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There is much talk these days about the War on Christmas. I was skeptical at first, but after I Googled “The War on Christmas”, my skepticism vanished. There IS a War on Christmas. There must be, because Fox News host John Gibson has written a book about it: The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought. The problem is not so much Christmas, but the way it is being observed or not being observed in our country. Gibson posits that America’s Christmas tradition is under siege.
Given the general lack of historical perspective among most Americans, most of us would be surprised to learn that the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony considered it un-Christian and hoped to keep it out of the New World. They found no mention of “December 25” in the Bible, which for them was their sole source of religious authority. They insisted that the date found its origins in the wintertime celebrations of Roman heathens. On December 25, 1620, their first Christmas in the New World, the Puritans engaged in various construction projects, going out of their way to ignore the holiday. Celebrating Christmas “by forebearing labor, feasting or in any other way” was a crime in Massachusetts from 1654 until 1687.
As Puritanism faded from the American scene, other religious leaders continued to raise concerns. In 1827, one such leader announced that the devil had stolen Christmas, “and converted it into a day of worldly festivity, shooting and swearing.” Throughout the 1800s, many Christians were still trying to resist the spirit of Christmas. Newspapers in New York City reported as late as 1855, that the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists were closed because they did not accept the day as a holy day. The War Between the States broke out in 1861, and Christmas was recognized in 18 states.
Christmas, as we know it today, received a major boost from Clement Clarke Moore’s Visit from St. Nicholas, and Thomas Nast’s Harper Weekly drawings. The new emphasis lessened religious concerns about excessive celebration, but introduced a new concern — commercialism. American retailers have fallen in love with Christmas in a way that America’s religious leaders never have.
Eventually, Norman Rockwell would start painting, and Coca-Cola would introduce what would become the all-time most popular representation of what Santa Clause was supposed to look like; and the American Christmas would be set.
Set, that is, until today — today when we find ourselves in the situation of having a sacred holiday defended by a TV news personality. In reality, America’s Christmas traditions are as many and as varied as the groups that make up the American religious landscape. What seems to be consistent in our history is the effort by persons of faith to maintain the freedom to encounter God in a personal way.
For way too long, Christmas has been lost in the twin forests of commercialism and materialism. Now it would appear that it has become something of a political football. It is possible to lose God in all of that.
What we remember and celebrate at Christmas is that Christ was born. God took on flesh and dwelt among us. God gave us light and love. Immanuel — God with us.
It is interesting to see how our observance of Christmas has changed through the years. Yet what matters most is not so much what others did with it in the past, but what we will do with it now. Will we make Christmas what we think it ought to be or will we let Christmas make us what God wants us to be?
Joy and Peace,
Ed
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