Scott Kamps
On the Sunday after Halloween, my kids counted eight houses with Christmas lights on the way to church – on Nov. 5!
It seems that decorating for Christmas comes earlier every year, even before Thanksgiving now.
Is this a good thing?
From rumors of an elf dying every time someone decorates prematurely to superstitious charges of bad luck, many are strongly opinionated that early decorating is on par with moral failure.
I confess that I’m apathetic on the timing of decorating for Christmas. I’m more concerned about restoring better celebrations of Christmas, focusing on the baby – as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” puts it, “born that man no more may die!”
I’ve been considering my mortality lately since my body’s showing signs of wear and tear. A desire of my heart has long been to live as Jonathan Edwards’ 17th resolution: “Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.”
But now, it seems as if that day is coming more quickly than ever – every year flies by faster and faster … and doesn’t seem to be letting up at all!
Singer Doris Day rightly said, “The really frightening thing about middle age is that you know you’ll grow out of it.”
Connecting finality of death with shortness of life leads one to grapple with how one has spent their time in this world and how to spend the rest of their days here. It’s not currently popular to be reflective, especially with so many toys and trivialities to distract us from soul-searching. Death is not natural; it’s the result of man’s sin. But, ever since the Fall, it’s the most certain thing you’ll experience in this life. So, mankind has had to wrestle with our end since the beginning.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a 5,000-year-old myth, the hero comes face-to-face with mortality after he sees his best friend die. Even though Gilgamesh is considered ⅔ gods and ⅓ man, he realizes he will face the same fate as his dead friend.
“Only the gods live forever,” he cried out. “Our days are few in number, and whatever we achieve is a puff of wind. Why be afraid then, since sooner or later death must come.”
Gilgamesh then goes off in search of immortality, returning to die in his city after failing to acquire it. The pagans of the past recognized they couldn’t defeat death. We would do well to recognize the same truth. We can rejoice with good Christian men, “Now ye need not fear the grave: Peace! Peace! Jesus Christ was born to save.” Because of Christmas, we can live ready for sickness, death, judgment and eternity. Maybe Christmas should come before Thanksgiving!
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.