As Christians we must understand that we do not own the month of December and there are other religions celebrating holidays around this time. Inclusionary language like "Happy Holidays" is always positive and extremely effective at spreading love. We cannot assume that everyone will be celebrating Christ's birth but we must wish all glad tidings and joy.
The bridge of love is never stronger than this time of year, I say we cross that bridge and walk into other faiths and outlooks with welcoming hearts and open arms. If your coworker is Jewish wish them a Happy Hanukkah and truly pray for their family to enjoy a prosperous season. Accepting the value of another persons religion on their life does not belittle the strength of your Christianity, if anything it strengthens it. By allowing your spirit to communicate freely with another's you touch their life and share the wealth of Christ's touch on their lives. As a Christian you don't have to participate in another person's traditions but you do have to love that person. It is okay to see the beauty in another culture and faith, so when your friend wants to tell you about his Menorah Candles or show you what his childhood Dreidel looked like share in the joy of the moment with them.
This time of year there is also a growing misconception about the use of the word Xmas. Every year I hear about the attack on Christmas and without fail Xmas is always the primary piece of evidence. The only problem with that is that Xmas was never about taking the Christ out of Christmas. One of the many languages key to the Bible and it's translation is Greek. In the Greek language the word Christ is written out as χριστός . We often use as Greek in written and spoken language. One example of this is the Greek word for God, Theos, being used as a part of the word Theology. Even with the information regarding the Greek language you may be wondering how it relates to Xmas. The first thing to notice in the word χριστός is the X at the start of the word, That X is known as a Chi and has been used as a written representation of Christ for centuries. Shortened and abbreviated versions of words have been universally accepted since the dawn of written language and Xmas is no different. The word Christmas is a shortened version of Christ's Mass.
The use of X rose in popularity in large part due to Constantine the Great. One night as a battle approached Constantine prayed and received a vision of victory and in that vision he saw a symbol that would come to be known as a Chi-Rho. The symbol uses the first two letters of the Greek word χριστός. After the victory Constantine made sure to spread the symbol all over his kingdom.
An example of this was written by a poet named Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In a letter to a friend on December 31st 1801 he wrote "On Xmas day I breakfasted with Davy." Xmas also appears in Bernard Ward's History of St. Edmunds College, Old Hall. Explanation of the shortened Xmas is seen in William Perry's Royal Standard English Dictionary, published in Boston all the way back in 1800.
For centuries X has been a widely accepted and used way to represent Christ and today that truth remains applicable. The war on Christmas is a fallacy and we must not waste our time fighting in it. It seeks to create division and discourse and will only serve to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas. This season can be boiled down to one point CELEBRATE THE LIFE AND LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST BY LOVING OTHERS. If you want to keep Christ in Christmas I am with you but let's do so by loving others unconditionally and not by worrying about literary nonsense.
By: Joseph Avery
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