coptichymns.net - Sharing the Joy of Coptic Hymns Around the World

Across North America and much of the western world, people are beginning to celebrate Christmas. It is a time of good cheer, gift-giving, singing carols, Christmas trees, coloured lights, candy canes, and of course - Santa Claus. In conjunction with the beginning of the new year, the Christmas season seems to be a joy shared by many people, but it is especially important to Christians.

For Christians, Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnate God, the Logos, Our Saviour Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ marked the beginning of the steps that ultimately led to the salvation of all people. It revealed to us the amazing mystery of Gods infinite love and justice, and gave us who deserve nothing less than death new hope. The new year is also special as it symbolizes a time of rebirth and renewal, which is what the Messiah promised for us. So indeed, the Christmas season is a time of joy and celebrationor at least it used to be.

Though many of us think that the joys of Santa Claus, gift-giving and carols are forms of celebration for the Christmas season, a closer look shows that often they do more harm than good. We no longer focus on the coming of our Saviour or contemplate on the mystery of the virgin birth, but instead spend much of our free time running around shopping malls and stores, indulging in spending sprees and allowing ourselves to be members of a commercial and material driven world. We no longer join in vigils of praise to the Lord Christ and His Mother, but sing about fantasy elves and man in a red suit with magical reindeer. The new year is no longer an occasion where we seize the spirit of repentance and renewal that comes naturally with the turning of the calendar, but it is the cause for parties and drunkenness. These components of the holiday season bring about a transient joy that dies quickly after the new year, and though none of them seem to be wrong to participate in on the surface, it is these aspects of society that destroy the serenity of the Advent fast and distract us from the true meaning of Christmas. In fact, it is a total insult and disgrace to God Himself that during the time of preparation of His coming, we submerse ourselves in the lusts of this world, turning our attention away from Christ.

At first this seems like a harsh assessment, for although we do partake in gift-giving and acknowledge Santa Claus, many of us believe it adds to the spirit of Christmas and its festive mood. The spirit of giving, the gathering of families, the joy on children's faces, and the extra spark that many of us seem to have during this season are all unique features to this time of the year. However, claiming that the joy and wonder of the Incarnation needs to be supplemented with decorative lights and receiving gifts belittles its mystery and suggests that the fact that Our Lord humbled Himself for us does not bring us enough joy. Another problem is that our children begin to revere a man in a suit that left them gifts because they were not "naughty" over the past year, which plants a belief that they should be good in order to get what they want. Indeed, it is sad to think that our children are raised idolizing a fictitious and material god more than the figure of Christ. The result is they focus on Santa and gift-giving, and Christ is a secondary figure that we teach about when the child finally finds out the truth about Santa. As Christians, these are not the lessons we strive to teach our children.

The problems continue when we begin to understand what we as Christians should ideally be doing during the Advent fast. The purpose of the fast is to prepare for the coming of the Christ. Thus, we turn our minds from earthly things to meditate on heavenly things; we turn our hearts towards repentance and spiritual growth; we participate in midnight vigils praising the mystery of the Incarnation and the Virgin St. Mary; and we attempt to ignore the lusts of this world in all its forms to lift our spirits closer to God.

Perhaps you will say, the children will not understand such deep spirituality at so young an age. Very well, then get them accustomed to going to church and learning the hymns of the Kiahk praises. Let them turn their eyes to the icon of Christ the Pantocrator enthroned on His seat of Judgment, rather than letting them sit on a strangers lap at the mall. Let us sit with our children and relate to them the story of His birth and instill awe and wonder in them so that the fear of God is within them while young. For if we do not raise our children in the church from the moment they are born, and plant the seed of Christ in every aspect of their life, we leave room for the thorns of this world to choke them at a later time in their life.

