If the activity on Facebook is any indication, it appears as if a lot of my Christian friends are in an uproar--AGAIN!--this year about the use of the holiday greeting "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." The indignation appears to be focused on the idea that some businesses allegedly have insisted that their employees use a "generic" greeting instead of a "religious" greeting, so as to avoid offending any customers who do not observe or celebrate Christmas. I'd like to weigh in on the discussion here. I am using the "Mutterings" blog instead of my "Shepherd's Scrawl" blog to take my opinion out of the "church leader" context (non ex cathedra) for a minute.
First, let me say that I don't intend to tell you, my reader, what you should think, say, or do. That is not my right nor my intention. On the other hand, I hope that I may stimulate your thought and perhaps even influence how you think, and what you choose to say and/or do.
Is "Merry Christmas" a Christian greeting? It does, in its favor, include the word "Christ." I think we will all agree that just including the word "Christ" does not guarantee that the speaker is using the Name appropriately. Even so, when we say "Merry Christmas," are we ALWAYS speaking with reference to the birth of the Savior? We people of the Church know all too well that Christmas as a holiday is a two-headed chimera. One head is depicted with the classic manger scene, complete with Joseph and Mary, a Babe in a manger, shepherds and Wise Men, a few assorted animals, and a star overhead, while the other version features the fictional Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch and other cartoon personalities. So, when someone DOES wish me a "Merry Christmas," I usually smile and return the greeting, without troubling myself to ask, either aloud or in my mind, "which Christmas are you referring to?" No, I just work it out in my own mind generally according to my own preference. I assume, because it best fits my worldview and pleases my sensitivities, that the person actually meant what I wanted them to mean when they offered the greeting. Now, that's because I am a "glass-half-full" kind of a thinker. Another person, of the "glass-half-empty" variety, will assume that the person meant the opposite, or worse yet, is mocking him or her, and so take offense.
It does seem to me that an awful lot of us Christian-types, with Jesus as our Founder, Leader, Redeemer, and Example, easily ignore some of the things that He said and did, and walk around like Robert Conrad, with a chip (battery) on our shoulder, daring one of those "ACLU-types" to knock it off. We are so quickly and easily offended! (Likewise we Americans, so quick to take offense when someone dares to speak a language other than English on American soil! Hey, I'm a veteran, too. I love my country and what it stands for--all of what it stands for! Just back off the rhetoric a little bit, okay? It's no wonder we have a reputation as being wild-eyed extremist bigots!)
Back to my point. Somebody got the idea that using the word "Christmas" might be harmful to their commercial interest. It might be offensive to non-Christians. So what if it is "Christmas shopping" that their customers are doing? I might be wrong, and pardon me if this offends, but neither Hanukkah or Kwanzaa are known for gift-giving as a part of the observance, right? Certainly the atheist has nothing to celebrate! Do non-Christians shop for Christmas presents? If so, why? So, merchants are counting on Christmas shopping, and therefore, Christians, to rescue their bottom line--thus, "Black" Friday. Is my logic flawed here? (Of course it is. That was a rhetorical question!) So why not be honest about that and greet your customers with an earnest "Thank you for doing some of your Christmas shopping here!" kind of a greeting? Too honest, I guess.
I drag myself back to my point again. If someone wishes me a "Happy Holidays" greeting, I can smile and receive the greeting as a social pleasantry, and return it if I choose, without making it a theological or moral line in the sand, can't I? What if I just perform the same mental conversion and translation operation that I do when someone offers me a "Merry Christmas" without qualifying whether they mean "Merry Christmas-Sacred" or "Merry Christmas-Secular?" Suppose I translate "Happy Holidays" to mean "I-hope-you're-enjoying-this-season-of-wonder-and-by-the-way-did-you-buy-that-PlayStation-3-to-offer-the-newborn-Baby-Jesus-and-are-you-also-giving-Him-a-High-Definition-TV-and-a-portable-generator-to-power-them-both-and-do-you-think-He-would-actually-play-Halo-3-anyway?" and just walk away content?
