The two things are not automatically synonymous, but
I am both a religious and a spiritual person. In addition, I believe that God
sent his son to save the world by conquering sin and death. I do not believe it
happened in December, but there is a lot of tradition that leads to us
celebrating it at this time of year and other reasons why doing so totally
works for me.
I feel like I need to state those things in advance
to provide the proper context for the next thing I am going to say.
I am getting really sick of people talking about
"the reason for the season" and "keeping the Christ in
Christmas". So sick. So tired.
I know this sounds horrible. Just typing it almost
feels like I yelled the F-word in church, but I wold never do that, and I
really mean this. People are overdoing it.
I think it might be an outgrowth of the lack of a
war on Christmas. The truth is, it's a fairly small amount of the population
that can actually feel like Starbucks only changing to a red cup, without it
also having a special design, is legitimate Christian victimization.
No, there are just too many obvious signs of the
resilience of Christmas, but I think people have gotten to where they feel like
they should be beleaguered. I don't know that they actually enjoy it, but it
just doesn't feel right without enemies and an oppressive force anymore. I
mean, if no one's coming after you, what excuse do you have to not examine your
own privilege and aid the downtrodden? Especially at this time of year, when
everyone is so busy! Therefore, the new enemy is the secularization of
Christmas.
Yes, there are beautiful spiritual aspects of
Christmas. Yes, we should remember them. Yes, it is easy to lose sight of them.
I will not deny any of those things.
I will make two counterpoints.
One is that it is more important that the spiritual
aspects of Christmas are part of our daily life than a seasonal remembrance. If
you are carrying your faith and gratitude in your heart throughout the year, it
will be part of your Christmas celebrations as well, but the good that it does
you will extend far beyond that. The other problem with this attitude is that
it throws out many things that are good or at least harmless.
Santa can be fun, but he is being left out of more church
Christmas parties. That's fine; you can find Santa other places. Those tend to
be expensive places with long lines, that some people might not be able to
afford, where his appearance at the party could have been something really
helpful, but, you know, too secular.
All of that fun stuff I think is harmless, and perhaps
also helpful because fun and recreation is important. It can be a problem in
becoming a burden when people put too many expectations and extras into it, but
I believe it is fully possible to do that when trying to be extra spiritual
too. I know people who do.
Even worse than the loss of some good fun is this
need to judge how everyone else is doing it.
You might think that little burst of satisfaction
when someone tells you "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy
Holidays" is not a problem, but let's remember some things. First of all,
the root of that word is "holy days" - this is not a word that is
trying to smother the religious.
"Holidays" is also a word that allows
other people to feel included, which feels like a good thing to do.
(Yes, I did write about that a few years ago: http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2009/12/happy-holidays.html)
Christmas might be just revelry to some people. It might
even encourage materialism. It also often encourages kindness and generosity
and inclusion.
Bringing your sourpuss attitude in and giving the
stink eye to others who aren't celebrating it right is remarkably unlikely to
make them more spiritual. It is instead the kind of thing that might make even
people to whom the reason for the season is very important start to feel a
negative connotation with that phrase, hypothetically speaking.
My fellow Christians, I love you. I wish you a beautiful
Christmas season that is warming and uplifting. There is just one thing,
though, and I can't believe how often this needs to be said:
Quit stinking up the joint. Holier than thou is not
supposed to be a goal. Loving people and helping the poor are. I know I just
said to quit judging other people for doing Christmas wrong, but seriously, you
are doing Christianity wrong.
Stop!
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