Merry Christmas?

My earliest recollections of Christmas go back to ‘51 or ‘52 when I was 5 or 6 years old. I definitely remember Christmas cards, downtown stores with elaborate window displays, and front lawn home displays that said “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” as well as “Merry Christmas.” A survey of old movies and antique Christmas cards show that this mix of greetings had already been going on for a long time, and no one was concerned that it was or was not politically correct.

Yes, businesses and our Jewish neighbors (which was a substantial part of the neighborhood where I grew up) tended toward “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays,” but no one accused them of making war on Christmas. Yes, there were calls to “keep Christ in Christmas,” but that tended to be encouragement for Christians' families to focus their celebrations on the birth of Jesus. If someone said to you, “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays” or “Happy Hanukkah” or “Merry Christmas,” you just accepted it as a gesture of good will, not as a call to arms in the culture wars.

I find it ironically amusing that so much of what we nostalgically associate with Christmas comes from the Victorian era by way of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. The turning point in the story comes as Ebenezer Scrooge awakens from his dreams on Christmas morning, flings open his window and shouts “Merry Christmas!” to the people in the street. Yes, he used “Merry Christmas,” but Jesus is not mentioned in the story. Charles Dickens’ interests were strictly secular and humanitarian. He was actually rather hostile to religion, church and Christianity. So Scrooge’s “Merry Christmas” was not at all about keeping Christ in Christmas.

Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas ends with St. Nicholas flying off with the greeting, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!” but the poem makes nary a reference to Jesus. I do not object to Dickens or Moore or even to Santa Claus as a fun imaginary figure (albeit with an historic, Christian foundation). I am only suggesting that Christmas observances without overtly mentioning Jesus have a long and cherished history. So when someone greets me today with “Season’s Greetings,” “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas,” I accept it as their genuine expression of good will and usually return my own “Merry Christmas,” not to make some kind of statement but simply as a greeting in my own most comfortable way.

As a pastor and one who intends to be a faithful disciple of Jesus, I do take seriously the connections between our language and life of faith. When the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:7) say, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (RSV), “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God” (NIV), “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God” (NRSV), I’m rather more concerned that invoking the name of Christ for commercial purposes violates this commandment more than if a secular entity or non-Christian person says “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays.”

Without intending to be judgmental, I suggest for our contemplation whether it might be a misuse of the name of Christ to promote the sales of inflatable or illuminated lawn ornaments such snowmen and toy soldiers, or the sale of violent video games, or luxurious jewelry and cars. I am not at all opposed to seasonal festivities, symbols and gifts. I am only questioning whether insisting that they be associated with the birth of Jesus detracts from rather than enhances our Christmas celebrations.

For several years I have observed the increasingly strident insistence on “Merry Christmas,” that strikes me as conveying a tone rather contrary to the approach Jesus took with people. This year I am noticing more push-back (of which this piece might be an example). My own assessment is that this push and pull contaminates the joy that we hope to feel as Christmas approaches. I suppose I have engaged in this analysis because that is what wells up in my mind when I am repeatedly prodded by something that troubles me. Actually, my hope would be that I could give and receive well intentioned greetings without having to think about whether some socio-political message is hiding there.