I love the Christmas season, joy and cheer for everyone except those who are upset by everything they see. Yes, Christmas has become big business and it can be all about the “stuff” but we can’t let the joy of the season be overshadowed by the anger we shouldn’t be expression so loudly, especially when we focus on what the hubbub is all about. It seems every year the Christians are upset about something, and making a point to share their anger. I remember a call to boycott Hallmark one year because they didn’t have Jesus on the Christmas cards. Let’s look at a few things we have seen fusses about.
One year, a pastor came into our church, visiting from another local church, and was shocked and appalled, looking at our Christmas tree, he pointed out the angel that adorned the top. It was a female angel, which he informed us was pagan and shouldn’t be in the church. There are no female angels in the Bible, and his opinion was it was wrong. I then pointed out the tree is pagan, used long before Christianity by pagans during the winter solstice, which is ironically why we celebrate Christmas in December. The gifts under it began as a pagan traditional, Romans giving gifts to the emperor during the Solstice. The angel, the tree, the gifts, the date, all pagan. Oh, and the wedding ring he had on, that was pagan too, and I asked him if he was married in the church. The conversation was pretty much over at that point. Let’s face it, lots about Christmas is from pagan origins, but throwing a fit, getting mad and berating someone’s barbie doll angel isn’t going to help. Just makes us seem. . . scrooge like.
If we aren’t mad about Santa, pagan angels and Hallmark, we are railing about “Happy Holidays”. Well, let’s face it people, there are lots of holidays this time of year, and not everyone is Christian. More than that, what does Holiday mean? Holiday is basically a variation of Holy Day. Holy is something that is set apart for the service of God, so a Holy Day is a day set apart to worship God. It’s just as meaningful to say Holiday as Christmas. A Happy Holiday is a joyful day set apart for the Lord, so when someone says “Happy Holidays” you can smile and know it’s a great day to worship the Lord.
Finally, we like to get mad and yell that they have taken Christ out of Christmas, replacing it was an X. This one is less common, since Christmas has been replaced with Holidays, but I still here it sometimes. Mostly Facebook posts that say “keep the Christ in Christmas”. I have news for you friend, pagans have no idea that Christ is in Christmas. They don’t know what Christ- Mas means, and frankly they don’t care. Who came up with X-Mas? Guys who has to hand write everything. X is the Greek letter Chi, which is the beginning of Christ in Greek. This practice dates back to the 6th century, it’s not a new idea thought up by atheists and the Grinch. Christians came up with it, and then forgot what it meant and they got mad when they saw it used.
This Christmas, X-mas and Holiday, let’s spread joy and cheer and the hope we have in Christ. It’s a great time of year, and if we can avoid being angry, it would be a great time of year for everyone. Please let’s not shout and yell at the poor Wal-Mart greeter if they say Holiday, they are just trying to be nice. Those of us with Jesus in our hearts should be able to do the same. Don’t you agree?