It is unfortunate that we try to find excuses for our actions just so we can justify partaking of the festivities of this world. It is a grave and serious insult to God the Father Himself. During a time of fasting, vigils and prayers, we are called by the church to meditate once again on how we fell from Paradise and how unworthy we are to enter His Kingdom. We should be glorifying God and giving Him gifts of repentance and participating in church services, just as the wise men traveled for miles to honour and bring gifts worthy of the eternal King. Instead, we forget the greatest gift ever given in history: the Father giving us His only Son. He gave Him knowingly in sacrifice for our sakes so that we might once again be restored to the joy of His Paradise. It was a sacrifice of incomprehensible love, and we disgrace and ignore that with the actions we partake in. If we are judged by these actions, we have much to fear.

Indeed, the entire purpose of the fast is to prepare ourselves for His coming. If we do not regard this seriously, I am forced to say we disgrace the Virgin Mother as well. She spent many years in the temple, consecrated to God, keeping herself pure so that when God called on her, she indeed was ready and worthy to be the Mother of her Lord. Then, through the mystery and power of the Holy Spirit, she gave birth to Christ. Is it not a disgrace to God the Holy Spirit, when we ignore this mystery and instead tell tales about a snowman who magically received life from a hat?

However, our actions do not insult God alone. I fear to say we also disgrace the angels when we replace their heavenly music with our carols The hymn of the angels not only gives glory to God, but also selflessly asks for the peace and good will for all men. Instead of joining them in heavenly praises and nightlong vigils, we replace their music and dishonour them with songs of a man getting stuck in a chimney. Again, the problem is not that carols are bad themselves, but that they become the common refrains on our tongues, while many of us remain ignorant to the hymns of the Kiahk praise which was made to mimic the angels. Carols also serve no purpose, but the Kiahk hymns are deep and spiritual prayers that lift our souls to God.

What about the prophets? These men talked directly with God, and God revealed to them the mysteries of His plan, so that the Israelites might have hope. The Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekial, Jeremiah, and many others prophesied concerning the Messiah. This is a time to celebrate the fulfillment of these prophecies and learn about the symbols of the Virgin Mary given to us in the Old Testament, such as the burning bush or Aarons censor, that we learn and sing about in the midnight praise. Once again though, instead of remember the prophetic verses in the Bible of the virgin birth and the mystery of David saying, The Lord said to my Lord (Psalm 110:1), we are distracted away from these thoughts with shopping, coloured lights, new movies in theatres and flying reindeer.

And lo, what more?! When we disrespect the fast and persist in indulgences, do we not disgrace the forerunner whose purpose was to prepare the people of Israel for the coming Christ? The spirit of the Advent fast is abstinence to the body, a humbling of the soul, and a spirit of repentance so that we might be ready just like St. John the Baptist tried to prepare the people for Christ. It is a great insult and shame to him and Our Lord then, when instead of preparing for his coming, we waste the days of the fast spending our money on needless gifts. We even awake early on December 26th to get the best deals on after-Christmas merchandise - often arriving even before the manager opens his store - but carelessly arrive to the weekly Divine Liturgy late. Indeed, how many of us have arrived on Sunday morning before the priest, or awake with such diligence to partake of the Eucharist worthily. We begin to see, then, that the answers to these questions are quite shameful indeed.

Our dishonour extends to other saints as well. St. John the Evangelist wrote his gospel to demonstrate the divinity of Christ. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14). St. John gives us an eye witness account of what he saw, and in his joy, writes us his Gospel centered on the theme of the Incarnate Word. If then, we ignore St. Johns joy and find our own joy in decorated trees or superfluous purchasing, have we not dishonoured him? Have we not also dishonoured Christ in whom his joy is based?

Another prominent holiday season feature is Santa Claus. The very name of Santa Claus is a massacre of the great St. Nicholas, whose feast we celebrate on - . Alas, many of us do not know the remainder of this sentence. But many children and adults alike can give me the exact date the non-existent Santa tries to sneak around the house giving unneeded gifts to children who want to see their desires fulfilled. And so we dishonour the story of the great saint and his charity towards the poor. The Synexarium say: St. Nicholas is too illustrious to describe all the signs that were performed by his hands. His feast is on the 10th of Kiahk (December 20th), but we are unaware because we are busy with our own distractions. By dishonouring these saints, we dishonour Christ who they dedicated their lives to.

