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Happy Holidays and Other Xmas Greetings
Posted by Andrew Wencl in News & Culture
When I was in high school I took a part time job one holiday season to ring a bell and stand by a red bucket attached to a pole for the Salvation Army. They were low on volunteers that year and hired people to ring a bell for minimum wage. Long before I ever had an mp3 player with thousands of music files, I was bundled up with a portable CD player, the longest-playing CD in my collection, and a small bronze bell.
I’ve never really liked the sound that bell makes, and I purposely avoid the Salvation Army bell ringers to this day just to stay away from it. I’ve always felt proud of people who would volunteer their time for an hour shift, but I’ve determined that they haven’t experienced anything until they’ve stood for six hours in front of a Walgreens across the street from the local bank. The bank had a spinning clock that told me time could stand still. To make matters worse, the other side of the clock showed the temperature. First it was 19°F, and I had to watch as it moved down to 18, 17, 16, 15…
When you’re ringing a bell for hours, saying “Merry Christmas” to every person who walks by also gets tiring. It wasn’t long before I was interspersing “Happy Holidays,” along with my friendly banter. Some people who heard the “Merry Christmas” would stop and say thanks for taking a stand or some other rubbish. Others who heard the “Happy Holidays” would drop a line to the effect of “even the Salvation Army is compromising this year.”
I’m sorry, but merely saying “Happy Holidays,” is not an attack on Christianity any more than saying “Have a nice weekend” is an attack on the Jewish Sabbath. When it comes to playing the “Christmas War” games, I have a few observations:
Christmas is a federal holiday
That means it is perfectly fine to say “Merry Christmas.” It is also fine to put up a Christmas tree, Christmas Stockings, and Christmas decorations. When schools decide that classrooms can’t have Christmas trees or when they decide to rename everything to a “Holiday _______,” I typically find the practice to be ridiculous. When people say, “I don’t celebrate Christmas,” I usually point out that it is a holiday recognized by the federal government whether they like it or not. There is no need for secularists, atheists, or anyone else for that matter to change anything related to a federal holiday to make it less offensive.
Christmas is largely a secular holiday
In the same way that dressing up as Captain Jack Sparrow on October 31st wouldn’t make me a card-carrying Satanist, putting up a fir tree and colored lights, singing songs about snow and Jesus, and giving gifts to family and friends on December 24th/25th wouldn’t make me a Christian. Making a big stink every time we see, “Merry Xmas,” is like saying “FBC” is taking the “Baptist” and “Church” (not to mention “First”) out of our corporate gatherings.
When the local Temple of Materialism and Idolatry (a department store) uses Xmas[1] or Holiday instead of Christmas, during their festivals[2] we should thank them if their intention is to distance their sales from the religious understanding of Christmas. Would you ask a strip club or tavern to change Xmas Show to Christmas Show on their signage?
Then again, this might be why Hannah doesn’t let me help with the Xmas cards…
Preserving traditions is not the same as preserving the gospel
I was a wise man in my third grade Christmas pageant at school. I had no lines but I became friends with another lineless wise man that lasts to this day. The school, as far as I know, no longer has a reenactment of the Christmas story. Even if the school continued to do the play, it would not really tell the whole story. I’ve watched the Charlie Brown Christmas Special every year for as long as I can remember and I have yet to understand that Christ died for my sins and rose again and I have to repent and believe in Him just from watching the movie. The events surrounding Christ’s birth are an introduction to the gospel. Neither Mark nor John included them. Getting people to say, “Merry Christmas” or to hold a Nativity play may peak their interest in the true meaning of Christmas, but more likely it just dulls their sensitivities to Christmas story and it will not result in people getting saved without Christians who actively share their faith with others.
There is a war going on
An article from the New York Times reported on a new billboard up in New York with the text, “You KNOW it’s a Myth! This season, celebrate REASON!” superimposed over a silhouette of the three wise men and Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in a stable. One of the people behind the billboard said, “Every year, atheists get blamed for having a war on Christmas, even if we don’t do anything. This year, we decided to give the religious right a taste of what war on Christmas looks like.”
First off, this guy has no idea what a war on Christmas looks like. Unfortunately many Christians don’t either. The war on Christmas is not fought with “Happy Holidays,” Holiday trees, or billboards. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
I’ve heard many sermons preached on the only offensive weapon listed in the Armor of God in Ephesians 6, the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. But let us not forget that the only way we advance is when our feet our shod with the readiness given by the gospel of peace. We cannot advance without the gospel. So instead of focusing on two-word well-wishes and candy “J’s,” let us make an advance this year with the whole story, the gospel.
[1] I wonder if Luther was criticized for taking the “mass” out of Christmas.
[2] e.g. Black-Friday Sales, Happy Honda Days, Garmin.com commercials, etc.
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Good post with some interesting thoughts, Andrew. Merry Cmas.
I am enjoying myself this season because of the local radio station that plays Christmas songs 24/7. With all the news out there this past year full of stories about disasters, politics and Muslims I am enjoying this season a little more this time around. Christ is in the majority of Christmas music and there is nothing anyone can do about it, at least for now.
I even get to go online, read and comment in the open forum on the stories like you mentioned above about what the atheist did in New York – “You KNOW it’s a Myth! This season, celebrate REASON!”. I am so glad that they have chosen reason over science since science requires total and complete evidence for a conclusion and there is none. How do you prove through science that nothing exists? Reason, on the other hand, requires evidence, knowledge, understanding and morals, then, BELIEF has to connect everything between the facts where no support exists. I would hope someone would take on the REASON topic this coming year to help expand my knowledge of the subject. Atheism is a broadening belief in America. Just look at how some Xians act.
Once again Andrew, I am enlightened and, yet, I have never rang the bell before. Merry Christmas.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)
Andrew, I think you have put your finger on something here. Too many Christians here in America (and no doubt, other places) are trying to serve two masters. For us, as Christians, we are to march to the beat of a different drummer. And, it is unrealistic to expect those whose lives have not truly been changed by the grace of God to march to the same beat. For us, every day is a holy day, or “holiday.” And, even though Christmas has as many pagan roots as truly Christian roots, we should be grateful for the opportunity it provides in our culture to bear testimony to the grace of God. But, we do this by acting with grace, not by loudly and rudely demanding our rights and respect.
Good thoughts.
My issue with folks who view the keep the Christ in Christmas (at least in so far as the name goes.) as a cutting edge point for cultural engagement is that it is anything but engagement. These sorts of highly visible debates–where there is nothing substantive to be won–only adds fuel to an affective, nonproductive fire. We seem to enjoy fights that can be put on bumper stickers, and we view such displays as standing for truth, but in reality we are speaking a language that we alone understand. Interestingly enough, the atheists are following our tactics, and bringing their fight to their bumpers as well. I doubt either side is listening, but perhaps the mutual venting is cathartic.
Rastis,
And it’s not a bad time to be in the bumper sticker industry
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David,
Or you might say we march to the “cadence of a different bell.” Much of what we fight about this time of year has little if anything to do with the gospel.
And besides, the nativity sets we fight to have displayed are often historically incorrect.
On a related note, I just came across a pretty good article about what to do with Santa Claus (reject, receive, or redeem) written by Mark Driscoll. I never can tell where he will fall on an issue. I find his perspective here to be worthy of consideration. If nothing else, the graphic alone is worth the click.
I like listening to the Messiah, and singing as many of the classic hymns in congregational setting.