Happy Holidays

I’m currently sitting on my couch (in all it’s majestically mid-century green velvety glory) while my beloved bakes Christmas goodies with her mother and sister, my Christmas Eve sermon is ready to go, and all the presents are wrapped. So it should come as no surprise that I am thinking about the Holidays. And I use that word “holidays” for a reason, allow me to explain.

I come from an area where I have plenty of old friends and acquaintances (and even some family members) who insist upon stressing the name of Christ in Christmas as, “CHRISTmas.” This is perfectly fine … but I think the sentiment behind it is a bit ill informed. Allow me to be a bit pompous and offer a brief pontification for your consideration.

• First, stressing Christ in Christmas but leaving out the “mas” (a shortened form of “mass”) misses that Christmas is a celebration and remembrance of the Incarnation. Our Roman and Eastern friends grasp this much better than we Protestants do simply by means of their theology of the Eucharist/Communion/Lord’s Supper, where the elements become the body and blood of our Lord. This is not the post to discuss the differences in Eucharistic theology, but you get the point – they celebrate Mass, hence the “mas” in Christmas.
• Second, stressing the name “Christ” doesn’t add any extra honor to the name of the Lord, and the “X” used isn’t a way of insulting or erasing his name. Why not? Because the “X” is the first letter of the name “Christ” in the Greek (Χρίστος) … the language of the New Testament. The “Keep Christ in Christmas” motto misses this point and it preys upon the ignorance of people who genuinely love the Lord by convincing them to purchase ridiculous products such as bumper stickers and yard signs.

Speaking of Christmas being a remembrance and celebration of the Incarnation, let me turn back to my original point about this being the “holiday season.” The fact that Christmas is a celebration and remembrance of the Incarnation is the exact reason why I have no problem wishing a person “Happy Holidays.” Because, primarily that person may not be a Christian. Therefore, why should I expect them to celebrate something that they do not believe in? Why should I expect a person who is a non-believer to act like a believer? Worship of the Lord and honoring him is right and proper, and one day all people will bow and worship the name of Jesus (see Philippians 2:10-11). However, God also abhors worship of him wrongly. People of died or become gravely ill because of it (see 1 Samuel 13 and 2 Chronicles 26 for just two examples).

This may be an old argument and I might just be beating a dead horse, but two things recently brought this back to my attention: A conversation and a meme. The conversation was between myself and a clerk at a local fast food dive. I try to always be kind to people in restaurants because, well, it’s a good thing to do for one thing and they also are going to handle your food for another. No reason to be rude even if they are. But, at the end of my order I wished her a happy holidays to which she responded “Merry Christmas!” which I also reciprocated with delight. The meme was in the spirit of mocking Christians for celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25th. First, this argument is just feckless and stupid. No one genuinely cares if Jesus was born on December 25th – Christmas is a celebration and remembrance of the event. Second, this argument is feckless and stupid because it is the lowest of hanging fruit for an angry non-believer to pick (in fact, it might even be rotting on the ground).

So, because of these two events, it reminded me of something important … Christmas is not the only holiday celebrated this time of year. And there’s no reason for me to withhold a “Happy Holidays” from people I encounter in my random outings. Just for fun, here is a short list of other holidays that are also celebrated in December:

• Hanakkuah (18th-26th) – the Jewish festival of lights that celebrates the Maccabean victories over occupying forces in Jerusalem. Accounts of these events are found in the Deuterocanonical works called 1-2 Maccabees.
• Kwanza (26th-Jan 1st) – an African American heritage celebration.
• Bodhi Day (8th) – A Buddhist celebration of when the Buddha achieved enlightenment.
• Yule (21st-Jan 1st) – a pagan celebration of shortest day and longest night.
• Zarathosht Diso (26th) – a Zoroastrian holiday.
• New Years Eve (31st) – Celebration of the New Year.
• Multiple Christian Feast Days – St. Nicholas of Myra (6th), St. Stephen the Martyr (26th), many others.

No honest believer would rightly expect themselves to hold to ANY of these other holidays (many of which no honest Christian could celebrate) and no practitioner of these holidays expect Christians to adhere to them either.

My point is this: Happy Holidays isn’t offensive to Christians or the Christian faith and we should stop pretending that it is or that there is an attempt to wipe Christ from Christmas. We in the West live in such a comfortable bubble of multiple hundreds of years of relative peace for Christians that no other believing community could have ever conceived of. We’ve grown lazy and soft in our years of peace. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about living in peace … I’m saying we should stop looking for persecution around every corner when not one of us in the West has ever dealt with actual persecution. So, fellow Christian, your faith is not under attack because someone wishes you a Happy Holiday and you’re not dishonoring the Lord by wishing others a Happy Holiday.

So, fellow Christians, Merry Christmas! For readers of others faiths and beliefs, I’d love to tell you about Jesus sometime … but also, Happy Holidays!

Nick

PS – For my fellow Christians – Did you know that I’ve written a New Testament Reading Guide? Check it out and download it for free!