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December 12th, 2006

Santavangelism?

In Blandford Forum Santa has been getting into a bit of a pickle by causing a distraction in church. The Father Christmas in question was asked by a polite churchwarden to not wear his outfit, but was not happy about this and left. He later talked to the local newspaper and was a bit grumpy. The church website has the full account. The BBC also has a report.

Meanwhile an unrelated Santa is available for evangelistic purposes “within a 100 mile radius of Louisville, Kentucky”.

His hair is real…his beard is real…and his love for the Lord Jesus Christ is real.

Note from Dave: Apologies for these two stories. I am suffering from insomnia and a troubled mind and I thought posting them might help.

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8 Responses to “Santavangelism?”


  1. Kyle says:

    Hooray for that vicar! I don’t think I’ll be calling on the Louisville santa, either…

    December 12th, 2006 at 4:15 am
  2. MB says:

    Whenever I am suffering from insomnia I am reminded of the Charles Schultz (of Charlie Brown fame) quote:

    “Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask why me? Then a voice answers nothing personal, your name just happened to come up. “

    December 12th, 2006 at 6:55 am
  3. Richard Hall says:

    A trobled mind? Not mighty dread as well, I trust?

    December 12th, 2006 at 8:44 am
  4. Clare says:

    Ooh, I’m going to Blandford Forum this week. How exciting to know that such exciting goings on happen there.

    Have to say I’m in two minds – I get the vicar’s point about separating Santa from the incarnation, but do tend to feel that all should be welcome in church no matter what they are wearing. And it’s not as if he was taking part in leading the service – though he did process in with the dignitaries.

    If the children are more distracted by Santa than by the rest of the service with its Christmas message then what does that say either about the message (?!) or about how we present it in our churches?

    Would also be interesting to hear from the chap in the Santa suit as to why he felt it necessary to wear it when the rector had explained his well reasoned views previously – sounds like he was deliberately trying to annoy the church.

    December 12th, 2006 at 12:30 pm
  5. David Keen says:

    We had a guest service on Sunday including a best dressed Santa and best dressed angel competition. It was billed as a ‘Celebration of Angels’, and having sold out to the culture so completely, maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise to find one mum (not a regular) telling her friends the following day that she’d been to a church service about fairies.

    We’re not far from Blandford Forum either…

    December 12th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
  6. Jaded for Jesus says:

    Am I alone in feeling a bit saddened by the Santa controversy?

    I don’t know all the details and nuances of the service in question, but I think banishing the man in the red suit is a mistake.

    Firstly, it makes us Christians look like a mean and joyless lot: what would the average child in that service have made of Santa’s banishment? What a pity to offer such a field day to the forces who delight in seeing the Church look like a bunch of po-faced Puritans.

    Secondly, we might try to remember that Santa/Father Christmas/Saint Nick represents open-handed, unconditional giving, and that’s got to be a good thing. [OK, I know that 'technically' you're supposed to behave well to qualify, but one of the great childhood joys is knowing that you've slipped a few times but STILL get the toys...] As a small child, whenever I asked if Father Christmas was real, my mother would tell me: ‘he represents the spirit of giving’. I didn’t really understand as a little child, but over the years the message embedded itself. Looking back, I didn’t have one of those horrible revelatory moments when the penny dropped that ‘Father Christmas wasn’t real’ as other children did. I segued happily from a state of belief in a fictitious munificent and kindly character to faith in the the power of giving and love in general, from wherever it came. So, I reckon Santa was a highly successful preparation for belief in the ultimate source of all love and goodness: God. And his ultimate act of generosity to us in the gift of his precious only Son.

    What makes me really sad is what ousting Santa from a packed civic service says about our attitude to our children. Why do we want to snatch away this little bit of twinkly childhood excitement? Perhaps there’s an unpleasant, unconscious urge at work here to punish kids. After all, they do appear to have so much these days, at least materially – why not knock ‘em down a peg or two. But in spite of their material richness, today’s children commonly lack fundamental self esteem/healthy self-love. And in that vulnerable place, Santa Claus or Father Christmas offers to all children a welcome bit of unconditional love. In that way he mirrors the love of our Lord: we are all equally loved in his eyes.

    So can we lighten up on Father Christmas? Instead of trying to stop the Santa ship from sailing, as Christians we could just surf a little on the bow-wave of his generous spirit?

    December 12th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
  7. Karin says:

    Good point, jaded for jesus, the vicar could have used the occasion to point out the Christian values behind the over-commercialised version of Santa.

    I believe there is some talk of misunderstanding. Perhaps the vicar thinks now that what he did was a bit of a mistake.

    December 13th, 2006 at 10:30 am
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    December 20th, 2006 at 11:35 am