Christmas - the first 'insider movement'

If you want a lively discussion about missions today try the topic of “insider movements” as it relates to Muslims, Buddhists or Hindus. The general idea is, how much can you retain of the culture/religious forms without becoming syncretistic with that religion? We even have a scale of C1 to C6 which rates complete separation from religious cultural forms on the C1 side to the other extreme of C6 which retains outward cultural forms while holding secretly to Christian beliefs. C1 often adopts Western forms of church and dress. C6 would have Muslim-background believers doing prayers in the mosque and observing all the feasts and fasts of the Muslim faith while secretly holding to the Christian faith.

Without launching into a discussion of the reasons for and against ‘insider movements’ it should be obvious that there are pitfalls to both extremes which then means there are reasons to consider something of a mediating position between the two. Embracing the Lordship of Christ is believing the truth of everything Jesus claimed to be and do. It does not necessarily mean embracing the culture of the messenger or the culture into which the message was given. Biblical faith does not mean adopting American culture or Middle Eastern culture but adopting truth that transforms the person in their own culture. And it is for that reason we should consider the need for an insider movement strategy as to how we do missions.

I find it interesting that our Christmas season and celebrations represent one of the first insider movements of the Christian faith. We have long heard it debated whether the first Christmas really happened on December 25 and whether Christians just adopted a pagan festival of the sun god and pagan customs. While I don’t think anyone has proof of when the first Christmas really took place, history gives more evidence that the early church celebrated Christmas around the date of January 6 which became known as Epiphany (‘to reveal’). In the Eastern Orthodox Church Epiphany marked the baptism of Jesus by John, the revelation of Christ’s person and ministry and also the time when the three Wiseman were suppose to have visited the Christ child.

The Roman culture into which Christianity emerged was polytheistic. An important figure in their religion was Sol Invictus – the prominent sun deity. Constantine, whether by political astuteness or by religious conversion (some say he did not convert until on his deathbed in 337 when he was baptized ) made Christianity a recognized religion along with the other religions and then made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire. In 320 AD before Christianity had the sole status as the state religion Constantine decreed December 25 to be day of Christmas. It was also the celebration of Sol Invictus, which politically was an astute move by Constantine but put the church in a dilemma. Does it rebel against the official position or against culture or does it try to convert culture?

The church chose to embrace December 25 as the day of Christmas , not as syncretism with pagan beliefs, but to ‘win the day’ against paganism. There is no evidence that the intention was to incorporate pagan beliefs but rather to convert a pagan celebration with Christian meaning. And in that sense they were successful. The recognition of Sol Invictus faded from culture and Christmas with its Christ-story took center stage. So then it really was the first ‘insider movement’ of the Christian church.

As we step back from this period of history we can also see the adverse effects of syncretism when Constantine forced mass baptisms and wholesale conversions to Christianity. In my mind that does not make Christmas pagan nor does it argue for a C1 position of insider movements. We must constantly separate biblical truth from our cultural context. As in the case of the Muslim insider movement, worshipping on Fridays instead of Sunday, or worshipping in a church with pews or praying in the sitting position versus kneeling with one’s face to the ground are all cultural forms. It is the gospel of Christ that must be defended for its veracity and uniqueness, not the cultural forms. Christians can utilize pagan forms such as the day chosen for Christmas or the evergreen tree as a symbol of Christmas as long as it brings the observer to the new meaning in the Lordship of Christ and rejection of the old meaning in the paganism of one’s past.

In that sense, Christmas was an insider movement and as a holiday it should remind us of the impact that Christian beliefs can have on society and that the gospel can have in transforming lives.