Merry Christmas?

Merry Christmas!
These two words should bring a welcoming feeling when spoken. However, here in the United States this greeting has become divisive and even worse, a political tool.  For those of you who oppose Christmas and its celebration there is nothing in particular that I have to say regarding your stance other than that for some of you your dominant position is one of tolerance for all things and yet I find it amusing that to promote tolerance you become intolerant of Christmas, but that is your issue and I choose to laugh rather than fight against it. I am not in your camp so I have little understanding of the incoherencies of your stance as compared to your foundational beliefs.

I am however, in the camp of those who do celebrate and embrace Christmas and so this post is an open letter and apology to those who have been offended by "our side." While many would argue, and with some accuracy that I am not in a position to write such an apology I am endeavoring to do so anyone. It is true I am not a pastor or in a position of spiritual authority. I am merely a brother in Christ and I have to admit that yesterday while driving around Spokane I felt assaulted by signs and messages by my fellow Christians. I can't tell you how many signs I drove past telling me to "Keep Christ in Christmas" and that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season." While I agree in part with the sentiments and see the danger in the rampant commercialization of Christmas, I could not help but feel that I was being bombarded by a marketing campaign with more behind it than a catchy slogan. Maybe its because I have seen t-shirts lately stating that "Happy Holidays is what Liberals say" and have heard a growing chorus of political leaders bemoaning the "assault on Christmas" this year as political capital.

Really?

Driving around on Christmas Eve and finishing up my errands I was enjoying the festive spirit but the signs felt out of place and attacking rather than encouraging and kind.
So it made me wonder what would it look like to have Christ in Christmas?  I venture to say that my interpretation of what that would look like compared with those behind the campaign would differ greatly. I could be wrong but what I have been hearing from those wanting to keep "Christ in Christmas" is that they have a political agenda that includes prayer in schools, allowing for nativity scenes on public property and open expressions of religious speech during the Christmas season so that acknowledgment of what the holiday is about is overtly understood. While I don't disagree with many of those ideas, they are not what I  think of when I consider keeping Christ in Christmas.

First of all Jesus did not come with a political agenda, in fact he told us to "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God." (Mark 12:17)  I am not saying that we should not be involved in the political process as Christians, quite the contrary, I believe that we are to work within our governmental structures to fight for justice and peace. But I find we often become small minded in our issues and that in turn brings the focus back onto ourselves and our issues rather than bringing glory to God. I find it sad that people may associate the Church and Christmas by the slogans they see on signs such as those above, rather than "Peace on earth", Joy to the World", and "goodwill toward men." I apologize that what we present as followers of Christ is not much different from what you experience in your Christmas season other than our going to a Christmas eve service and reading the story of the birth of Christ at home along with our other Christmas stories.

I am sorry if you feel yelled at by us as we try to shout our way out of the Christmas hoopla to make sure you hear us say hey look at us we are important and should be given equal time. But mostly I apologize for not being the light of the world that pierces the darkness and brings hope and love through our actions in the name of the precious baby that we ask you to not forget.

As Christians we are as complicent as anyone for the excess in commercialism surrounding "our" holiday. We love to buy and get gifts and spend time and feast with our family and friends as much as everyone and as a result we get caught in our own traps. But what if instead of trying to be louder in our voices we took the St. Francis of Assisi approach to Christmas and put away our signs as we attempted to"preach constantly and when necessary, use words?"

What if we as Christians made such an impact in our communities that others couldn't help but see the benefits and our light of love. What if instead of just enjoying the beautiful view of candles lit in our service on Christmas eve we could enjoy the trans formative joy of a community who has had that light reaching the dark places in our lives. What if we took our energy that we spend trying to get the right to have nativity scenes in the Capitol or other issues and spent it on something that represents Jesus such as eradicating poverty, transforming environmental law so that we can call ourselves good stewards of what God has called us to take care of, or fighting for justice for the oppressed including those enslaved in jobs that pay wages which are below the poverty line. What if one Christmas we as a church transformed our communities with acts of service and kindness so overwhelming that it was literally earth shaking? Would we need to remind others to keep Christ in Christmas or would people we never expected to, say "I just saw Jesus at work in my life and my town, now I know what this holiday is all about"?

 What if we really strove to bring peace on earth and goodwill to mankind? All mankind? Christian, Muslim, Jew, Atheist, men, women, young, old, black, white, yellow, red, rich, poor, etc.. What if we demonstrated that this baby we worship in the manger came not to bring a sword but peace? That he is not for gun rights, capitalism, socialism, right to anything, or American values but is about loving people where they are and transforming their lives. Maybe then people could look one another with confidence and say Merry Christmas not with a voice of hope but knowing that God had and does change lives. So here is to next year when maybe that can be a reality and we can all live a Merry Christmas. Until then lets all "preach constantly."