Upstaged by Santa

On the Beatles’ Revolver album, the band’s lead guitarist, George Harrison contributes three songs. One of those songs—“Love You To” features Harrison playing the sitar backed by other musicians from India.

The opening line to the song is “Each day just goes so fast, I turn around its passed.”

Right now that’s the way I feel. I keep asking myself how did Christmas arrive so quickly this year?

As to why Christmas arrived so swiftly, the answer is very clear—it is my aging.

My days move fast. I barely recall what I did yesterday.

However, I do remember the Christmas of 2023. That Christmas will always be remembered as the one dominated by germs—stomach crud, flu, and COVID-19.

We were in Summerfield, North Carolina with our daughter, Lauren, and her family.

Before the germs attacked, I remember us sitting around the dining room table. I’m not sure what sparked this observation from our oldest granddaughter, Caroline, but I’ve been carrying her question around with me for a year—“I wonder how baby Jesus feels about being upstaged by Santa?”

At his birth, Santa was not on baby Jesus’ mind. Yet, I’d wager that Jesus might ponder Santa quite a bit today.

Back in October 2024, the National Retail Federation predicted Americans might spend “between $979.5 billion and $989 billion in total holiday shopping. This is a 2.5 to 3.5% growth from 2023.”

Contrast that spending to these findings from the Pew Research Center. For many years, Pew researchers have been keeping track of religious trends in America.

A Pew report released on March 15, 2024 revealed the following: “80% of U.S. adults say religion’s role in American life is shrinking – a percentage that’s as high as it’s ever been in our surveys.”

In truth, I’m not surprised by this projected spending increase and the decline of religion in our lives.

It is difficult to block out the commercialization of Christmas. Retailers drum Christmas into our every waking moment. This relentless pursuit of our attention starts in October and ends when the last store closes on Christmas Eve.

For church leaders there is a pursuit, but it isn’t relentless. They don’t have the advertising pennies. Their focus is grounded upon too much reliance on tired and predictable templates.

I sense churches fear change. Perhaps, churches are like the wisemen in the Christmas story. When the angel of the Lord came upon them, “they were so afraid.”

Those wisemen moved past this initial fear. Churches must move past their initial fear of change too. No longer can change be a quiet whisper in the resistant souls of churches.

Perhaps, you recall the opening chatter of voices from the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life.

Multiple prayers from family and friends of George Bailey have sounded an alarm in heaven.

The powers that be in that blue yonder summon a wingless angel, Clarence, to become George’s guardian angel.

In briefing Clarence about George, the script reads as follows:

CLARENCE’S VOICE
You sent for me, sir?

FRANKLIN’S VOICE
Yes, Clarence. A man down on earth needs
our help.

CLARENCE’S VOICE
Splendid! Is he sick?

FRANKLIN’S VOICE
No, worse. He’s discouraged.

I don’t know about you, but in my day to day living I often feel discouraged.

My feeling discouraged is grounded in headlines: school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, man sets fire to passenger on a New York City subway, car plows into German Christmas Market, and in my own county—17 year old found dead in backyard after shooting.

Those heartbreaking headlines are a far cry from the Christmas song written by George Wyle and Eddie Pola that emphatically sings to us “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

You, me, we, us know there is nothing wonderful to be found in the Madison, New York City, Germany, and Henrico County headlines.

Even these unacceptable headlines do not slow down the retail drive of Christmas.

And yet, I wonder if these tragedies push caring, kind people further away from the church? I assume they question just like I question—where were God and Jesus? Couldn’t they intervene with a miracle? Maybe in our mean old world, miracles only happen in Hollywood scripts.

In their Christmas song “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” I love this line from songwriters Hugh Martin and Ralph Bane—“From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.”

Perhaps that’s what people have been doing for thousands of years, finding a way “to muddle through somehow.”

I think muddling through life depends upon our hearts. I wonder if the perpetrators in these senseless killings lost their hearts?

A new year is on the horizon. As George Harrison noted in his song, our days will continue to go fast.

In a blink, Christmas 2025 will be here, and undoubtedly Caroline’s observation about Santa upstaging Jesus isn’t going to change in a year.

Despite feeling discouraged like George Bailey, I do find glimmers of hope.

On some morning runs, a flitting flash of blue with fluttering wings will dart in front of me. I find hope in bluebirds.

I find hope in medical updates from my cousin Alice in her battle with cancer. I love the hope in these words from her doctors: “the tumors are shrinking, and some have completely disappeared.”

In attending holiday themed dance recitals for two of our granddaughters, I find hope in the courage of dancers who fully embraced their roles despite not fitting the typical physical image of ballerinas.

On cold December mornings, I find hope in the light of the rising sun as it rays angle into the heart of our church building—the sanctuary. I know that light can put hope into hearts.

For some reason every Christmas, the carol “In The Bleak Midwinter” resonates with me. Something about the last three words: “give my heart.”

On the evening of December 11, I met three friends for dinner. We call ourselves the 53. That name came from our founder, Don Purkall, who figured out we were all born in 1953.

After that cheerful dinner, I was driving back home on Grove Avenue. At the corner of Grove and Wisteria, I saw a pretty, meticulously kept house.

On its front porch was a huge peace symbol adorned in strings of colorful lights.

That image stayed with me.

Early in the still dark dawn of December 23, I drove back to Grove and Wisteria.

I parked my car and quietly walked to the house.

With my dependable iPhone, I took a few photos of the fully lit, but resting peace symbol.

Silently, I returned to my car and drove off.

I wonder how discouraged the world is by the tragic headlines we create every year?

I believe our spinning, wobbly world is tired of being discouraged.

The world wants the same in its heart that you, me, we, us want in ours—peace.

Maybe the path to that elusive peace can be found in these words from Psalm 23 verse 3: “He restores my soul.”

The path to restoring our souls is our hearts.

As we muddle through the remnants of another Christmas and head into a new year, we can’t let fear upstage our hearts.