This time of year, for personal reasons, has been a time of mixed emotions for me.
Christmas was always a special time for my family and it centred on Christian principles that this country was formed around. The day of Dec.25 was not the important factor. No one really knows on what exact date Christ was born. And the exact date was not the central purpose of the celebration of Christmas. The important factor was that the Christian community wanted to celebrate the arrival of a set of teachings about how we should live together and treat one another. These teachings are well documented in what we know as the Christian Bible.
That is the central teaching and worship document of most communities that call themselves by that name and who all claim to believe and respect the teachings of Jesus Christ. This date was chosen since it was a date on which the people who had followed a previous religious culture had observed a celebration. It was chosen to give continuity on the flow of that culture, from what is often referred to as a pagan religion, as it converted to the belief in Christianity. Thus, the date was accepted as the date on which they would celebrate the founder and teacher of their new religion. This was not an uncommon practice as religious belief grew and changed.
Can you imagine what some of those people long ago felt as their celebration was shanghaied by a new faith? Can you imagine they would rebel and there would be an outcry as would be the norm for human nature?
I definitely can feel that anguish today as I see Christmas being stolen or kidnapped by the business community as a time to strip our pockets of as much of our hard earned money as possible. We have, for many years, been made to feel embarrassed if we did not spend enough on gifts to our children. If we did not match up to what the neighbours gave their kids our children are looked down on.
The point of this gift giving was not meant to put us into debt for the sake of enriching the corporate pocket book. It was meant to be a remembrance of the gifts given by the wise men those many years ago. It was not to be the competition that marketers would like us to believe to enrich them, at the expense of the true celebration that was originally intended.
Today this hijacking of the celebration of Christmas has continued to the point where the cult of the politically correct and the politically chicken hearted would no longer have us even used the word Christmas. They would have us say happy holiday and call the date of Dec. 25 "Family Day" and remove the word God from our national anthem (don't believe me? Check it out yourself. It is in danger if we don't do something). And what are we, the Christian community doing about it? Are we showing our distaste by not shopping in stores who don't use the word Christmas? Where is the righteous roar of the crowd of Christian communities? Most are too busy fighting among themselves and telling the other Christian churches they have it wrong, to actually realize who the real enemy is.
A strong military principle to win a battle is to confuse and divide the enemy to weaken their defence. Well, nobody needs to do this to Christians. Many are doing it themselves so any enemy can just walk right in without a fight. I have watched it within my own religious faith where some members spend so much time causing battles over such insignificant things and miniscule differences they have driven many away from the faith, and to what end? To be able to say I am right. To be a winner when there is going to be nothing left to have won anyway.
Thus, because of having watched this for many years, this season of Christmas is one of mixed emotions for me with fears of having such an important time of prayer and celebration diluted to mean nothing more than what Black Friday in the United States has become.
On the other hand, there is still the hope that we can return to a time when the greatest gift we have been given, which is the coming of Jesus Christ, is central to this time of year and that the peace that it was meant to bring becomes more important than the corporate giant's bottom line. Let's maybe put our wallets away and keep our hands free to shake the hand or to embrace those we hold dear. That is the best gift I could receive. Or, if you must spend let's use the money on something important like helping those more in need. It seems to me that was one of Christ's principles.
And, as you may have noticed, I did use the term Christmas as many times as possible, with full intention. Do you think I will get a visit from the politically correct police?
So again, I will use the words as Brenda and I wish everyone a happy and blessed Christmas season.
