Keeping CHRIST in CHRIST-mas - what it really means
If there's one thing that makes me ill more than anything else, it's the way the holiday season has become a battleground of petty one-upmanship and vicious verbal attacks and abuse from all sides.
Peace on earth, goodwill to men? Am I the only one who remembers those words?
And in despair, I bowed my head; "There is no peace on Earth," I said, "And hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, goodwill to men."
The saddest part is that many of these battles are poorly fought, the behavior decidedly not a good example of what a child of Christ should be doing, and the lack of awareness appalling and astounding, the lack of knowledge and education about the very faith people profess to follow.
How do you keep Christ in Christmas?
Should you rant and rail against the common abbreviation of "X-Mas"? Well, you could, but it's a rather silly thing to do, considering it was the early Church that started that abbreviation in the first place. And it has nothing to do with irreverence. The first two letters of the word Christ are the Greek letters chi and rho. These letters were used in the early church to create the chi-rho monogram.
It possibly started coming into widespread use by the 13th century among the Church, but it was definitely a very common and frequently used way to write Christmas by the 15th century. By the CHURCH. Why? In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press, and it was tedious to change out every single letter for every page by hand. So abbreviations became common and accepted. In Christian works by the Church in the 15th century, it was very normal to see priests and monks and other assorted clergy write "X-Mas". Because they are the ones who started it in the first place. It's not some modern sinister attempt to "X Christ out of Christmas". If you don't like it, blame the Church.
As far as the date given, Biblical evidence points toward either September, or early spring (the only time shepherds watched over the flocks both day and night was during the spring lambing season.) At any rate, the Bible, which many Christians accept as the divine word of God, remains ambiguous about it. There is a truckload of evidence pointing to the numerous pagan rituals already taking place around the solstice as "the reason for the season", to make it easier to convert the Druids and other pagan groups. In the year 350, Pope Julius 1 declared December 25th to be celebrated for the birth of Christ.
The decorating up with evergreen boughs was a Druid tradition, because their ability to stay green even through the coldest winters seemed magical. The decorating up a tree with metal and lights is a pagan Roman ritual to honor Adonia and Bacchus. The Christmas Tree tradition more akin to what we know now has its roots in 16th century Germany, and were originally called Paradise Trees, because they were for the Feast of Adam and Eve.
The pagan origins of the tree were actually widely known for a very long time, and a point of contention in the church. It was Pastor Henry Schwan in Cleveland, Ohio, in the year 1851, who may be responsible for marrying the pagan symbol of the holiday tree to the more modern Christmas celebration by putting up the first known, decorated tree in an American church. His parishioners rejected this as a pagan symbol, and some even threatened him with harm. But that fizzled out.
Go back 200 years ago, and put up a Christmas tree here in America, and you would have been shunned as a crazy pagan. Think about that.
Instead of getting haughty and upset and self-righteously indignant if you see X-Mas written instead of Christmas, if someone says Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, remember that this time of year is shared by several different faiths. We all have the right and freedom to choose what we do or don't observe and why.
Shouldn't the established birth of Christ be celebrated not in sowing seeds of discord and holier-than-thou petty arguments, but instead in sowing seeds of goodwill and peace and love, much in the way Christ himself did? Remember those He invited to be His friends. And remember those who He spoke against the most, the Pharisees, the letter-of-the-law "religious right" conservatives of His day. "You brood of snakes!" is what He called them. "Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (NIV, Matt3)
If you truly wish to honor Him and keep Christ in Christmas, watch what kind of fruit you bear in His name. Are you truly serving Him when you snipe at people for observing anything different than you, argue against them out of ignorance of your own faith's history, and retort at them with a vicious "Merry Christmas" in disgust if you hear a holiday greeting other than your preferred one of choice?
Or are you serving yourself?
Stop attacking people in His name. I can't imagine how much it must hurt Him. Remember, He also died for that person at the supermarket checkout line you lashed out at when you overheard her wishing a Jewish friend to have a Happy Hanukkah. And that person was also a follower of Christ. She was just serving her Lord by trying harder in that celebrated season of His birth to spread that famous goodwill and peace to all mankind by being a little more understanding, a little more tolerant, a little more loving, and a little more inclusive.
It took her several years to stop being afraid to say ANYTHING in any form of holiday greeting to anyone at any time, because of people like you.
I won't be that girl anymore. And I won't be subjected to your petty arguments and ignorance of your own spiritual heritage.
If you want to keep Christ in Christmas, fine. But do it in a way that serves and honors Him, not your own petty desires and arguments. Do it in a way that truly reflects the heart of that Man.
Then peeled the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail With peace on earth, goodwill to men." - I Heard the Bells, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow