Out Our Way

Mark 1:1

Out our way, Goliath and I made a deal for this week's column. You know how he hates the reindeer ears I made him wear one year for bell ringing with the Salvation Army. Well, he agreed to wear a Santa hat if I wore the antlers and so, if the picture comes out, that is what you will see.

It is our special Christmas gift to you, or as some prefer, our "holiday" gift.   

In many public places, Merry Christmas has been replaced with Happy Holidays because the latter is considered more politically correct.  But for Goliath and me, the question of whether to wish you a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday is not a matter of political correctness, but of theological honesty.

Happy Holidays is a nice neutral term and brings to mind the fun of the season: Santa Claus, bright lights, the tree with festive decorations and presents waiting to be opened. When I was 5 years old, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays meant the same thing. But as I grew up and hopefully gained more insight, I discovered the difference.

As most people know, though most seldom think about it, the word Christmas is based on the word CHRIST - the Messiah, Emmanuel, the Son of God.  Originally, the word holiday came from the words "HOLY DAY" and so was reflecting the same thing at Christmas time.   But today, "holiday" is just a day off, a time to enjoy oneself.  There is nothing particularly religious in it.

And so Happy Holidays is appropriate for those for whom Dec. 25 is only one day of the year and soon over. The tree, lights and gifts will soon be put away and the season will be over. Sadly, for many, the season never really began, for there is no joy or happiness in it. There are people who are sick, who have lost loved ones, people whose marriages have ended, who have lost their jobs, people for whom the dark and gloom of winter fits their life situation. Happy Holidays is an empty phrase.

But "Merry Christmas" is different. Christmas is not about a perfect world - on the contrary - look at the Christmas Story. A teenager finds herself pregnant out of wedlock. Nobody believes her fantastic story of an angel, not her friends, her parents, and least of all her fiance. Yet she accepts the task of bearing the Son of God. Though Joseph discovers through his own angel that she has been faithful to him after all, and the story of the angel is true even if no one else believes it, the hardships are not over.

The Romans want a new tax, and to make it worse, they require every one in Judea to return to their ancesteral town where the records are kept.  Jospeh's hometown is Bethlehem, some 70-plus miles away, and most of it is uphill.  Mary, now in her ninth month, is required by law to go as well. No Amtrak or busses, the roads are not that great and poor people have to walk. Mary, in her condition, has to make a brutal journey because Augustus Caesar wanted a head count for his new tax.

They arrive in Bethlehem and there is no place for them.  A kind innkeeper allows them to stay in the barn. Mary's time has come and there is no nurse, not even her mother, sisters or aunts to help. This terrified young child has her baby in a stable with strangers and animals looking on.

This was no "happy holiday" for Joseph and Mary, but it was a merry Christmas because of what this birth meant, not just for that night, but for eternity. For as the prophet had written hundreds of years before: "Unto us (all of us!) a child is born.  Unto us a son is given ... ."  The whole human history had suddenly been transformed and a new direction in the human story had begun.

     For some, "Happy Holidays and a happy New Year" is the best Goliath and I can offer.  But for those who understand what Christmas really is: "Merry Christmas and a Happy Eternity." 

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John Bruington and Goliath wish all a merry CHRISTmas.