Merry Christmas

“Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus right down Santa Claus Lane, Donner and Blitzen and all the reindeer pulling on the reins…”

“Rockin’ around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hop, Mistletoe hung where you can see, every couple tries to stop…”

“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw him you would even say it glows…”

“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth…”

Newspaper headline: “NORAD helps children track Santa via iphone or ipod touch”

“We will deliver on Christmas Day,” states a furniture store ad.

“Happy Holidays.”

So, I’m depicting the spirit of Christmas – right? Wrong! I’m depicting what Christmas has become. We’re into giving and receiving. “ What am I going to get, (fill in the blank) __________ for Christmas?” “What do I want for Christmas? Oh, not much. A new iphone tablet, a GPS. How about a fifty-inch high def tv for the home theatre?”

Where is Christ in all of this? Obviously, He’s not anywhere to be seen. We have allowed His birth and its infinite meaning for each of us to be obliterated beyond recognition. The way of the world? Yes. But more importantly, the way of so many Christians today.

“Merry Xmas,” says it all. We have literally taken Christ out of Christmas. There are no more manger scenes on the commons of small New England towns. Snowmen abide. Many New England churches no longer offer Christmas Eve services citing a lack of attendance – or even a list of dwindling church members.

In a country founded on a belief in God but emphasizing a freedom of religion, so much so that this freedom was depicted in the very first amendment to our constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Our government, “…of the people, by the people, for the people…” has violated its own dictate by embarking upon a crusade to rid itself of participation in religion. It does not remain neutral in things religious. It zealously disallows, “…the free exercise thereof…” based upon the 1963 Supreme Court decision upholding atheist Madeline Murray O’Hare’s argument that prayer in any manner or form should be excluded from America’s schools.

Since that original ruling, the Judeo-Christian concept has been forbidden far beyond prayer. The Ten Commandments, the Bible, not even God’s or Jesus’ name, especially Jesus’ name, can be mentioned in any governmental context.

We can trace the expanding lethargy, even animosity, towards the true meaning of Christmas to that Supreme Court decision. Since then Jesus, his birth, death, and resurrection have lost their meaning to more and more people across the decades. Christmas is now a time for giving and receiving gifts. Why? To so many the real reason for Christmas giving is lost. It is now largely a secular holiday. Santa Claus and reindeer and snowmen have become paramount. The birth of Jesus has become a quaint story.

Merry Christmas!