St. Nicholas was also present at the Council of Nicea which defeated the Arian heresy. The greatest of those present at Nicea was our very own St. Athanasius. Through the Holy Spirit, he was the one who conquered the Arian heresy and ensured that the Orthodox maintained the true faith. Moreover, he wrote one of the Christian writings available, that is On the Incarnation. Is Christmas not centered on this very issue?

What about the miracle of the Mukkuttam mountain under Pope Abraham, or the departure of St. Andrew the apostle, St. Samuel the Confessor, St. Gregory the Armenian, St. Ignatius of Antioch, David the Psalmist, and many, many other saints that whose feasts we commemorate during the month of Kiahk? We should take the lives of these saints and learn from them and try to apply their good virtues as part of our fast.

So what should the Coptic Christian do? Ideally abstinence from every indulgence should be practiced, especially since this is a time of fasting. As such, gift-giving and spending sprees should be refrained from. As Christians, Christ taught us that if someone asks for your cloak, give him your tunic also. Surely then, we do net need a special time of the year to give gifts, because we are called to live lives of constant charity. There is no reason then to distract way from the focus of the fast and the Incarnation of Christ during the Christmas season. Also, if we spend 24 days shopping in the malls, and then wake early for the December 26th sale, and then 5 days later celebrate the new years with a party, what remains of the fast? It is stripped down from 40 days to 6 days. The spirit of preparation and repentance is undoubtedly lost.

One important point to teach our children is the truth about Christmas. In so doing, let us rid ourselves of the fictions of Santa Claus and elves. By this, are we depriving our children of anything? Perhaps they lose the mystery of a magical man and a few picture moments. On the other hand, though, they do not learn to be greedy, asking for things and being good only to get something in return. We dont teach them that Christmas is about giving and receiving, but rather about Christ and His saints. The first couple of years may be hard for the child associating with friends receiving gifts and talking about Santa. Therefore, it is the parents responsibility to teach charity to their children and give them gifts throughout the year for appropriate reasons.

If we must give gifts to each other, then let us give each other only what the other needs, and at most, only the smallest luxuries. Let us be humble and adopt a spirit of restraint and poverty. Our Saviour was so humble, that even when He came to Bethlehem, allowed many other people to stay in rooms while He Himself took lodging in a manger, a dwelling so demeaning that not even the stablekeepers slept in. For out of His love, He gave up not only luxuries, but what He Himself is entitled to as a king and gave it to His people. Let us take the example of the Lord of Glory.

The fast should also be a time of preparation, and in this, let us be like the 5 wise virgins waiting for the bridegroom with their lamps. Let us light our candles and spend our nights in the churches, singing praises in nightlong vigils, staying alert and meditating on the coming of our Lord. Let us join with the angles and shepherds and sing praises to God worthy of His name. If we must partake in Christmas carols, let it not be at the cost of learning the joyous hymns of Kiahk and the midnight praise (tasbeha) that we have received from our church.

For the new year celebration, let it be a time of repentance and confession. Even though we should be constantly in the spirit of repentance, let this be a wake-up call for those of us who have become lax in our spiritual lives. Let it jumpstart us back into alertness and awareness to our relationship with God. Let us pray that in the next 365 days, we are not called to the judgment to be accountable for our sins.

Let us adopt these changes in our lives. To many, it may seem extreme at first - as a rejection of the joyous and festive nature of the Christmas season. But let us remember that anything that distracts attention away from our Lord Jesus Christ is a subtle trick from the devil. For he wants us to be happy on this earth, but not with Christ. The joy of gift-giving and charity has slowly changed from the story of St. Nicholas who gave to the poor in their need, to a commercial period of the year that much of the North American economy relies on for profit. All these aspects to Christmas seem to be harmless by themselves, but collectively and on a largescale, they have the potential to cripple our spiritual lives during this season. So as children of Christ, let us separate ourselves from worldly trends and turn back to our faith, for we are not of this world. Let us come to Christ, for he who does not gather with Him, scatters abroad. With pride, let us turn our faces constantly and give glory to God, forever and ever, Amen.