Well, it’s that time of year again. You know what I am talking about. It’s that time when some businesses start talking about the holidays–and, really, some of them do seem to go out of their way to avoid mentioning Christmas–and some Christians respond by becoming unglued.
I think there’s room for growth on both ends of the spectrum.
For those business people who have decided to stop saying “Christmas” because they do not want to offend anyone: If this is truly what’s driving your thinking, lighten up. I mean, it doesn’t offend me when someone mentions Rosh Hashanah. It is hard to believe that somewhere in America there are people saying, “I was going to shop at (insert name of store), but they mentioned Christmas, so forget it. Now I’m just not going to buy that garden hose/new car/three piece suit/whatever.”
On the other hand, we Christians–who are supposed to be promoting peace on Earth and good will to men in the Name of Jesus–shouldn’t be threatening to boycott companies out of existence unless they submit to our demands. And while we’re at it, maybe we can stop sniping at employees who are submitting to their authorities and just trying to not get in trouble with their bosses.
We can still stand up for Christmas. We can wish people a merry one, and not worry as much about what they don’t say back to us.
Here’s another thought: instead complaining about stores where they don’t say “merry Christmas,” why don’t we just thankfully mention those stores where they do say it, and leave it at that. I was at Belk the other day and said “merry Christmas” to a clerk. She said it right back to me. If that is her store’s policy, I think it’s a smart one. It was a happy moment for me.
We Christians have the Good News, so it should be realistic to expect us to focus on the positive most of the time.