It's that time of year again. . . . No, I'm not talking about the bright lights, lilting carols, or barrage of adverstisements and unhealthy foods besieging us at every turn. 'Tis the season of "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas," that time of year that we celebrate the Winter Solstice and the Birth of Christ by yelling at each other about the true meaning of the holiday.
I find myself empathizing with both sides here, up to a point, with both those who feel like Evangelical Christians are trying to force Jesus down their throats and those who believe that, for them, Christ is at the center of Christmas--what ever other antecedents and associations the holiday might have. If you believe that the central event in the history of humanity is God breaking into our world through becoming human, it's hard to take the often shallow forms of X-Mas that saturate our culture.
But I cannot muster much sympathy for Christians who respond to X-Mas by ranting at clerks who say "Happy Holidays" or bemoaning the fact that some public places don't allow creche scenes. Many Christians seem unable to accept the fact that mainstream American culture does not reflect much of the New Testament. They seem perpetually bemused and outraged that most Americans are worshipping other gods: wealth, fame, pleasure, to name a few. It's perhaps useful to remind ourselves that Jesus didn't come into the world as mainstream sort of guy. He was born to and among humble people. He hung out with the poor and the maligned. He was killed by authorities religious and secular. So why are so many of his followers now trying to enshrine him at our shopping malls and town squares?
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