So its getting close to Christmas and I aways struggle with this time of the year for personal reasons as well as moral issues. The thing is that I have struggled with it for quite some time now and I have only really seen changes in the past 4 years... The changes are as small as not sending Christmas cards because I don't like to use paper which could be used for so much more. Don't get me wrong to receive a Christmas card through the post is great, you then get the feeling that the person sending it actually wanted to write something to you and its personal. Then you get what I get when I read some cards and its written almost robotically which seems nice still that they thought of me but still why didn't they leave it at that?
I find it so much more attractive when you can speak to people.
Don't presume that I always do that though....
I struggle really to remember to phone people on a regular basis so much that I have actually had to write it on a schedule so that I keep to it.
But still thats not really the main point of my my blog this week.
I was looking around town and I was really kinda shocked in what I saw and heard really. I saw signs and heard people shouting around Happy Xmas.... That doesn't sound to bad really but when I looked into it a lot more you see the drastic change in this celebration.
The Cross has over taken the Christ.
There is a lot less Christmas and more and more Xmas everywhere. We seem to be giving the glory to the cross, the death machine that took the life of our savior instead of giving Him the glory. Now I could be very mistaken but I really saw that today and I felt that I needed to bring it into the light a little more than what it is.
How has this shift happened?
There was a Christmas one year that I got a Christmas card through the post and on it it said "Happy Xmas" with a giant snowman on top of it. I took the card and placed it next to the other cards I received that year and saw this pattern of change even in Christmas cards. It no longer is focused on the act that saved the world but looks more at the symbols that we have given it. The Christmas tree, the presents, the snowman (never really got that one because we hardly ever get snow in England) and other representatives of an earthly celebrations.
Like I said I might be way off but I do feel like this is something that we should be looking at even in the dimmest light we can see that there is a flaw here.
Just a thought.
Thanks for reading!!
Hi Jamie, I know you don't get all that many comments, and we haven't chatted for a while, but I occasionally read your blogs, and felt I should chime in ;)
ReplyDeleteFirstly, and I'm sure you already knew this , but Jesus probably wasn't born on 25th December 0 AD. Would it surprise you to know that this date was picked very deliberately by the early church as a way of supressing and supplanting competing religions?
The reason why we have things like trees, mistletoe and gift-giving is because they were elements of earlier pagan solstice celebrations that were integrated into the prevailing version officiated by the church.
For millenia, the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year) has been a time for feasting and reflection. At this time, it was thought, the sun died and was reborn. The length of the day mirrored the growth and decay of life, and also affected the agricultural cycle, which was the foundation of many ancient civilizations. Saturnalia, the feast which took place in Rome, pre-dates christmas by centuries, but there are other older practices from all corners of the globe.
So what you see as a shift is really a continuation of an ever-evolving multi-cultural tradition. I personally enjoy this time of year, because everything seems to slow down, breathe out, after a year of toil in the sun. We get together with friends an d family, share our wealth, and have a merry old time. We get an excuse to light up the streets at the darkest time of the year. And strangers seem a little more open and friendly.
So when someone wishes you "Merry X-Mas", smile, wish them a Merry Christmas, and enjoy humanity in its diversity. By all means celebrate the birth of Jesus, but realise that he isn't THE reason for the season; that the season is the reason for the season, and that we all partakers of this special cosmological event that only happens once a year, however we may choose to express it.
All the best, and a merry Christmas, X-Mas, Diwali, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Seasons greetings ;-)
Mark Smith