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St. Nicholas: A History
Talking to your child about the saint behind Santa’s story.
Read Time: 4 min 38 sec | Reading Level: 6th Grade
─────── December 26, 2024 ───────
Happy Boxing Day!
December 26th is a national holiday in many countries, like England and Canada. It’s named not for fighters but for the “Christmas boxes” traditionally filled with money or gifts for those in need or in service positions.
Today, we’re celebrating generosity in a special holiday edition by telling the story of the saint behind Santa.
This week’s Decaf is brought to you by our friends at Forward Edge. Through their ministry, your family can offer living water alongside safe, clean drinking water to families across the world.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
READ | REFLECT | RESPOND
HISTORY
Saint Nick
Jolly old St. Nicholas is one of Christmas’s favorite characters… But do you know the story of the saint behind Santa? Lend your ear this way!
A monk named St. Nicholas lived from about 280 to 340 A.D. on the southern coast of Turkey. He became the Bishop of Myra, admired for giving his vast fortune to the poor and for staying true to Jesus when he was persecuted. He gained a reputation for giving generously—and often anonymously—to children and the needy. In the 800s, he was canonized, which means he was officially named a “saint.”
Long after he died, stories of St. Nicholas circulated around Europe. Catholics in France began celebrating Bishop Nicholas Day on December 6; in Holland, the day became known as the feast of “Sinterklaas,” where children would leave their shoes out overnight and wake up to discover little gifts inside.
The Dutch brought Sinterklass to America in 1700, where he became Santa Claus and got wrapped up with Christmas. An 1823 poem called “Twas the Night Before Christmas” (maybe you’ve heard of it) took some creative liberties with the story… and the modern Santa Claus was born!
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RESPOND
Sometimes, at Christmas, we get a little too focused on what we can get. But from what we can tell about St. Nicholas’s life, he was most interested in what he could give. Consider how you can be generous this Boxing Day.
“[The Lord Jesus] said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Acts 20:35 (CSB) (read full passage)
READ | REFLECT | RESPOND
What do I want to make sure my kids know in light of this story?
What made Saint Nicholas who he was was his faith in God, not his gifts.
Any gifts he gave were motivated by the generosity of Jesus toward Nick. Any miracles he performed were done in Jesus’s name and power. And the persecution he endured was because his devotion to King Jesus was more important to him than anything else.
We don’t know much about the historical St. Nicholas, but we can be sure that he’d be sad if anyone was distracted from Jesus by jolly old Saint Nick. He’d want Christmas to be all about Jesus.
What gospel lesson can be taught through this story?
Jesus’s generosity motivates believers to be generous.
When the missionary Paul was talking about collecting money to give to needy believers, he said some people “begged [him] earnestly for the privilege” of giving to other Christians in need despite being in poverty themselves (2 Corinthians 8:2-4).
Paul explains what could motivate such (let’s be honest) strange behavior: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 CSB). When Jesus came as a baby, destined to die, he gave up immeasurable glory with God so that we could share that spiritual wealth.
Nothing we could ever donate could compare with that gift. And when we share generously, we’re blessed in the process.
READ | REFLECT | RESPOND
Find a big bag (bonus points if it’s red), fill it up with toys, books, and clothes, and donate it to someone who needs it more than you do.
Memorize Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (CSB).
Pray as you make your donation, “All that I have is yours, Lord Christ. All that I have is you. Use then this small gift for works of love and mercy, and to the increase of your glory. Amen.” (Douglas McKelvey, Every Moment Holy Volume 1, page 180)
RECOMMENDED
What We’re Giving
Living water via Forward Edge*
Women and girls in Tamale, Ghana, walk miles daily to get water… but the tiring journey for water, often filled with water-borne bacteria, can bring death instead of life.
Forward Edge—an international non-profit that serves impoverished communities in Jesus’s name—brings in trucks of safe drinking water every month to get families living in the majority Muslim area through the dry season and to share about the living water Jesus offers them.
A gift of $25 will provide safe, clean drinking water to eight families for a month. Learn more about how Forward Edge is bringing hope and health here.
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