A New Kind of Christmas
posted November 29th, 2005 by Shannon
We get frustrated by all the greed and commercialism that we see this time of year. At the same time, many of us are also annoyed (and frustrated and some even angry) when retailers, employers, etc. remove the word “Christmas” from their holiday vocabulary. It’s Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. It’s a Holiday Party instead of a Christmas Party. It’s the Season of Sharing instead of Christmas Cheer. And for a lot of Christians, that annoys, frustrates or angers them. But why? Every time someone says the word Christmas, do you REALLY stop and think about Christ? If the lady behind the StuffMart counter says Merry Christmas, will those two words really shift the focus off of my purchases (whether it be bananas or an IPod) and back onto Christ? And what good is my faith if I am relying on the StuffMart employees to remind me what this season is to be about?
We complain that the retailers are taking Christ out of the season. But didn’t we already do that? We as Christians sure spend quite a bit of time during this season doing holiday stuff (list-making, house-decorating, gift-buying, card-mailing, cookie-baking, party-attending). Contrast that to how much time is spent really reflecting on Christ (whatever that really looks like in real life). Sure we might light Advent candles and read Luke 2 a few times, but does that really compare to the hours I spent doing all of the other holiday stuff?
So let’s say we all boycott StuffMart because they are no longer saying Merry Christmas. Let’s say StuffMart loses money and decides to use Christmas in their advertising again next year. Would they not just be using Christ’s name to sell more stuff? Is that REALLY what we want to ask them to do? Put the name of my LORD on your advertising (even though it means nothing to you) so that we Christians will start buying stuff we don’t really need from you again. We complain that there is too much commercialism at Christmas time – but then we complain that retailers have stopped using the word Christmas to describe this crazy, greedy, consumeristic season. Why would we even want Christ’s name associated with this season of greed?
How about if we just let the Happy Holidays folks have their holiday!! Let Happy Holidays describe the craziness that goes on this time of year. Let Happy Holidays describe the people standing in line at 4:oo am to be the first into the store. Let Happy Holidays describe the grown adults fighting in the aisle over the latest trendy toy or trampling over each other just to get inside the store. Let Happy Holidays describe those (of all ages) that tear open every package under the tree in 15 minutes and then ask “Is that all?†Let Happy Holidays describe all of that. And let Merry CHRISTmas describe something else. Something with more giving than receiving. Something with more quiet reflection and less hustle and bustle. Something that makes us obviously different from the rest of the world. Something more Christ-like.
Our problem is that we don’t know what that New Kind of Christmas would look like. I’m not really talking about some small token things I could do, like making a shoebox gift or buying a gift for a family in need (which are good things to do and we have done them). I mean some really significant change so that the way we celebrate Christmas is radically different – and radically peaceful – and radically refreshing – and radically unselfish. Is that possible? We’re trying to brainstorm some ideas and we really may be too late to implement much this year. But if anyone else has any ideas, we’d like to hear them.
Interesting perspective… What you say makes a lot of sense.
It saddens me that more and more people aren’t celebrating the birth of Christ… but instead are “offending” by the name. I don’t want to sit by and watch Christ be taken out of Christmas… but for reasons you say, I don’t think that boycotting a store (for that reason) is the way to fight this. Exactly like you said, let “Merry Christmas” mean something special. Fine, let “Happy Holidays” describe the greed, etc.
I want more people to be excited to celebrate our Savior’s birth. …As Christians, it’s our job year round to share God’s love… and then may those people come to understand the real meaning of Christmas and genuninely, unselfishly celebrate it.
Shannon, Thanks for doing such a great job of describing your thoughts on this. We’ve both been looking for a better way to celebrate Christmas for a while now. I think we’ve made some progress, but I think we can do much more. I don’t think that we’re radically different than the world and their “happy holidays” celebrations. I’d really like to hear what others have done to bring Christ back into their holiday celebrations. I do have a few ideas, but I’ll have to write more on that later.
By the way, I love the Stuff mart analogy (and veggie tales reference). Made me laugh.
Let’s think about what Christmas has become. Then try to decide if this is something that Christ would want his name associated with. Suppose that you work at a store in the mall. All the way up until closing time on December 24, you are bombarded with frantic shoppers. Shoppers who are under a lot of pressure to get their Christmas shopping done. Maybe, you get a day off for Christmas. Then, the next several days are full of refunding – often without receipts. I don’t think that Christ wants this type of activity branded with His name.
I have traveled to other countries – several times to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is a high traffic tourist attraction. However, I have found that the folks in Rio are not the typical, average Brazilians. If I only went to Rio and then came back and gave a report on Brazil and Brazilians then that would not be an accurate report. To further explain this point, let’s assume that a foreigner visits New York City and then goes back to their home country and tells everyone what the US is like, based on their experiences in New York. I don’t think that would be very accurate.
To bring this back to the current topic. Let’s assume that you are a foreigner and go to a store that advertises MERRY CHRISTMAS. The store is crowded with shoppers and bargains. Does that accurately represent what Christmas is all about?
So, that same foreigner goes by a church that has a sign that says MERRY CHRISTMAS. Do you think that the foreigner will be interested in going in?
I think that there needs to be some separation.
Let the phrase HAPPY HOLIDAYS be associated with the commercial aspect of Christmas. Use HOLIDAY SALE instead of CHRISTMAS SALE – Christmas isn’t for sale… Use CHRISTMAS for those events that have a religious meaning.
Of course, right now, there is a big contoversity about some companies that are taking Christmas out of their advertising. Some are really upset and are boycotting or petitioning that the companies keep Christmas in their advertising. In my opinion, the boycotting and petitioning should have occurred years ago when the companies first started using Christmas in their advertising. Believers should have been ‘up-in-arms’ when the Christmas celebration was devalued by the commercialization.
excellent post.
hey, y’all gonna be there tomorrow?
Thanks so much for the comments. I really liked Britt’s bringing into focus the perspective of the people working at these stores. It reminded me of my restaurant days and how the wait staff always fought over who had to work the Sunday lunch shift. No one wanted to take it because all the church-goers were poor tippers and often rude.
I don’t generally listen to Dobson, but when I heard that they would be talking about this same topic I was curious to catch it online. After listening, it struck me that it really isn’t so much about making Jesus a central part of your celebration. The discussion doesn’t focus on how your family can reclaim this season for God. Instead they advocate not shopping at stores unless they greet you with the words “Merry Christmas†or use it in their marketing slogan. They even listed several companies that they said are keeping “Merry Christmasâ€. The first one that he mentioned was Burger King. I later looked at the web site and saw:
Ok, all you companies out there, listen up; all you have to do now to keep off of the FOF hit list is to provide buttons for your employees to wear if they want to.
Am I the only one that thinks that is absurd? Remember, Burger King wasn’t just on the list of good companies, they were the first one mentioned. See the list for yourself. I really don’t want to advocate a misuse of Christmas. I don’t want to threaten to spend all my money somewhere else. I’m not going to write any letters to express disgust if the button on the cashier’s apron says happy holidays this year instead of Merry Christmas.
But, in all fairness, the Aliance Defense Fund has done some good in defending people of faith. There are certainly people out there that have taken things to the extreme in the other direction. At one point in the broadcast they mentioned a school where the children were forbidden to wear red and green to the holiday party. So, the ADF has been standing up and defending against that kind of stupidity, and for that I’m grateful.