Happy St. Nicholas Day

Saints of God,

Do you know the real story of Santa Claus? Sinte Klaas (Dutch for “Saint Nicholas”, in English “Santa Claus”) is actually the Americanized version of a real person named Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas was a Christian pastor in the Greek city of Myra (present-day Turkey) who lived from A.D. 270 to A.D. 343.

This is actually the perfect time to think about St. Nicholas, not just because of his connection to Christmas, but also because, for centuries, the day assigned to remember him in the Christian Church is December 6. Within the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, St. Nicholas is one of the most popular saints. He is the patron saint of children, students, sailors, merchants, thieves (ironically) and the entire nation of Greece.

While we don’t worship, pray to or even venerate saints in the Lutheran Church—that honor belongs to God alone—we should remember the saints often as they are beautiful examples of God’s grace in the lives of fellow believers. Assigning a particular day of the year to some of the more memorable Christian saints, is a good way to do that. Throughout many parts of Europe, people exchange gifts on December 6, even if they don’t know it's to commemorate St. Nicholas. Similar to how nearly all Americans celebrate Christmas (95% in a recent Gallup poll), even if they don’t know or believe in Jesus Christ.

As is the case with pretty much all the saints, there are various legends attributed to St. Nicholas, too. While the majority of them probably aren’t true, they usually help explain the traditions passed down and associated with each saint.

One of my favorite St. Nicholas legends happened while he was in attendance at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. The main reason for the meeting was to discuss the claims of a man named Arius, who had been teaching that Jesus was not, in fact, God but only a man. The gathering of bishops rejected Arius’ heresy and combated it by writing the Nicene Creed, which we still confess today. Supposedly, Bishop Nicholas was so enraged when he heard Arius speaking against the divinity of Christ that he went up to Arius and punched him in the face! Ha! Maybe Nicholas should also the be the patron saint of punching heretics?

While that legend doesn’t really help explain any of our present-day Santa Claus traditions, there is one that does. The story goes that Bishop Nicholas heard of a poor family who was unable to afford a wedding dowry (i.e. a gift of property or money to the newlyweds from the parents of the bride; this is more than likely where our tradition of the bride’s parents paying for the wedding began - ain’t history great?!) for their three daughters. Nicholas was deeply moved by the family’s need, prayed for them, and then dressed in his red, fir-lined cloak, went to the family’s house and tossed in three bags of gold through an open window which landed in some stockings which were drying over the fireplace.

Again, are any of these legends true? Probably not. There might be certain details that actually happened but legends become legends for a reason…they’re more interesting than the truth.

Despite a little uncertainty, I do think there is plenty that we associate with Santa Claus--most notably the giving of gifts--which we can use as an opportunity to teach our children. First of all, that they receive gifts at Christmas because they have a God who, “richly and daily provides clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children…and all I own, and all I need” (Luther’s Small Catechism, Explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed). Above all, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son,” (1 John 5:11) not based on whether we’ve been naughty or nice, but as a free gift of His grace.

So teach your kids that Santa wasn’t just some mythologically benevolent elf, but that he was a Christian just like they are because he really was! Regardless of all the gifts St. Nicholas supposedly gave out, the most important gift was the one God gave to Santa Claus, and your family, and to the world: the gift of Jesus. Teach them that Santa Claus was actually a pastor (again, because he was!) who helped children most, not by giving them toys and trinkets, but by giving them the same gift of Jesus he himself received as he baptized them and taught them the Word of God, just like their pastor and parents do now.

I’m not so naïve as to think that’ll fix all the challenges that come with properly understanding and appreciating St. Nicholas. For better or worse, Santa Claus will probably also always be the patron saint of secularized Christmas in America. But recognize this: no matter how hard people try, Christmas will always resist secularization. As long as it is called Christmas, Christ will always be at the heart of it. And even when stores and schools try to avoid that name by using ‘holiday,’ that word, too, contains a confession that it is still a holy-day. So stop worrying about what others are doing, whether the White House is celebrating Christmas properly or if city hall should have a manger scene on the front lawn. You’ll never be able to control how others treat Christmas. What matters is how it is celebrated in your home. What matters is that “the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14) at all. And no one will ever be able to change that gracious fact and thank God.

In Christ,

Pastor Bater