Is there a War on Christmas?

This is really an old topic, isn’t it….or should I say, isn’t it?? Should I give inflection to the question or to the statement? Frankly, I think the real war on Christmas is how we have forgotten Christmas.

But, Mom said it was our obligation to go. I don’t think she used those words. It was likely more like ‘Get your butt in the car and smile, dammit’, but you get my point. We were going whether we wanted to or not.

One of my favorite parts of the service – I had to be there, may as well enjoy what I could of it – was the point where we would all have our little candle and sing Silent Night. In the intervening years I’ve studied scripture and religion and psychology and sociology and I know many of the forces that impact the psyche in such an event, but I will die believing nothing so magical as being part of that majestic song together. Voices rising in approximations of the right keys, resounding off the walls and my heart and my mind as the flickering lights of our candles lent the moment collective peace. I so long to return to that moment of quiet tranquility amidst the press of folks setting down their varied tribulations.

So, when I hear people talk about ” the magic of Christmas ” this is what I think upon. I know I am supposed to contemplate the humble arrival of our promised savior. I feel guilty when I realize that I don’t. Maybe I’m too presuming, maybe I make too light of the impossible to imagine. Maybe I’m a bad Christian. I mean, that is what Christmas is supposed to be all about, isn’t it? The Triumphant Arrival of Christ in Bethlehem!! But, it’s not quite that for me. What I think on is the deafening absence of my worries, my failures, my unmet needs all in that quiet reverberation of out of tune mid-westerners singing Silent Night.

AS YOU walk among the streets and shops and hear Happy Holidays, know that not everyone comes together in the name of Christ. Not everyone knows Him, not everyone wants to know Him. Some come for love, some for loneliness, some for simple expediency and sales in the shops. What some need most is to hear a genuine heart-felt greeting from someone who cares, even if only in passing. I think that is Christmas.

Hugs.