How to Lose the War on Christmas (and Thereby Save Your Soul)

The “war on Christmas” has been raging on for a while now. Hopefully you haven’t noticed it at all, and have been more concerned with an older Christmas related struggle – how to keep materialism and greed out of your Christmas observance (that’s the topic of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” – it came out in 1965!). Regardless, here’s how it breaks down.


In this corner: certain retailers, public schools, and local governments, who avoid using the term “Christmas” in advertising or public displays during the season, for the sake of cultural inclusiveness in the case of the stores, or an attempt to avoid violating the First Amendment for the others. This has resulted in things like “Holiday Trees,” the exclusion of Christmas carols from public school functions, and the exclusion of nativity scenes from courthouses, government buildings, etc.

In the other corner: Christians who take offense to all of the above.

A Christian radio station that's broadcast here in Waco has been promoting ‘Merry Christmas’ buttons expressly as a way to combat the exclusion of the term Christmas. In the recent past, boycotts have been threatened of retailers whose greeters greeted shoppers with a ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of a ‘Merry Christmas.’ Terms that mean one thing are said to mean another.* Sinister motives have been attributed, and nasty names have been called.

Now, maybe it’s time we took a break to think about Jesus.

In the book of Philippians, Paul includes what may be the oldest Christian hymn, which goes like this:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:5-8)

There are many and varied interpretations of what it means that ‘he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.’ I think at the very least it means that Jesus was devoid of a sense of entitlement. He wasn’t compelled, as many of us are, to insist on his rights and to make sure that he got what was coming to him. Instead, he lived a life of generous, gracious surrender. And that is what he preached to his disciples.

He also said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples – that you shall sue your city government when they try to call a lit up Douglas Fir a ‘Holiday tree,’ and that you defiantly say ‘Merry Christmas!’ to any who would be foolish enough to wish you a ‘Happy Holidays!’ That’s my birthday you’re talking about, and it shall be holy unto thee, and even people who don’t believe in me.”

Wait – that’s not right…

Oh yes, it goes: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.” Wow, I wasn’t even close that first time!!

Now, a series of practical questions: Which is more likely to accomplish the goals for which Christ was born: for the greeter at Best Buy to wish you a ‘Merry Christmas’ or for you to love your neighbor in the name of Christ? For a public tree to be labeled a Christmas tree, or for you to produce the fruit of the Spirit? For Santa Claus and elves and reindeer to be so closely associated with the birth of Jesus that people think of both when they say the word 'Christmas', or for the birth of Jesus to just go ahead and be its own thing with his title? I'm fine with Santa, but let's be honest, he doesn't really have a lot to do with Jesus, does he? What would Saint Nicholas do? Brothers and sisters, we’ve been fighting the war on Christmas backward because we’ve fought out of a sense of entitlement, and we’ve fought over words. Words!! Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and forces of darkness.

So, here’s what you do. When you see a ‘Holiday tree’, thank God for making the tree. It’s still His, no matter what it’s called. When you get a ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of a ‘Merry Christmas’ at the store, you thank God you live in a country where it’s ok to worship wherever you want to, and you pray for the Christians in other countries who don’t have that privilege. When you pass the spot where your courthouse used to have a nativity scene, pray for Bethlehem – for the Jews, Muslims, and Arab Christians who all live there, trying to work and live and raise their kids without getting killed. There are realities out there that we are missing by focusing on trivialities.

In doing all of this, you’ll be getting a little closer to having the attitude of Christ – born in a stable, laid in a manger, lived and taught as a homeless man, died as a traitor – and raised as the Savior of the world. All of these powerful things he did outside the normal means of power and influence. How would he want us to honor his birth?

A final word from Brennan Manning:

“The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother and sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence than the sticker on the bumper of my car.”

* Yeah, I’m talking about ‘X-Mas’. The ‘X’ is the Greek letter ‘Chi’, the first letter of ‘Christ’ in Greek. It’s not ‘X-ing out Christ!’ Look it up!

Various Threads, Tied Together...

This year I got a little behind on my National Geographic reading, so I've been slowly catching up. Last month I read the December 2007 issue, which had a story about Bethlehem. Israel has built a massive wall around three sides of it, strictly guarded to protect Jerusalem from terrorist attack. The Christians inside Bethlehem have been systematically moving away, as they no longer feel safe. And just outside the city where Jesus was born, refugees find that there is no room for them - but these refugees are Muslim. Hatred breeds in the Holy Land on top of the cave where Love was born incarnate.

A few months later, someone responded to this article in the letter section of the magazine with: "Perhaps it is not money, but religion that is the root of all evil. Thank God I am an atheist!"

The snarky part of me wants to point out to this person that atheistic societies and governments tend to be at least as oppressive, corrupt, and violent as religiously led nations, and the same is likely true for individuals.

Then, I thought, perhaps this person is on to something - with a caveat. The letter-writer makes a common misquote of 1 Timothy 6:10, which says "the love of money is the root of all evil." Money itself is spiritually neutral - how you feel about it is not.

So with the correct phrasing in hand, is the love of religion the root of all evil? What's the difference between the love of religion and the love of God? That's the question that the Old Testament prophets sought to answer. It's a question the apostle Paul apparently spent some time sorting out. And it's the question at the heart of death of Christ.

One of the most revealing passages about the enemies of Jesus is John 11:4-50: "Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, 'What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let him go one like this, all men will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place (i.e. the temple) and our nation.' But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."

Brennan Manning comments on this passage in The Ragamuffin Gospel: "A terrible thing has happened to Caiaphas. Religion has left the realm of respect for person. For Caiaphas sacredness has become institutions, structures, and abstractions. He is dedicated to the people, so individual flesh and blood men are expendable. Caiaphas is dedicated to the nation. But the nation does not bleed like Jesus. Caiaphas is dedicated to the Temple - impersonal brick and mortar. Caiaphas became impersonal himself, no longer a warm human being but a robot, as fixed and rigid as his unchanging world.

The choice usually presented to Christians is not between Jesus and Barabbas. No one wants to appear an obvious murderer. The choice to be careful about is between Jesus and Caiaphas. And Caiaphas can fool us. He is a very 'religious' man.

The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother and sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car."