You know Dasher and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen, and you will also know Rudolph. But do you also know about Flossie and Glossie, and Racer and Pacer, Reckless and Speckless, Fearless and Peerless, and Ready and Steady? In 1823, the poem “A Visit from St Nicholas” made famous the first set of reindeer (minus Rudolph who wasn't created until 1939.) Almost eighty years later, L. Frank Baum (who wrote “The Wizard of Oz”) wrote a book called “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” and gave the second set as Santa's reindeer. We don't know why he decided to use different names, but it shows that Christmas traditions are not set in stone!
The reindeer names are probably meant to tell us something of the character of each of them, even if their characters aren't developed in the stories, and this is a common feature of story-telling. It also happens in real life as we name pets and even give each other nicknames based on character or skills.
In church there are many Christmas traditions, and we hear familiar readings from the Bible telling of the preparation for Jesus in the Old Testament and the accounts of the events around his birth. Some of these readings give nicknames for Jesus that tell us important things about who he is and what he came to do.
Perhaps the most famous is the titles Jesus is given in Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
'Wonderful Counsellor' tells us that Jesus is wonderful in the sense that he arouses in us a sense of wonder and awe and marvel. As we approach Christmas, familiarity blind us to the amazing events surrounding Jesus' birth, like the angels, the star and the virgin birth itself, so we need to recover our wonder at the very coming of Jesus, how “...within a manger lies / he who built the starry skies.” As Counsellor he imparts wisdom and truth to us, not as just one more voice among many but as the one who has the words of eternal life (John 6:68), who is Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24) and Truth (John 14:6).
The name 'Mighty God' has overtones of powerfulness and strength particularly in battle, and this reminds us that Jesus didn't just come to do miraculous deeds, or give amazing teachings, but that he came to fight the spiritual enemies of sin and death. To call Jesus “Everlasting Father” reminds us of his eternal, divine nature and also that his character is father-like. His government will not rule by fear and oppression but will be characterised by peace, justice and righteousness, and he is also the 'Father' of our redemption (Hebrews 2:10-13 and 12:2).
Jesus' title of Prince of Peace is probably one of his best known and reminds us that through his death and resurrection he brings peace and reconciliation between humanity and God (Romans 5:1) and therefore also the possibility of peace between people.
But there are two more names that sum up what Christmas is all about: Gabriel tells Joseph “to give him the name Jesus, [which means the Lord saves] because he will save his people from their sins.” And Matthew tells us “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' (which means 'God with us')” (Matthew 1:21-23). So this Christmas why not find out more about the God who comes to us as a baby to save us from our sins?
Photo by Norman Tsui on Unsplash
