The Santa Ban

Sometimes in a rush to do a good thing, we overlook the potential downsides. I learned, when I got home from the church business meeting, that the intent of the Santa Ban was to deal with one specific event, which is not listed below. Unfortunately, I didn't even know about the event until after the meeting, and NO ONE mentioned it at the meeting. The result is an overarching Santa Ban. Here are the questions that are left, in an almost humorous form:

1) If Jeanne wears Santa earrings to work on Tuesday, will Eric have to fire her (the incoming church chairman's wife) right before Christmas?

2) Will the ushers have to start looking for Santa lapel pins on people's clothing and ask them to leave the service if they are "guilty?"

3) Will Sunday school teachers receive a lifetime ban from teaching if they show a Veggietales Christmas video with Santa in it? If so, Beth, please schedule me to teach this Sunday, and make sure I have a DVD player!

4) Do any of the Christmas tree ornaments on any of the Christmas trees scattered throughout the church have an image of Santa on them?

5) If a cardboard cutout of Santa appears in the Wonders of Christmas three years from now, will we fire the entire production staff?

6) If Santa appears at the staff Christmas party (as used to be the tradition), will we have to fire the ENTIRE STAFF?!?

Needless to say, I was one of the many people who DID NOT VOTE on this motion at all. I'm not a big Santa fan, but that doesn't mean that we avoid him altogether. Most people in the US associate Christmas and Santa, even if they know the True meaning of Christmas. By putting in place the Santa Ban, we distance ourselves from a world that needs to know the True meaning of Christmas. How do we reach people who view us as irrelevant?