There is the annual debate as to if we are pushing Christ out of Christmas. I wonder if it is just part of the Season of Advent and if we should have a special candle for it.
When I look around I see we still have our Manger by City Hall. That is good. The White House has a Christmas Tree. I was able to buy stamps at the Post Office with the Madonna and Child and angels. When someone says "Happy Holidays" and I respond with "Merry Christmas" they respond again with "Merry Christmas."
The one place I worry about is Christmas Cards. On Thursday I was in Chelmsford for a medical appointment and my wife asked me to drop by the Paper Store in Drum Hill. I checked all the boxes of cards and found only one with a "Birth of Jesus" theme and that one was dubious. When I got home I was informed that it was, indeed, dubious. Next day I hit the book store at the St Joseph the Worker Shrine and the Barnes and Nobel bookstore downtown and one other store on Merrimack Street. No joy. So, since I had to go to a store in Billerica, I tried the three stores in the shopping mall. Out of luck. Finally, I went across the street to the big Barnes and Noble on Middlesex Turnpike and scored two excellent boxes of cards. I was again a hero at home.
So, my sense is that the story of the birth of Jesus is safe in our culture for another year and that the only folks trying to take Christ out of Christmas are the greeting card manufacturers, or maybe the local greeting card retailers.
Merry Christmas to all
Regards — Cliff
5 comments:
That "graven image" thing seems a very fine line with me. (Mangers, etc.)
"Christmas" as is publically celebrated these days certainly seems to take after the original pagan holiday from which it was evolved, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The celebration of faith wouldn't seem to need to be a public spectacle, and, indeed, according to our constitution, shouldn't.
The nativity of pagan origins?
The Gospel according Luke 2:1-20 or John 1:1-18 indeed did not evolved from Christmas Trees.
Sure I won't disagree that as Europeans converted to Christianity they kept many local celebratory customs. It's actually why Christianity had an easier time spreading compared to other religions, where local customs may not be applied. While Christmas is a Holy Day, it is not celebrated to the extremes of within western culture of consumerism.
In of itself, late December does fit in well with the birth. The Annunciation of the Lord is celebrated on the 25th of March.
From Wiki
"Since Luke’s gospel states that the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary in the sixth month after John’s conception, this would place the conception of Christ at about the time of the spring equinox, i.e., at the time of the Jewish Passover and his birth at the time of the winter solstice."
Simply an observance, but my friends and family who are not as religious really up it with the materialism and Santa. I grew up a very nominal Catholic and yeah, I was spoiled rotten on Christmas Day. I see that more and more now with the marketing towards parents with children, it pretty much a guilt trip that my child will be absolutely traumatized if the gift under the isn't EXACTLY what they demanded.
I'm pretty much between a rock and a hard place, I want Christmas to truly be about our beliefs and share them. We're good about Advent and receiving only on gift from Santa.
As Christians do we try to claim the tree and 'door buster' deals as a part of the birth of Jesus Christ or do we slowly put things back into perspective?
Not sure what to do. Do I retreat and seem to be a Grinch by scaling back?
Almost every parent wants to scale back, but we give in not from the guilt of religion but rather to the cult of marketing that we're inadequate if we don't give our kids 'the best of everything'.
While toys are great for kids, to see the local charities help out with diapers/wipes/groceries and other household needs feels better in tune to what Christians and non-Christians want to do.
Now only if American retailers could get us to buy stuff for August 15, the Assumption of the Virgin another Holy Day in the Catholic Church?
The annual return of the Grinch and the year long clamor to eliminate God from social visibility has, for me, become so boringly pedestrian and inconsequential. Let me explain.
I can find no reliable Scripture that fixes December 25 as the birth date of Jesus of Nazareth who became Jesus the Christ the day of His crucifixion (but that is another debate). Moreover, nothing in Scripture discusses giving gifts to one another in celebration of His birth...other than perhaps the gift of love.
Finally, that a politically connected and exceptionally litigious bunch has managed to take God off of buildings and out of towns, they cannot take Him out of individual hearts and souls. And perhaps therein lies a secret of freedom.
Kubler Ross made an interesting observation before her death when she said (and I'm paraphrasing) that in order to truly be alive, we must first die to the demands imposed on us by others and live only according to our own heart and soul (which is how God operates in our lives). Interestingly, among her points was that if we are busy doing the bidding of others, we cannot possibly be doing the bidding of Him who we claim to follow.
I spoil my grandkids and my kids at Christmas just like most Americans do....and I do it simply because I can......and I don't do it only for Christmas Day.....but more important.....they have the gift of my love, a love that I work to ensure is that of God channeled through me.
So....it isn't important that we know or celebrate the Birth of Jesus....but rather that Jesus the Christ lived and died for our sins....and that celebration should go on 24/7, 365 days a year.
But, Merry CHRIST mas anyway.
Neal
Hello Cliff, I for one am glad to see people saying Merry Christmas again. I have missed it. So merry Christmas AND Happy Holidays to all!!
I just wanted it noted that as far as "graven images" go, I am not an iconoclast. WRT other things, like received wisdom, I do tend to the iconoclast side.
As St Augustine said, "Love God and do as you please." Of course, that is love and not infatuation.
Regards — Cliff
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