“Don’t tell me Happy Holidays! It’s Merry Christmas!”
December first and courthouse dockets fill with complaints about nativity scenes on the court house lawn.
Christmas shoppers jockey for the best positions on Black Friday then return home to beg folks to “Remember the Reason for the Season.”
It is a struggle for the Christian faithful to keep Christ in Christmas at home and in their community, especially as the holiday wars add an unnecessary edge to the days following Thanksgiving.
It does not have to be that way.
Let’s begin with the basics. Holiday originates from a combination of two words: Holy and Day. When folks say “Happy Holiday,” just smile and reply, “And a Happy Holy Day to you, too.” For Christmas is first and foremost the celebration of the undated birth of the Holy One who came to make things right with God – not to squabble over verbiage.
If some determined non-faithful insists that the scene depicting the nativity of Jesus should not be on the courthouse lawn, laugh like the Grinch and do what citizens in Brookville, Ind., and Wadena, Minn., did when a governmental agencies determined government property would not have such a scene.
In Brookville citizens and business owners put up nativity scenes all over town including street corners, roofs and even the local grocery store. IGA store manager in Brookville Jim Singer says he hasn’t received any complaints.
In Wadena, Mayor George Deiss said, “At first, it was looking like a pretty sad Christmas.” He lost sleep over the council’s November vote to sell the Nativity set. He woke up to a flood of angry calls from people accusing him of “tearing the Nativity down.”
Just like Whos down in Who-ville the good citizens realized no one stopped them from displaying their own beliefs on their own property. Within days, Nativities began to pop up everywhere around Wadena. In shop windows. In front yards. And online, where the Wadena Nativity Display Facebook group boasts page after page of Nativities set up not just in Wadena, but around the nation.
Before complaining about the lack of a nativity scene on the courthouse lawn, look outside and see if you have one and if your church has one.
Many yard displays include Santa, reindeer and snowmen, but no where near as many display an adoring Mary and Joseph, three wise men bringing their gifts or shepherds kneeling in awe. It is simple way to “Keep Christ in Christmas.”
The solution to many other concerns about the loss of the meaning of Christmas begin at home.
Nothing contends for the attention of children at this time of year more than the traditional story of Santa Claus, the modern addition of Rudolf and the recent publication of “The Elf on the Shelf.”
No one forces parents to read the Elf story or religiously move the doll around the house every day. Neither does anyone force parents to read, talk about and explain the Biblical record of Christ’s birth. That is not the school or the Sunday School teacher’s task. Passing along the faith falls squarely on the shoulders of parents and guardians.
To ensure children (and adults) hear “The Reason for the Season” play the traditional carols along with the non-religious music. Read the passages in Matthew and Luke and then ask questions about the star, the shepherds, the birth place, the holy family and the wise men.
If your child knows the elf put up the tree while they slept, but that same child does not know ‘what’ the star on top represents or where Jesus was born, consider how much time you invested in teaching each story. The time spent each day developing scenarios for the elf takes away from developing creative ways to display and tell the real story of Christmas. It is not so much that everyone around us does not keep Christ in Christmas, it is that we make choices in how much time we personally invest in conveying the story of the greatest gift of love. One family read the Luke 2 passage every day of Advent to their children. By the end of the month their son had memorized the 20 verses.
It takes about five minutes to read the verses.
Everything takes time. The real question is how much time does each family choose to spend on keeping Christ in Christmas. Plenty of books, activities and toys exist that focus on the the birth of Christ, the wise men, the angels announcement to shepherds and the holy family. Keeping Christ in Christmas begins in the homes of those who believe in Him. Those who believe should not expect store owners or governments to do it for them.
Joan Hershberger is a staff writer for the El Dorado News Times. She can be reached at joanh@everybody.org.