Who would’ve thought that in the year 2000 of our Lord, in the United
States of America, that the celebration of Christmas would slowly be
reduced to a mere winter holiday?
Who would’ve thought that the founding principles on which this great
nation was built, derived as they were from the tenets of Christianity,
would become a creed shunned as offensive and characterized as demeaning?
Where once we were one nation under God, we are rapidly being eroded
into a variety of sub-cultures irreverently cohabiting under the Stars
and Stripes.
The latest in the assault on Christmas comes from Eugene, Ore., where
the city manager has recently banned Christmas trees from any public
site. This follows years of Christian maligning, committed by public officials
and those encouraging them, of re-naming Christmas a winter holiday, Easter
as spring break, Christmas parades as holiday celebrations. They’ve
removed Merry Christmas from the public realm and replaced it with a generic
Season’s Greetings. Now they’re trying to sterilize Christmas trees.
Despite this trend to ostracize Christians and denounce Christianity,
a great number of Americans remain wedded to their religious roots and to
the traditions of their beliefs. They are the ones, from the deeply devout
to those who dream of a firm faith while working fervently toward it — who
know that when December arrives, it’s time to bring out the decorations, put
up the Christmas tree, blow the budget on gifts. The children will leave
cookies out for Santa Claus while their parents wrestle with gift
wrapping and with the dichotomy of a holiday that seems contrarily commercial and
religious.
They teach their children that Christmas is about the birth of
Christ, about the spirit of giving and forgiveness, about God’s love for his
people, even while they peruse the electronic aisle at the local Wal-Mart, the
toy aisle at Target, the clothing racks of department stores.
They carefully place the nativity scene over the fireplace, with the
three wise men, with Joseph and Mary, with the lambs and the angels, and
baby Jesus in a cradle of hay, while the children hang their stockings from
the mantle, embroidered with their names, dreaming of sugar plums and
Pokémon with nary a thought of a lump of coal or a switch.
They trim the Christmas tree aglitter with lights, with garland, red
bows, and candy canes, then top it with a star cut from cardboard and
sprinkled with gold glitter. They place presents under the Christmas
tree, scattered beneath boughs dripping with ornaments, as their tangible
thoughts for one another.
In the howling onslaught of advertisers, of the media, of
misguided public officials, the holiday whispers of peace and
good will, and this is what those who wish to snuff out all that
is good and right in America cannot fathom nor fight.
Yes, Virginia, there is Christmas in America. Even if you can’t find
one banner that says Merry Christmas on a public street light. Even if
you won’t see a nativity scene anywhere except the front lawn of a Church.
Even if no public commons will display a Christmas tree because it might
“offend” someone. Christmas is very much alive in this country.
You can see it in the neighborhoods awash in Christmas lights. You
can find it in the scent of baked goods in kitchens across the nation. You
can witness it in the jolly red suit and rosy cheeks of Santa Claus at the
mall. It can be felt in the generosity of our neighbors, in their gifts of
cookies, the thoughts of their greeting cards, the warmth of their
smiles. It’s in that wave of a driver who lets you merge in traffic, in that
bonus from your boss, in the ringing bell outside the stores. You’ll find it
where that door is held open for you and in the delight in the eyes of
children on the dawn of Christmas day.
Some may be trying to force it from the public domain, but it still
inhabits the homes, the churches and the hearts of Americans everywhere.
This is our holy season, the reminder of our heritage, of our faith
and of our future. This is the time of year, magical for children but
miraculous for adults, that despite the sense of rush, the stress among the cheer,
the fears among the hope, there is a greater purpose, a greater
understanding, a deeper meaning to life, to love, to glory.
It is the celebration of the birth of the one who begged God our
forgiveness, for we know not what we do.
Merry Christmas, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May you prosper even as your soul prospers.
