A Long Way Around

I was watching what has become one of my favorite Christmas movies the other night, Fred Claus, and I caught myself thinking, “This is crazy, there wouldn’t be an efficiency expert, in this case: Clyde Archibald Northcutt, willing to shut Santa Claus down.” (That’s part of the plot of the movie) Never mind the reality that the movie was about Santa’s brother, Fred, or Santa himself, for that matter. I didn’t seem to have an issue with any of that… it was just that someone was trying to shut Santa and the North Pole down because it lacked efficiency. Well, talk about suspension of disbelief. But you know, there’s a willingness and desire to suspend disbelief at Christmas time. Sometimes it seems we must suspend disbelief and ignore reality in order to embrace the “spirit of Christmas.” How else can we sing songs of “the most wonderful time of the year,” when wars are being waged, thousands are dying, anger, greed, distrust, vilification, and selfishness abounds, and so much more. Is it good, or is it bad? Is it wonderful, or is it terrible? But what if it’s both, and what if the Christmas story itself—the story of Emmanuel—is a story of both at the same time. Christmas is not an either-or story; it is both/and! It has always been an unlikely advent.