Nah. That's a "bridge too far."
So, if you decide to greet me verbally over the next 24 days, you can say "Merry Christmas." Or "Happy Holidays." Or "Seasons' Greetings." or even just "Hi." I will do what I always do, and decide for myself what you mean by it.
And for the record: I wish you a heartfelt "peace on earth and good will toward all humankind, because unto all of us has been born, in the city of David (that is, Bethlehem in Judea), a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
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2 comments:
Digging Deeper:
I couldn't find anything on the etymology of combining "Merry" and "Christmas", so let's conclude that the word Merry is simply a blessing, a wishing-well for someone, if you will. However, the expression "Merry Meet" is now incredibly popular among Wiccans and Pagans, used for get-togethers. I'm not making that up. Google it, and you will see the same thing I saw...but a lot of it is to vile to send you to via link.
Christmas? A celebration of Christ's Mass, which is celebrated on December 25, so that rightly is Christmas Day. Some astute scholars like to remind us that Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25, that the event of his birth actually came in early September, but you have to wonder: how much time do they have to champion this sophistry? I for one am bored to death by that particular argument.
Following directly on the heels of this one is the argument against Christmas trees (perhaps only the "green people" have an argument that makes sense here), Christmas lights (again, pagan. Saturnalia. Coax the sun to reappear, etc.). And where is the argument chiding Christians who use those colored glass balls to decorate? They were originally called "witch balls" by the way, with silver under any other color, so that when demons would fly in to look at themselves in the reflection inside, they would be unable to escape. Un-decorating involved a stomping of these balls to dispel the demons from your house.
In conclusion: Does anyone actually think about those ornaments as Witch balls involved in a spiritual purge? My guess is no. Does anyone think of Christmas lights as a taunt directed at the sun? Again, no. Does a Christmas tree remind anyone of a druidic stop through the forest, or for that matter, eternal life depicted in its evergreen boughs? Or the color green as a symbol of grace? I doubt that one also.
So, whether you say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or Hello Dennis: your heart inclined to the risen Christ is probably more important than even remembering that baby in the manger. I'm not saying don't remember that! But, "It is finished", and "Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is in my hand" are far more significant to me.
Digging Deeper:
I couldn't find anything on the etymology of combining "Merry" and "Christmas", so let's conclude that the word Merry is simply a blessing, a wishing-well for someone, if you will. However, the expression "Merry Meet" is now incredibly popular among Wiccans and Pagans, used for get-togethers. I'm not making that up. Google it, and you will see the same thing I saw...but a lot of it is to vile to send you to via link.
Christmas? A celebration of Christ's Mass, which is celebrated on December 25, so that rightly is Christmas Day. Some astute scholars like to remind us that Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25, that the event of his birth actually came in early September, but you have to wonder: how much time do they have to champion this sophistry? I for one am bored to death by that particular argument.
Following directly on the heels of this one is the argument against Christmas trees (perhaps only the "green people" have an argument that makes sense here), Christmas lights (again, pagan. Saturnalia. Coax the sun to reappear, etc.). And where is the argument chiding Christians who use those colored glass balls to decorate? They were originally called "witch balls" by the way, with silver under any other color, so that when demons would fly in to look at themselves in the reflection inside, they would be unable to escape. Un-decorating involved a stomping of these balls to dispel the demons from your house.
In conclusion: Does anyone actually think about those ornaments as Witch balls involved in a spiritual purge? My guess is no. Does anyone think of Christmas lights as a taunt directed at the sun? Again, no. Does a Christmas tree remind anyone of a druidic stop through the forest, or for that matter, eternal life depicted in its evergreen boughs? Or the color green as a symbol of grace? I doubt that one also.
So, whether you say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or Hello Dennis: your heart inclined to the risen Christ is probably more important than even remembering that baby in the manger. I'm not saying don't remember that! But, "It is finished", and "Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is in my hand" are far more significant to me.
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