“Merry Christmas”
“Happy Holidays”
“Happy Holidays”
I was pondering the tension that exists today between those who adamantly insist that cashiers this time of year and stores post signs which say, “Merry Christmas.”
As one who follows Jesus and longs to see Him honored, I get that. I get that the desire is not to sideline the name ‘Christ’ during the time we set aside to mark His incarnation.
It bugs me when phrases like Christmakwanzakah are laughingly used to include all the ‘winter holidays’, but the militant attitude of “Merry Christmas-ians” needs to end.
A couple things to consider at the outset:
1.) Jesus wasn’t born on Dec. 25 – most Bible scholars will agree with this. Yes, we celebrate His incarnation on Dec. 25 because earlier Christians wanted to supplant the pagan solstice celebrations. ‘Christmas’ is not a celebration instituted formally by God, but about 2 years after His birth the magi sought Him out and celebrated his birth with gifts. And in the words of Charles Dickens’ Fred, “I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”
2.) Shortening ‘Christmas’ to ‘Xmas’ doesn’t really bug me. If the Chi Rho christogram symbol (☧) was used by early Christians and is still used in modern liturgical churches to symbolize Christ, why is that same Chi (X) considered an offense to Christians now? The same Christians who affix a little silver fish on the back of their car… fish (Ichthus) is spelled ” ΙΧΘΥΣ” in Latin, corresponding to Iēsous Christos, Theou Huios, Sōtēr, meaning Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior.
But use it in “Xmas” and it is suddenly an intentional insult to Christ’s name??
But use it in “Xmas” and it is suddenly an intentional insult to Christ’s name??
But back to the discussion at hand…
I go through the checkout and the cashier says, “Happy holidays.” Should I recoil? cringe? Offer a forceful “Merry Christmas” flocked with a patronizing tone?
I scratch my head over the people who get personally offended by “Happy Holidays.” Saying they are celebrating the god-man Jesus – the one full of grace and truth and mercy and compassion – they refuse to follow His example turn the cheek when ‘offended’.
It may do us well to remember this…
‘When they hurled their insults at him, he [Jesus] did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.’ I Pet. 2:23
Honestly I doubt most of these cashiers are saying, “happy holidays” as an intentional malicious insult. “Happy Holidays” is at the very least a courtesy – a positive wish of wellness or joy during the season. Why is that a bad thing?
Couldn’t we Christ-followers just offer a genuine smile and say, “thank you” and mean it? Anymore I am pleasantly surprised to hear a cashier say those simple words after I have made a purchase and contributed to his/her wages.
Wouldn’t a grateful response from us share more of the Gospel than bitterness? Perhaps a heartfelt “Merry Christmas” with genuine love for this fellow masterpiece made in God’s image will be the only ‘Gospel’ they hear this year.
One last thought:
The “Merry” in “Merry Christmas” did not originally simply mean “joyful” or “happy.” It meant “mighty” and is Robin Hood's "Merry Men." The connotation being that since God entered into our humanity, since He ‘moved into the neighborhood’ as Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase puts it, since He has conquered death, we can be stout-hearted in the face of any circumstance.
Jesus’ incarnation reminds us that God loves us; that He chooses to dive into the cesspools of our lives and pull us out. Christmastime ought to remind us that we are never alone, that God is always there – that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Heb 4:15 & 16
To be “Merry” at Christmastime is to remember the height and width and depth and breadth of the love of God. (Eph. 3:18)
It is to remember that “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 8:38-39.
To be “Merry” at Christmastime is to acknowledge Jesus as both helpless babe and conquering King.
It is to remember again that because of the incarnation, sin and satan are defeated at the cross.
It is to know that God came to be known; to be embraced.
It is to know the joy-filled hope that awaits because He took the initiative and came to reconcile us to Himself (Col. 1).
It is to know with certainty the glory that is and is to come in eternal life.
Re-read the words to "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" in this light
So to you I say a very merry Christmas.
"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say," returned the nephew. "Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"
~ Fred, Scrooge’s nephew
by Charles Dickens
