It's hard for me to believe that Christmas is only a little more than five weeks away.
I've never been the kind of person that begins the early Christmas preparations or shops in July or gets excited about Christmas too early.
I've already seen several Facebook memes about "It's Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays" and other similar sentiments. I even saw an SUV with the back window filled with text about "Christ"mas being about the birth of Christ and how Jesus is the "reason for the season" and how we should all say Merry Christmas.
If you've been following Out of My Hat for very long, you already know that I am a Jesus follower. You also know that I celebrate Christmas to remember the birth of Jesus (God incarnate) and the fulfillment of the Promised Messiah (The Christ). You probably also know that I recognize that much of my holiday celebration is completely secular and I am willing to own it.
I doubt that I have many hard line "It's Merry Christmas" folks left as regular readers (I know there are a few of you lurking in the shadows), but I was wondering what good it does to insist on wishing someone a Merry Christmas if they are a nonbeliever and only celebrate the holiday for the gifts, the giving, and the spending of time with family.
If Christmas to them is Santa and reindeer, the giving of gifts, etc., does saying Merry Christmas make either of you more holy? Does that, of itself, make the moment a moment of sharing the Christ story?
I do believe that the season offers followers of Jesus wonderful opportunities to tell the story of God's great love for us. I don't think that saying Happy Holidays* has to be considered a missed opportunity or a blasphemous utterance.
There will be plenty of opportunities to ask people about their ways of celebrating the season and sharing your own. There will be opportunities to invite them to church concerts or programs that do celebrate the birth of our Savior. There will be even more opportunities to be gracious and Christ-like as we go about our holiday shopping and our everyday lives over the next several weeks.
Because I often see irony where others don't, I find it extremely amusing to see someone with a cartload of wreaths, lights, candy canes, and other holiday decorations insist on saying an emphatic "Merry Christmas" to the checkout clerk that just wished them a Happy Holidays.
There is no war on Christmas
...until we decide to fight about it.
Be kind.
Share your story.
Share His story.
John <><
*the plural "holidays" can and usually does include Christmas
Great post!
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