Playwrights used jesters to highlight the folly in prevailing thoughts and customs long before William Shakespeare patented this literary device. But Jerry Seinfeld might be the first jester to do so.
He did so by making “Festivus for the rest of us” the theme of an episode of his hit show, Seinfeld. This, by highlighting the hedonism inherent in the way Christmas has become more of an homage to crass commercialism than the birth of Jesus Christ.
Festivus is celebrated on December 23. It as a family ritual in the home of writer Dan O’Keefe in 1965. His son Daniel, a writer on Seinfeld, wove the entire history and meaning of Festivus into that episode, which aired on December 18, 1997.
I watched it. And, trust me, the uproarious laughter all references to Festivus evoked was surpassed only by the cunning message about the real meaning of Christmas, which I felt compelled to ponder long after the credits rolled.
Ironically, Festivus is a wholly secular attempt to remind us that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Accordingly, it encourages us to utterly shun not just the indulgent ritual of shopping, but the other hedonistic activities Christians engage in this time of year too.
The O’Keefes do this by having an “Airing of Grievances” meal. It features each person telling other family members all the ways they disappointed him or her over the past year. They follow this meal with a “Feats of Strength” performance. It features family members wrestling and pinning the head of household to the floor to end the celebration of Festivus.
But there is decidedly no religious dogma associated with this holiday. Which means you do not have to follow the O’Keefes’ fashion. Choose whatever non-commercial activity you wish.
For example, I find nothing more refreshing, gratifying, and even festive than taking a family walk along wooded trails.
No doubt President Trump will continue airing election grievances:
Peter Navarro releases 36-page report alleging election fraud ‘more than sufficient’ to swing victory to Trump. A great report by Peter. Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2020
I suspect many of you regret not being among the madding crowd doing last-minute shopping – all in a perverse effort to celebrate His birth. But take a moment to think: “What would Jesus do?”
Thank God this question is finally dawning on the white evangelicals who compose Trump’s base:
On a Monday broadcast of his long-running Christian series The 700 Club, Robertson told viewers that the president ‘still lives in an alternate reality’ — and offered his strongest broadside yet to a man who he’s ardently supported for years. …
‘He’s done a marvelous job for the economy, but at the same time, he’s very erratic — he’s fired people, he’s fought people, he’s insulted people. It’s a mixed bag. It would be well to say ‘you’ve had your day, and it’s time to move on.’’
(USA Today, December 22, 2020)
And so perhaps, at long last, evangelicals are having their “come to Jesus moment” where Trump is concerned. But, as the son of a preacher man and in the spirit of Festivus, I feel moved to air a grievance in the form of this question:
- What, pray tell my evangelical brothers and sisters, has it profited you to gain more wealth, more judges, and more nationalism, but lose your souls?
Of course, I am paraphrasing the famous scripture from Mark 8:26. But, here is the Faustian bargain these misguided souls made with Trump:
The Christian right’s ability to convince white evangelicals that only political power can bring about meaningful change makes it one of the most important political movements in post-World War II America. It has convinced millions of Christians to reject the teachings of Jesus about the dangers of worldly power and put their trust in political saviors to advance God’s work in the nation and around the globe.
(The Washington Post, April 5, 2019)
None other than Billy Graham’s own son, Franklin, has been the latter-day Dathan exhorting evangelicals to forsake Christ and serve Trump (a.k.a. the two-legged golden orange calf). Remarkably, they have seemed every bit as lost today as the Israelites were during their fabled exodus (as chronicled in the Bible).
In fact, some white evangelicals still seem hell-bent on continuing down their primrose path to eternal damnation. Never mind that the parable laid out in Mark illustrates what grave consequences portend for thinking the ends justify the means.
Still, I welcome Pastor Robertson’s belated epiphany. And I urge him now to preach the gospel of Trump’s manifold iniquities with all the fervor and conviction with which he preached the heresy of Trump’s fake divinities. After all, “Republicans Knew from Day One That Supporting Trump Was Like Israelites Worshiping the Golden Calf,” November 23, 2019.
But only God himself could have used a jester like Trump to expose the hypocrisy, venality, pusillanimity, and faux sanctimony of Republicans.
May God have mercy on their souls.
As for the rest of us –
Happy Festivus!
Related commentaries:
worshiping golden calf… impeachment…
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