by Dick Hillis THE HO LY BIRTHDAY-MAN IN CHINA
birthday of the King o f kings. The Church’s im portant celebration is fast becoming Santa’s day. To accomplish this bold feat, Santa got the co operation of Western missionaries and money-hun gry Chinese merchants. For sixty days a year Santa gets merchants to advertise and promote him as “ the kind little man in red.” In newspapers and over radio and tele vision he is promoted as the leading character in a play called “ Christmas.” Song writers and authors tell his story to catching tunes and fantasies that o f all things put him to work carrying toys to boys and girls—if they are good. He descends the chimneys of both rural and ur ban homes. Schools and Sunday schools sing of Santa and his red-nosed reindeer. Parents, with fingers crossed, beguile their children and swear that “ Mommy and Daddy have nothing to do with the exciting presents under the tree” (not too dif ferent from “ Christmas U.S.A.” ). “Don’t you know, children, that the Holy Birth day-Man brought the bike, the crib and the space ship down the chimney?” “ But, Mommy, we don’t have a chimney.” “But, dear, we do believe in the Holy Birthday- Man, don’t we? On Jesus’ birthday, Mommy wouldn’t tell her little boy a lie, would she?” “Why, Mommy, does Santa want a green tree in a purple living room?” “ Because green and purple go well with red.” From all o f this you can see that the brass of “ the little man in red” is not all on his buttons. He has dared to invade the churches of Formosa. At first his intrusion seemed most innocent, with the same green fir tree, but the celebration was called “ a white Christmas.” In those days Christians hurried to stores to buy presents for those in need — Christ fed the poor, you know! Perhaps here Santa took a calculated risk. After all, what if the Christians centered their celebration on the needy rather than on themselves and on Christ instead of Santa? Santa really had nothing to worry about. In a few churches weak voices of protest were raised and on occasion one would hear, “ Keep Christ in Christmas.” But the protests were drowned out by the tinkle of the orchestra playing “ Jingle Bells” for the offering. With this song for the offertory, the fictitious “ Holy Birthday-Man” had reason to feel secure. Today Christmas has become so commercial, so much just a holiday, that many unbelievers have joined in gift-giving and celebrating. I am no pessi mist but a realist and I predict that if revival doesn’t come to the church in Formosa, Christmas, like many Buddhist celebrations, will simply be come another day o f national idolatry in China. K B Dr. Dick Hillis is General Director of Overseas Crusades,
* OU MUST KNOW I am writing about Christmas in Free China. The masses of Communist China have no Christmas. On Red China’s holy day the people celebrate Mao-Mass and not Christ-Mass. The little red book entitled “The Thoughts of Mao” is their only Bible. Their church is the Communist Commune Propaganda Center. Their worship is wasted on a charismatic person ality whose surname is Mao and who, like the grass which today is and tomorrow is withered away, shall soon pass away. So we turn our attention to the twelve million people of the Republic of Free China. One hundred and four years ago a missionary from England first told these lovable people the sweet mysterious message of the first Christmas. To most of those who heard the Bethlehem story it seemed too strange, too unbelievable and too foreign to accept, but a few believed. To this small minority Christ’s birthday soon became a holy day. The Christmas celebration held deep doctrinal significance. The early missionaries translated “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and other Christmas hymns o f the church into Chinese so the believers o f the early church in Formosa spent Christmas singing the great hymns and reading the Gospel accounts of the birth of Christ. This was only the beginning. The Chinese love drama and soon they were acting out the Christ mas story. In this way they more clearly explained its meaning to their non-Christian relatives and friends. Later missionaries added the Western touch of tinsel and trees to the Christmas celebra- tion. Before long, feasting, the giving of gifts and all the festivities of Christmas in the United States, became the practice of much of the church in For mosa. As liberal missionaries arrived on the island, Christmas took on more of the atmosphere o f a holiday than a holy day. And soon a stranger to the Bible named Santa was playing a significant part in the Christmas pageantry. In Formosa, Santa’s proportions are different but his purpose is the same. In America you think of Santa as a jolly, roly-poly, red-faced, white- bearded, barrel-built gentleman. In Formosa he is yellow-faced, beardless, thin, five-foot-seven-inch and the Chinese translation of his name is the “Holy Birthday-Man.” In either case the propor tions are unimportant. The tragedy is that in many churches in Formosa, Santa, rather than Christ, is fast becoming “Mr. Christmas.” With the help o f lukewarm indifferent seeond- and-third-generation Christians, he is pulling off a kind o f theological coup. His plot is simple but daring. Santa is usurping the celebration o f the SO
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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