Over the years there has been a lot
of heated discussion on whether we should greet one another with the phrase Happy
Holidays or Merry Christmas? For me, my stance has been and always
will be to keep Christ in Christmas.
Let’s explore the alternative for
just a moment. Imagine that Jesus never came at all.
Now, that is somewhat mind blowing I
know, because we all have grown up with the story about Jesus and the manger.
But if you take a look at the Christmas story it sounds like something even a
fiction writer would never have dreamed up.
No fiction writer would have written
that Mary, the mother of Jesus was a pregnant virgin teenager. Huh, how does
that work? On top of that, Joseph, her betrothed lived in a society where if
your wife to be gets pregnant out of wedlock the result is she would be stoned
to death. Yet, he married her and kept it quiet, after he got a visit from an
angel.
Here’s another thing we would not
have written. If Jesus were supposed to be a king why wasn’t he born in a
palace or a fancy hotel with wealthy physicians by his side? Instead his
parents are snubbed by the patrons of the city they were in and Jesus was born
in a small, messy stable where they feed animals. The only onlookers to the
whole marvelous sight are cattle, sheep camels and the like.
Then when he did get visitors he got
smelly ones. They were the neighboring shepherds who were instructed to do so
by angels. We often romanticize about these guys, like Linus did in Charlie
Brown Christmas, but in reality they probably hadn’t bathed in days, were
missing teeth and generally weren’t accepted by society. Nice audience.
When Jesus did get an acceptable
audience, the Magi or the wise men as we call them, had to keep their visit to
themselves. Yes, they did bring beautiful, expensive gifts, such as
frankincense, gold and myrrh to the babe they believed to be their king.
However, they were under strict orders from King Herod to report back to him
after they found the babe. So, after they discovered Jesus an angel visited
them and told them not to inform King Herod of Jesus’ whereabouts because he
sought to kill Him.
This story even takes on more
twists, no writer could have imagined. When Jesus was still yet a young child,
Joseph received another dream from God telling him to flee to Egypt with Jesus
and Mary because King Herod was killing all the babies where they were living.
The rest of Jesus’ life for the most part was lived in obscurity till He was
thirty when He began His unprecedented ministry which ended tragically with His
death on the cross, but in so doing gave us life.
Ok, you say that story is ancient.
Well, then here is another take. One of the best examples of how to keep
Christmas comes right out of the classic, “A Christmas Carol” written by
Charles Dickens.
Track with me as Ebenezer Scrooge’s
view on Christmas evolves throughout the story.
Early in the story he tells his
nephew, Fred, that he wants to be left alone to keep Christmas in his own way,
to which his nephew replies, “but you don’t keep it at all.” To which Scrooge
emphatically responds, “Then let me leave it alone then.’’ What I love about
Scrooge’s nephew is he doesn’t allow his Uncle to dampen his take on Christmas
but instead wishes him a Merry Christmas, which elicits a humbug from Scrooge.
Then in the middle of the story, the
Ghost of Christmas Present, portrayed as a king, reveals what is truly wrong
with Scrooge, when he confronts him with these words. “The child born in
Bethlehem, he does not live in men’s hearts only one day of the year, but in
all the days of the year. You have chosen not to seek him in your heart.” Which
leaves Scrooge at a crossroads, whether to change or continue in his errant
ways?
Fast forward to the end, when
Scrooge decides he must live a completely different life by making mankind his
business. The best scene of the whole story is at the very end when he picks up
Tiny Tim and the narrator says this: “and it was always said of him, that he
knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”
So, in conclusion, this is my
personal stance - I will keep Christ in Christmas and do my best to keep it
well all the days of the year.
Swavel
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