recently quoted Joseph Hoffmann<\/a> as saying that\u00a0\u201cTo be a fundamentalist, you have to have a book. And you have to forget the book has a history.\u201d I think one could also say about this time of year\u00a0\u201cTo be a fundamentalist, you have to have a holiday. And you have to forget the holiday has a history.\u201d<\/p>\nSo to those who are Christians I recommend ceasing the ridiculous habit of complaining about what others do or do not wish you, and appreciating instead that, for all our multi-cultural context today, Christmas still has Christian associations that will provide you with an opportunity to talk about your faith and what this holiday means to you. Very few people will take offense at you if you wish them a Merry Christmas. And if they do, that is their prerogative, just as it is yours to express your own faith as you see fit.<\/p>\n
But the truth is that the Christmas holiday features services that focus on Christian doctrine and stories, but what the holiday means in practice<\/em> for American Christians is otherwise the same thing it means for everyone else \u2013 time off work, time spent with family, and giving of gifts. While many American Christians complain about what the store employees wish them, they are there in the stores alongside everyone else, engaging in a practice that has no real Biblical roots, making purchases in the spirit of our contemporary materialistic age.<\/p>\nIf your Christian faith is about what you wish others and what you demand that they wish you, and not also about what you spend and what you spend your money on, then I would suggest that you have only a veneer of Christianity spread over cultural values that are not specifically Christian, and which you share with most other people in your historical and national context.<\/p>\n
So to those in the English-speaking world who consider themselves Christians, my recommendation is this: stop complaining about the \u201cde-Christianization\u201d of a holiday that we ourselves stole (sorry, borrowed) from others and successfully hijacked for more than a thousand years. And instead delight in the fact that, even in our changed and changing context, \u00a0you can express your Christian faith, and have at least as much of an opportunity to take already-existing holidays and customs and fill them with distinctively Christian values \u2013 for yourself and as an opportunity to share your faith with others \u2013 as Christians in bygone eras did. If you feel you are not up to that challenge, then perhaps instead of complaining about the greetings of others, you would do well to ask whether you faith lacks the depth, vibrancy and creativity that Christianity has demonstrated at other times in history.<\/p>\n
![\"santa-vs-jesus-detail\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/files\/2010\/12\/santa-vs-jesus-detail.png\")
Today in my Sunday school class I decided to turn our attention to seasonal matters. Soon, the topic of being wished \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d as opposed to \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d came up. And so I took that opportunity to talk about what I consider one of the great Christmas miracles: the fact that long ago Christians managed to \u201chijack\u201d the already-existing solstice festival, and turn it into a Christian celebration so thoroughly and so effectively that, more than a millennium and a half later, cultural Christians can complain about the \u201chijacking\u201d or \u201csecularization\u201d of Christmas without any sense of irony.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-7880045708016979972?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"