It might have been the weather, a sudden unseasonable warmth that made admiring the fire-cast glow of ornaments a silly — bizarre, even — pastime. The window for singing along to Burl Ives has passed; what was in that eggnog, anyway?

The whole point of the story was to ask the question: Why are so many people suddenly taking down their Christmas trees this week and hauling them out to the curb? It provides a list of reasons, some with snark and some without.

Here is the thesis statement:

We wonder where cheery, unified Christmas spirit comes from; the flip side is wondering where it goes to and why, and how we all know it’s time to throw out the trees.

Well, the Matts took down our Christmas tree on the night in question (see photo just taken at our darkened Ferndale curb) and I know why we took it down and I know why we had left it up until now. Faithful GetReligion readers also know that the Divine Mrs. MZ Hemingway knows why people might be taking down their trees right now.

The bottom line: Find Dec. 25 on a calendar. Add 12 days.

Think about it. Can you say “Epiphany” (or “Theophany” in the East)? I knew that you could.

Now, did I seriously think that the snark-masters at the Post Style section were actually going to do a story focusing on the 12 days of Christmas — as in the real 12 days of Christmas season? Am I that naive?

No, I am not. I thought the newspaper was going to publish a feature story about the real reasons — that would be the secular reasons, of course — for all of those trees on the curbs. Then I expected the Post to mention that all of this, of course, has nothing to do with the 12 days of Christmas, since no one observes the true holiday anyway. In other words, I expected cynicism.

What I did not expect was for the reporter to totally ignore the 12 days, since that was such an obvious implication of the timing for the story. Silly me.

Filed Under: First Person, Humor, Worship

The war on Epiphany

January 3, 2008 By

magi 01I’m sure we all enjoyed the relative downturn in this year’s War on Christmas. One personal downside was that I didn’t get a chance to write about the war on Advent and the rest of the liturgical calendar. Why is Christmas always singled out?

In a very real sense, though, the War on Christmas is alive as ever. Christmas is a liturgical season lasting 12 days. We’re in that season right now.

I’m in Colorado at the moment and every time I wish folks a Merry Christmas they seem to think I’m a bit behind with my greetings. It is very hard being a liturgical Christian celebrating the penitential season of Advent when everyone else is yukking it up with holiday parties and crazed shopping. And then when we’re ready to party, everyone else thinks Christmas is over and done with.

It is into this holiday mix that USA Today‘s Mindy Fetterman offered a business story alleging that some retailers are looking at ways to further exploit the liturgical calendar:

If you think the holiday shopping season is over, you’re wrong. A growing number of retailers are promoting the Hispanic tradition of celebrating Three Kings Day every Jan. 6 as a way to extend the buying season past Christmas and connect with Hispanic customers.

El Dia de los Reyes celebrates the day in Christian tradition when the three wise men visited the baby Jesus. Known as the Epiphany, the day is as important as Christmas in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain and many Latin American countries. Children put their shoes out the night before or leave grass for the wise men’s camels. They wake the next day to unwrap presents.

I love that the business section is covering this and it’s a very good idea for a news piece.

While the focus of the piece is on sales to Hispanic customers, it must be noted that Jan. 6 is a special day for more than Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, etc. In Western churches, Epiphany marks the coming of wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing “reveal” Jesus to the world as Lord and King. In Eastern churches, the day is called Theophany and commemorates Jesus’ baptism.

The hook for this business story, however, is pushing an additional two weeks of shopping on Hispanic customers. It is interesting how much retailers have always driven the American calendar and directed Christians to decide which holidays are most important. Easter has never quite caught on as a gift-giving time and as a result it’s much less culturally important than Christmas even though its spiritual significance is unparalleled. Three Kings Day, however, is a different story:

For the first time, actors dressed as the three wise men began wandering through Florida Mall in Orlando on Sunday and posing with children for photos on a repurposed Santa display. “Now we have three thrones,” laughs general manager Brian Peters.

Wal-Mart, (WMT) which began promoting the tradition in a big way last year, is expanding. This year, the three kings are visiting Wal-Marts in the Southwest, and more than 300 Wal-Marts have displays and products geared to the celebration. And Kmart (SHLD) is sponsoring the Three Kings parade in Miami on Jan. 13 and an appearance by Jose Feliciano at its Bronx, New York, store Thursday.

“It makes all the business sense in the world if you can extend the selling season,” says Alex Lopez Negrete, CEO of Lopez Negrete Communications, the nation’s second-largest Hispanic marketing company. The firm worked with Wal-Mart on its Three Kings campaign.

Just because the story appears in the business pages doesn’t mean the reporter couldn’t have gotten some feedback from religious types about how they feel about retailers attempting to capitalize on the liturgical calendar. Reporters may be surprised by the response.

Last year I wrote something for the Los Angeles Times about the secularization of Christmas in America. One of my favorite responses came from a pastor in Indiana who told me he began his Christmas Eve sermon thusly:

“Pulpits all over Christendom will again be decrying the secularization of Christmas. I suppose I can’t blame them. Christian preachers are bound to fantasize about the Church being doctrinally and liturgically pure and all the world loving it for it. But I am enough a historian and a realist to know that if it wasn’t for the secularization of Christmas we’d have a lot fewer people here tonight. If the Church has given the world a holiday for nostalgia and guilt-abating good works, even if the coming of Jesus Christ is missed, the world has given us a once-a-year opportunity to proclaim that coming. If the option to the secularization of Christmas is that Christmas be as popular and well-attended as Ascension, I’d say hurray for secularization, and only wish that I could come up with a way to get Madison Avenue to promote other Holy Days.

