Letters to the Editor
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What Christmas Means
Garrison has a point about the celebrative, non-biblical, cultural side to Christmas being fun. Cookies, candles and carols...these can be fun. But I appreciate the comments of those who do not believe God sent His only Son into the world as a Jewish baby 2,000 years ago. Their honest irritation with the somewhat vacuous American celebration of Christmas gets through to the heart of the issue: What is Christmas really about?
Christmas means:
- There is a real God who created the universe
- This God is perfect and without sin
- This perfect God can only have full fellowship with those who are also without sin
- God gave humans His law, which makes right & wrong clear
- All humans have broken God's law
- Therefore, no human can have relationship with God
- But, this God loves humankind
- He loves humankind so much that He made a way for people to related to Him despite their sin
- This Way is His Son, Jesus, who took the punishment for our sin (doing bad things; not doing the good things we should)
- Those who don't accept Jesus remain separated from God due to their own rebellion and sin
- This free gift of Jesus is available to everyone who will accept Him
- Those who accept Jesus don't have to be good to be favored by God...but God works on making them better from the inside out
Christmas is not about cookies, candles and carols. Those are not the deep things to talk about at Christmas. Christmas is about a loving God who loved us so much that He created a Way for us to be free from punishment for our rebellion and sin and so come back home to Him. It is about God creating a scandalous way to get around His own rules: He came into the world as a baby and grew into a man who took on Himself all the punishment that we deserve so that we can live with Him forever.
Now, that's something to talk about.
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I don't mind Christmas, I have a life, and I wonder why Garrison is so upset.
OK. I'll out myself. I'm Jewish. I don't mind Christmas. I appreciate the lights and the Christmas carols. And so do most Jews. I sometimes feel a little strange when greeted with Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. I don't celebrate Christmas after all, and I would like to feel included. I know I'm in America, but I was born here and shouldn't have to feel like I'm ordering buckwheat pancakes in Paris. I don't think I'm humorless. Up until now, I've enjoyed Garrison Keillors' humor very much. I work with the Christian culture every minute and every day of my life. I'm not legalistic. I just don't understand what Keillor or the contributors to this website are talking about. The only complaining I hear is that anti-Christians are trying to ruin Christmas. And that's at an operatic pitch. Christmas is alive and well. Trust me on this one. If you don't like people complaining about Christmas ignore it. It's harmless.
And just a little aside to those of you who complain about touchy folks. My dad once observed that most of the people who call other people touchy or oversensitive are touchy and oversensitive themselves.
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Chrismas Is for Everyone: Get into It.
In response to Garrison Keillor's witty recount of Christmas as a Christian tradition ("Work with it!"), I'd like to say: Christmas is not just for Christians - it's for everyone. It is a time of love and light, of beauty and renewal, for all humans. It rises above the religious story of a divine child in a manger and symbolizes humanity's need to hit the "reset" button once a year - to learn how to love one another again. We tend to forget. It sets the tone for the New Year: Forgive yourself and others for this year's broken resolutions and move on. Lighten up. Get into it.
In this way, for the nonreligious, Christmas can be secular, yet important: Don't be offended by nativity scenes if you don't believe in the Christ Child. Instead, join in the festivities, on a different level - your own: Put up a tree and some lights, if you like them, and enjoy the good cheer of the season. Be polite; smile at people on the street; give small, unexpected gifts. Take offense at the religious who look down their noses at you, but invite them in for a eggnog. Spiked - believe me, they probably could use one. We need to work with Christmas, but not in the way Keillor suggests...
R. Bonner
Spring Mount, PA