JDMuses: I Believe in Father Christmas

A familiar ring each holiday season, especially in the Sinclair household, is Greg Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas. It is one of the most played Christmas songs since its release in 1975. It was written by Greg Lake with Peter Sinfield who was a long-time collaborator with Greg in King Crimson and ELP. For years, the song was only available as a single and difficult to locate at best. In High School, I remember staying up late to watch the ABC Midnight Special so that I might see the video only to fall asleep just as it began. With the advent of the compact disc and the internet, it is now available in multiple versions including hundreds, if not more, covers by other artists. WARNING to all, although I generally like U2, Father Christmas was not meant for Bono.

I love the tune and the video, but was always conflicted about the lyrics. It was my impression that they were anti-Christian in nature. Other Lake and Sinfield lyrics tended to be harsh and iconoclastic so this lent even more credence to my belief. More recently, Lake has indicated that this was not his intent and that the song was more about a return to child-like idealism as well as a statement against the over-commercialism of Christmas.

The most perplexing line of the song for me was “They sold me a dream of Christmas; they sold me a silent night. They told me a fairy story; ‘till I believed in the Israelite”. Calling it a fairy story bothered me because I thought that meant it wasn’t true, and I thought that was absurd seeing as the guy is singing about believing in Santa Claus whom I’m sure was a fairy tale. Sorry Mom:).

Even though there are historical and practical aspects of the Bible, I’ve long held the belief that the most important parts are lyrical, poetic and metaphorical in nature. After all, by the time they had reached 3^rd grade, my own children wanted to know why the Bible doesn’t say anything about dinosaurs. I’ve made the statement many times that I do not believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, but of inspired men trying their best to explain something beyond their comprehension. It still is the Greatest Story Ever Told and the keystone of Tolkien’s and Lewis’ concept of True Myth. Just because it may not have naturally occurred in our space and time, does not mean it doesn’t represent something naturally true.

I believe there are other works of art and literature that are similarly inspired that are relevant spiritual themes including Lewis and Tolkien fantasies such as The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Some folks scoff at Harry Potter and Star Wars as being Christian corollaries. I’m not sure, but as long as there are people trying to make connections, I think it is a worthwhile debate.

I am surely not a linguist, but it seems to me that words are symbols that allow us to understand and communicate both mundane information as well as being artistic components for intimating personal feelings and expressing greater than thou reality. The best of the Bible is not mundane. To quote Chris Rock (okay now I’ve really discredited myself), “I don’t think my diet will be called into question on judgment day.”

More word fun includes consideration of the multiple translations of the original scriptures included and excluded from the canon. When describing greater than thou reality, you really need all of the words you can get. English has but one word for love. Greek has four. Agape means unconditional love, or higher love of God. Eros means I want you (now:)). Philos means brotherly love or affection as in friendship. Storge means affection for offspring or similar. Obviously translations from Hebrew and Greek into English don’t always convey the intended feeling.

Mainstream Christians also needed a bit of Greek influence to help us attempt to describe the nature of God. The Trinity is probably befuddling to many, but not unlike the multiple definitions of love in the previous paragraph. I believe the Trinity arose from inspired thought, perhaps imperfect, yet a true characterization of God as The Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Oh yes, back to God and Santa. Don’t anyone go Church Lady on me now (Santa not Satan). According to P.J. O’Rourke, God is a republican and Santa is a democrat. God holds you accountable for your actions and Santa brings you what you want regardless of whether you deserve it. It’s kind of funny despite the over generalizations. However, I’ll bet that P.J. himself would even go for the ideal Christmas if he knew he wasn’t paying for it.

I’m not suggesting that the myth of Father Christmas is as core to our being as our religious ideology, but there is no question that the spirit of Santa Claus is also a true representation of our Christmas experience. Just ask Mom.