Other Holy Days, of course, don’t so easily give themselves over to nostalgia. It is hard to be cute about Good Friday.”

Whether or not retailers cater to liturgical Christians, we still celebrate 12 days of Christmas followed by the Epiphany season. Reporters should not overlook the calendars of the world’s oldest and largest churches.

Filed Under: Pop Culture, Worship

The war on Epiphany

January 8, 2007 By

magiI am preparing to leave beautiful Colorado, where I spent the last few days of Christmas and the beginning of Epiphany with my family.

Epiphany is a liturgical festival observed on January 6. Epiphany is also a season that lasts until the beginning of Lent and encompasses four to nine Sundays, depending on the date of Easter, for Western churches. It is the oldest of the Christmas festivals and originally the most important. And it is the climax of the Christmas season in the churches of the East.

In the Western Church, Epiphany encompasses three incidents about the divinity of Christ: the visit of the Magi (or Wise Men as they are sometimes called), the baptism of Jesus and the miracle at Cana.

For a helpful article on how Epiphany is celebrated in Eastern traditions, you could do worse than check out Los Angeles Times writer K. Connie Kang’s recent piece. She notes that Epiphany in some parts of the world celebrates only the adoration of the Magi:

But in the Eastern Church — composed of about 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide — Epiphany takes on a more complex theological meaning. The focal point is the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River and the appearance of the Holy Spirit.

“Epiphany means the manifestation of the Trinity,” said the Very Rev. Father Michel Najim, dean of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Los Angeles. Indeed, like many Orthodox, Najim prefers to refer to Epiphany, which means “revelation,” as Theophany, which translates as “manifestation of God.”

He emphasized that at Jesus’ baptism, the three persons in the Christian conception of God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — were revealed. The Bible says that when Jesus came up from the water after being baptized by John the Baptist, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and alighted on Jesus. When this happened, a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

The piece is full of local color, but it helps to lay out some of these basic theological explanations as she does.

I also meant to highlight St. Louis Post-Dispatch religion reporter Tim Townsend’s piece from a few weeks ago. Using a scene from a local Christmas pageant with some early Magi as a hook, he delved into the significance of the Wise Men to Christianity:

These three kings of orient are, in fact, not kings at all. “Magi” comes from the Greek word “magoi,” meaning sorcerers or astrologers — the scientists of their day. Scientific theories attempting to explain the Star of Bethlehem have historically included a supernova, a comet, or most often, a planetary alignment of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

“These were men who searched the sky for signs,” said the Rev. John Paul Heil, professor of New Testament who recently left Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis to teach at Catholic University of America in Washington. “They were learned people who would advise kings as to what was going on in the heavens.”

In later centuries the magi themselves began to be depicted as kings.

Later Christian tradition gave the magi names — Melchior, Balthasar and Gaspar — and since the 12th century their purported bones (some say their skulls) have been encased in the Shrine of the Three Kings now in the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.

These types of stories may seem simplistic but there are a great number of readers who are curious about these worship practices and religious symbolism.

Update: Let us know if you find any good local stories on Epiphany for Western or Eastern Christians. This is a good one from Ann Rodgers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Filed Under: Academia, Books, Catholicism, Godbeat, Journalism, Religion

Happy twelfth day of Christmas!

January 5, 2006 By

holytheophany3I know it sounds weird, but I think December is the hardest time of year to be a practicing liturgical Christian. During Advent we mark a solemn time of prayer and preparation for Christmas. And then when we’re ready to party and celebrate the 12-day Christmas season, very few other people are. Just when I get my tree up, everyone else is taking theirs down. There’s a predominant cultural feeling that Christmas has passed and it’s on to New Year’s, college football champsionships and the Superbowl. In fact, the notion that Christmas is a 12-day season is so forgotten that most people have no clue what that Days of Christmas song references. Which is probably why no one brought me my 12 drummers drumming today.

Anyway, I kept looking out for stories that would talk about what it’s like to celebrate the holy days of the season as a liturgical Christian. I didn’t find any but David Crumm’s piece in the Detroit Free Press today is great and looks into the Christmas celebrations of liturgical Christians from the East.

Michigan’s diversity of immigrant groups, drawn mainly to auto-industry jobs during the last century, has left a colorful sprinkling of Christmas customs across metro Detroit.

That includes an unusual Armenian Orthodox Church observance of Jesus’ birth tonight and Friday in congregations such as St. Sarkis in Dearborn and St. John in Southfield.

“The Armenian Church is one of the oldest churches in the world, and we still celebrate an ancient tradition from the early church that joins two Christian feasts into what we call Holy Theophany,” the Rev. Garabed Kochakian, pastor of St. John Armenian Orthodox Church, said Wednesday. “In this double feast, we celebrate both the manifestation of God through Jesus’ birth and through his baptism.”

The story also gets into the calendar issues we discussed last week that help explain why the Eastern and Western churches celebrate Christmas a few weeks apart:

One day after the Armenian observance, thousands of Russians, Serbians and other Eastern Europeans will celebrate Christmas for a different reason. They’re parishioners at more than a dozen local churches that still follow an ancient calendar for Christmas that runs 13 days later than the modern secular calendar.

Also, I keep wondering why the folks who fought the War on Christmas haven’t kept their battle going. What about the coming War on Epiphany and other seasons and feasts of the church calendar?

Filed Under: Godbeat, Journalism, Religion