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Bulletin 150 Date : 10th Dec 2008
Advertising Christmas

t always surprises me the way the church seeks to advertise itself to society at large. No matter what the church does, someone will take exception for one reason or another. It makes me wonder whether advertising our message is of any value whatsoever. Take the latest attempt by the Churches Advertising Network to promote the Christmas Message, does this help or hinder our attempts to encourage people to take Christianity seriously?

If you click here, you will go to their web site. Click on the ‘Bus Shelter’ image on the left and you will see a YouTube video clip produced for younger people to tell the Christmas story in a contemporary fashion. It is largely the work of Chas Bayfield who, by his own admission, is not the most orthodox of Christians. The video clip contains all the elements you would expect to see in a nativity presentation; the journey to Bethlehem, shepherds confronted by angels, wise men (or ‘wise guys’ in this case) and the stable scene.

However, this is the kind of cartoon animation you would expect to see on children’s TV and is steeped in subtle humour and myth-busting one-liners. When the wise men bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh Mary is heard to say, “gold, frankincense and myrrh – I’m sure that’s just what he …” leaving us to fill in the gap and ask those questions which are too delicate to pose to the preacher as he or she makes off for their Christmas lunch with the family. What did they do with these gifts? How did they carry them all the way to Egypt? Or – does this part of the story merely have symbolic meaning as hinted at during the closing credits.

No thinking Christian can be without serious questions over the historicity of the Christmas accounts in Matthew and Luke. We compress events which no doubt took place over a period of two years into a very short time frame of a week or so and expect an non-believing public to swallow it hook, line and sinker without go into the real details for fear of robbing it of its magic. However, a close examination of this short video clip unearths some major theological questions which if asked from a child’s mind could pose the most eloquent of preachers with a few nightmares.

I mentioned Chas Bayfield who wrote the script. He describes himself as a ‘bad Christian’. He says of himself, “I’m in a rock band, I like to party, I drink, I smoke, I’ve done drugs and struggle to get to church more than once a month”. Some would say he’s not a Christian at all, certainly not the kind you would want in your pulpit or leading your Sunday School classes. And yet, here we have him fronting the church’s Christmas advertising campaign. What do you think?

On another note, have you tried buying the new nativity stamps? There are two types – one has pantomime images and the other are the truly religious ones with Madonna and Child. If you really want to irritate the Post Office clerks, ask for a book of 12 Christmas stamps with Madonna and Child. They only do books with the pantomime stamps – another attempt by our secular business community to sideline the faith?