That was the message in the windows of Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street in NYC for the 2020 Thanksgiving Day parade. The Thanksgiving Day parade begins with Tom Turkey and ends with the arrival of Santa Claus. For many, this is the signal of the start of the Christmas Season, not the Christmas decorations starting before Halloween (and in some cases before October...).
“Yes
Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”.
September 21, 1897, part of an editorial response in the newspaper, the
Sun, it has entered the lore of the Christmas Season and been a key part of
Macy’s expression of Christmas for a number of years. I think it is included because it
underpins the call to “believe” that is ongoing part of a Macy’s Christmas.
In some circles, there is a tremendous amount of angst about ‘believe’. What I mean is that it seems to represent the ongoing removal of Christ from Christmas (like in the bumper sticker in the last post). The secular call to believe pulls us away from the sacred call to believe in Jesus.
But, for Christendom, there
is nothing new in that. Living in a
world of sin, the devil has been trying to remove everything from our faith and leave it an empty husk. Thus, the reign of the devil can be finally
confirmed with no bothers ‘from above’.
And if
we look at it that way, it is depressing set of circumstances to consider for Christmas, the theft of our belief'. But sin is the depressing set of
circumstances under which the world lives.
What if ‘Believe’ was not an advertising ploy to attract more shoppers,
but something more heartfelt? Advertising,
by its very nature, seeks to sell us things.
In the worst examples, it has to convince us we are ugly, bad, smelly,
weird, or whatever in order to find redemption in their products. But for it to work, advertising has to
connect with something in us-and I think they have connected with something deep in the instance of 'believe'.
So, a reminder of my point of view, God
is in control, no matter what it might feel like otherwise. So what are we to believe in? Santa?
Giving? Buying at Macy’s to walk
in Santa’s shoes? Maybe. But the first two pieces of this ad campaign
are ‘live’ and ‘love’. Is this a cry for help? Because Christmas is
THE season that we still believe brings out the best in people. Redemption is the ongoing theme of the season,
from Dickens “A Christmas Carol” to “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. The world wants love to be in control and
seeks what to believe to make it so-because it is not in control.
Believe
in what? In Santa? In the power of the human spirit? That is going to be a hard sell. If we believe Santa embodies the best of
humanity, love and caring and a spirit of giving, the evidence of our own
senses tells us that it is not something humanity can live up to. Maybe we are not as hard hearted as Scrooge
who spoke about ‘decreasing the surplus population’, but people will go hungry
this season. (Matthew 25 talks about
that in eye opening detail).
So how
about believing in the reason for the season?
Maybe Jesus did not get a float in the parade but the spirit of Christ underpinned
every display. Maybe a creche is not
something that we have yet to make into a Broadway musical (but if someone reads
this and decides to do it, please let me know).
But Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the way to redemption. “Acting nice” is a reflection of the true ‘niceness’
to be found in Jesus.
I see
the word ‘believe’ and I see a call for help to find something that can truly
be believed in. And I have the joy of
something true that I can, that we can believe in. So, this season, I am looking for divine
guidance to help those people who are seeking to believe. I invite you to join me.
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