Odd place to find true spirit of Christmas

The holidays are upon us; there’s no point in trying to deny it.

The lead-up to Thanksgiving now simply has gotten folded into the whole Christmas onslaught. We might as well just accept it and get on board.

The thing about the early Christmas onslaught, though, is that it’s all about the buying. The Christian tradition of exchanging gifts can be traced to those three wise men from the Bible who took frankincense, gold and myrrh to the Christ child.

If you’re more about the whimsical holly-jolly, elves and reindeer part of the holiday – who outside of Scrooge isn’t, really? – even Santa Claus is based on a saint, Nicholas, who spread his inherited wealth to give to the poor and needy.

But, over the centuries, gift giving has become a marketing machination that’s led to stores opening on Thanksgiving – something that not long ago would have been unthinkable – along with more sales and specials and door-busters than you can shake a candy cane at. Then there’s the tallying of the big take when the holiday is over.

It’s about as commercial as things get. If you saw “Saturday Night Live” a couple weeks ago, you heard comedian Chris Rock slam just that commercialism in his opening monologue.

Interestingly, this comic known for his often raunchy, expletive-filled standup rants hit the nail on the holiday head with his biting attack on the materialism that’s taken over the celebration of Christ’s birth.

The “SNL” alum returned Nov. 1 to the late-night comedy mainstay as host and used part of his monologue to slam the marketing of Christmas.

“In America, there are no sacred days,” Rock mused. “Because we commercialize everything. … Look what we did to Christmas. Christmas! Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, it’s Jesus’ birthday! Now, I don’t know Jesus, but from what I’ve read, Jesus is the least materialistic person to ever roam the earth. No bling on Jesus. Jesus kept a low profile, and we turned his birthday into the most materialistic day of the year.

“Matter of a fact,” Rock continued, “we have the Jesus birthday season. It’s a whole season of materialism. Then, at the end of the Jesus birthday season, we have the nerve to have an economist come on TV and tell you how horrible the Jesus birthday season was this year. ‘Oh we had a horrible Jesus’ birthday this year; hopefully, business will pick up by his crucifixion.’”

It was funny – very funny – with a spot-on, Chris Rock trademark incensed shock at the profane in the mundane moment. It also was so very sadly true.

I’m not immune. I get caught up in the sales, the coupons, the specials and the rush to buy, buy, buy. We all have gifts to purchase, decorations to put out and parties to throw.

And, yes, the holiday shopping season plays a huge part in keeping the American economy going. I’m not saying don’t buy. We need everyone to spend to keep the economy intact, to keep jobs secure.

But even if our core intentions are to honor the spiritual side of the holiday, it gets hard to do so in between all that shopping and decorating and cooking.

I’ve been trying for the past few years to stop and mark what I believe is the true reason behind Christmas – admittedly, not the same as everyone’s, but shared with a significant number of people. A lot of us get immersed in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, only to find the sole honor given to Christ during the two-month push is an hour at church on Christmas morning.

I have as hard a time as anyone avoiding that pitfall, no matter how good my intentions going in have been.

So, I’m giving it another shot this year. I’m getting the shopping part done early. Before Thanksgiving. I’m hoping that will help me focus more on the spiritual side of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent.

If I’m successful, it will have been kick-started by – of all things and of all people – an often off-color late-night TV show and an even more off-color comic. Not where you might normally find a spiritual boost.

Then again, it falls in line with that age-old adage about God working in the most mysterious of ways.

This story was originally published November 13, 2014 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Odd place to find true spirit of Christmas."