1 of 1

by Bohdan Rewko (Bo of T.O.)

• Writing:
• Rating:

• A
• A
• A

It's December 19th, a day after a Christmas party at a homeless shelter to which I was invited to sing Christmas carols with friends. I looked forward to sharing the joy of the season with some young people who were trying to make a go of life after being dealt some tough blows. But I was a bit disappointed so let me explain why.

I arrived with my friend at a downtown converted warehouse where the event was being held. His wife was already inside busily preparing a turkey dinner with other church volunteers. The facility itself I thought was a wonderful place both in concept and execution. The warehouse was converted into a number of two level townhouse style residences lining the perimeter of the rectangular building while facing into an inner mall that was the main street of the little community. Residents were there for a year during which they learned a skill and were helped to find work. The Christmas party was for both them and alumni who came back to help motivate the current residents.

The mood was festive and the Christmas feast sumptuously delicious. Then it was our turn to lead everyone in some singing. Our leader, who I assumed was from the church that put on the event, selected a number of seasonal songs about either Santa Claus, his reindeer, or Frosty the Snowman. Realizing what was going on, I quickly threw in my request for a real carol and managed to get the first verse of "Joy to the World" sung.

After only a few minutes of singing, Santa came on stage and started to call out the names of those who were to receive gifts. Because of the size of the crowd this degenerated into a lengthy and disorganized affair which ended the evening in a rather anticlimactic way.

I came home that evening with a deep sadness from what I had just experienced. Christmas is about hope. Christ came to earth to save us from the sin in which we're so deeply mired. The world celebrates the birth of Christ at Christmastime, and yet we failed to even mention His name at the party.

We had let down the young people at this homeless shelter who were looking for purpose in life and the best we could offer was Santa with a pocket-full of token gift bags. I saw faces of young people making the best of a bad situation desperately seeking relevance and being told it isn't there. Ironically, one of the alumni members who got up on stage with Santa put a slight damper on the proceedings when he questioned his being there and pointed out that a reconfiguration of the letters in Santa's name would spell Satan.

The moral of my story is that you can't have Christmas without Christ. He truly is the reason for the season. Church denominations that minimize the role of Christ in order to be modern and relevant, risk "contemporizing" themselves into oblivion. Christ's message of hope is eternal and unchanging. Any attempts by churches to water down that message or replace it with seasonal paraphernalia can only marginalize their role within society. There are aspects of Christ's teaching that involve accountability that are like some medicine, hard to swallow, but that doesn't mean you throw out the medicine or alter the prescription.

Learn more about this author, Bohdan Rewko (Bo of T.O.).

Add your voice
Know something about Can you have Christmas without Christ? We want to hear your view. Write now!