ST NICHOLAS DAY- WORTH CELEBRATING

I made three suggestions for those who are new to following the story of Christ’s life throughout the year- 1. Observe Advent as a preparation for Christmas. 2. Add St. Nicholas Day to your celebration 3. Observe Christmas as a Season.

It makes sense to begin with the first, because Advent arrives before the others (Dec. 2nd in 2007). So of course, I’m not going to start there. I’m thinking that most people will have some familiarity with Advent and Christmas, but the St. Nicholas Day thing…well, that’s part of Shoppingmas. Right?

Of course not! St. Nicholas is a wonderful, glorious and important brother of our Lord Jesus. As such, he belongs to us. Our children need to know that. Enough of the Egyptian’s plundering our treasures. The biblical precedent is the other way around.

St. Nicholas served as a bishop in what is now modern day Turkey. There are wonderful legends and stories swirling around this dear man. Many of them will sound very familiar- stories of gift giving and stockings, for example.

My personal favorite involves his role at the Council of Nicea. A minister named Arius was telling the story of Jesus in a way that departed significantly from how the apostles had related the tale. Specifically, Arius denied that Jesus was truly God. That’s a big plot change…and a huge deal. The fathers of the church were called together because this competing tale was spreading. Common Christians were beginning to tell the story in this deviant way. One of those summoned t0 this important council was St. Nicholas. When Arius rose to speak and began to deny the divinity of our Lord, the good bishop just couldn’t take it. Apparently he sprang from his seat and lit into the startled speaker…literally. The other bishops and presbyters pulled Nicholas off of Arius and reprimanded Nicholas strongly…although I’m sure they were secretly pleased. (Maybe that’s just me projecting my own redneck persona, though.) It tickles me to think of Santa Claus rolling around on the floor with another fella over the language of the Nicene Creed.

Anyway, every time I recite those precious words, “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father,” I think of good St. Nicholas.

There is a wonderful resource available online: The St. Nicholas Center. Please check it out. There is a great deal of information- including ideas for celebration. If nothing else, check out Who Is St. Nicholas and click around on the links to the left. His connection to our modern Santa Claus is explained. Our children ought to know. This is their heritage.

I’ll post the details of how we celebrate at the James’ house. The amount of enjoyment the children seem to get out of it far exceeds the simple preparation that is necessary. There is plenty of time to make ready....and not much involved. St. Nicholas Day always falls on December 6th. I hope you’ll consider adding this to your family’s Advent celebration.