So I said "Happy Holidays". Anyone else do that only to be called out for their choice? You know, "Merry Christmas" VERSUS "Happy Holidays". Derivative of the bumper sticker theology of "Keep Christ in Christmas". I was called out for it this past week, in a mostly humorous tone. Join this to the mugshot meme of Bing Crosby captioned "Behold the Insidious Founder of the War on Christmas...Sang "Happy Holidays" in 1942", and the breezes arose in the windmills of my mind.
This bugs me because we are in the Season of "Peace on Earth" but it seems more important to be on the side that gets to name it. Naming it implies some kind of ownership? Some kind of power of the disposition of the sentiment? You can have Peace, but only my way...
But here's the thing, I have witnessed the "debate" over this issue running from a slapstick bit of humor between a couple of people, maybe one of their 'in' jokes to something akin to a schismatic issue that threatens to divide the church. Peace on Earth indeed.
It has not been at the top of the "slang" charts for a couple years, but I miss "CHRISTMAHANUKWANZAKAH". It ranks somewhere between a Dad who had too much time on his hands to come up with this joke to an attempt to create an 'inclusive' ad campaign. It is an attempt to play with the underlining 'conflict'.
I will admit, I have notes to take me down the 'rabbit hole' of debating this issue. But those notes undercut the larger issue, "Peace on Earth".
But since rabbit holes are as irresistible to me as 'reverse psychology', here is a condensed version for our post-modern, 'what I define must be the definition' age. As a Innie Christian (inside the church community), "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" are synonymous. "Merry Christmas" covers the whole gambit of Christmas-related days after Thanksgiving to Epiphany. "Happy Holidays" is simply a more inclusive version, covering Christmas and the twelve days to Epiphany (I get MORE upset that commercial radio STOPS playing Christmas music on the First Day of Christmas instead of the 12th) and the four weeks of Advent that lead up to the blessed day when the Peace of the Earth was born unto us in the City of David.
As an Outie Christian (living in connection to the world around me), it is my joy to share, where it is appropriate and respectful, in the multiplicity of special occasions that fall in December. Like, what is Hannukah? It is the miracle of lights, God's miraculous intervention in the temple in the time of the Maccabees. I want to exclude one miracle of God because we somehow 'upscaled' to another?
According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture's website, Kwanzaa is, in part, based upon "seven principles...drawn from communitarian values found throughout the African continent". And considering that there are more than twice as many Christians in Africa as the ENTIRE U.S. population, it is arrogance to believe there are not powerful lessons to be learned in Kwanzaa to building our own communities of faith here in the States.
We also hit the Mid-Winter Solstice (or Yule) which, in summation by the Scotland Kilt Company, is a celebration "to wish for the returning of the light..." Daytime past 2:45 pm, something to celebrate!! Yah, and Jesus is the Light, so even more to celebrate!!
I am sure there are more holidays that we are missing out on from this list. Innie or Outie Christian, I believe Jesus would like us to share the wonder.
Because, Jesus is Peace on Earth. And humans need Peace desperately. The birth of Jesus is the gift of Peace on Earth. And humans have the infinitely diverse, infinitely combining creative spirits of our Creator God to make Peace in new and more powerful ways. Jesus is even called the Prince of Peace...somewhere...
So why have the argument? Seems to me, someone or something out there doesn't want us to zero in on something that binds us together more powerfully in this Season than any other. Peace on earth, the Spirit of Christmas, stopped the First World War for a time in 1914. Can you imagine? The power of Christmas being SO great that the soldiers told their generals, NO!?! The Generals made sure that never happened again.
Short of being God, it has always been easier to destroy than to create. How much easier in this season to destroy the harmony and goodwill over 'naming rights' when there is more capacity for peace and goodwill in this season than at any other time of the year?
Taking a moment at the manger,
Pastor Peter
PS...Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9.
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