NO MORE CHRISTMAS DAY! PEROID!

Have the proponents of Christmas been engaged in self-destructive behavior? Could it be Christmas has been so commercialized and institutionalized the very essence of the memory of this day no longer evokes the currency of benevolence and caring? The defenders of the observance of this day must do a better job of protecting the meaning of the day.

In the first place, nowhere in scripture calls for such a liturgical commemoration. It is to beg the question to even suggest that not to celebrate Christmas is necessarily driven by secular progressives or atheistic protagonists. Even the paraphernalia associated with the season are far removed from any liturgical significance. Fir trees, sleigh dogs, reindeers, and mistletoe are doubtful elements in any significant ritual whether in Eastern or Western Christianity.

What is lacking most in the arguments about the celebration is the difference the origin of Christmas makes in the very attitudes and lifestyles of its adherents. How does the inclusion of the Christ figure religiously or spiritually enhance the day or the season? Is the bottom line calculated only in terms of dollars and cents? Are big business and corporate America the only players in the huddle? Could an economic disgust for the debate be counted on to really bring America back to a genuine participation in the celebration? I believe not!

Since Christians are the sole inheritors of this day, they must bear some blame for the senseless debate. Let me interject a discordant theme into the debate.

Christmas should be about “hope for the hurting.” Structural and systemic disparities have riddled communities of any collective trust in the capacity of political appointees and elected officials to bring about changes in the quality of life. Christmas is an opportune season to sound the prophetic hermeneutics of hope to those for whom not even a sliver remains.

Christmas should be about “hope for the dying.” Each day, 12,000 of the earth’s citizens are affected by AIDS. The exponential spread of this virus brings millions of individuals to an early grave. The injunction of scripture is to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons.”

Christmas should be about “good news to the poor.” As a community of faith embedded within a community of poverty in urban centers, we need to bring good news. Good news is the announcement that the aged will not be neglected, no child will be left behind, corrupt and inept social systems will be identified, the unemployed will be redemptively transitioned, health care will be a right and not a privilege, and civil and human rights will be honored.

Christmas should be about world peace. However, this peace becomes ever so distant as long as we are negligent towards those in the developing world who are deprived of the bare necessities of life. World hunger, poverty, discrimination, corporate greed, ethnic marginalization, abuse of children and women, unfair trade practices are all part of the currency of violence against those who are vulnerable. When we refuse to permit the love of the Messiah to dominate our worldview, we become participants in the raping of hope for those in poor countries.

Could it be that the debate is misplaced? Christmas is not merely about the observance of a day or season, as well intended as it may be. The tradeoff against those who speculate that the significance of the Christian faith would be diminished by legislation could only be mitigated by those who know quite well that every day of the year could be a Christmas experience. Every day of the year could be an incarnational experience in which hope visits our communities and addresses the rampant hopelessness existent in every corner. Every day of the year could be a Christmas experience and a “room in the inn” could be made accessible to those left out, left behind, or simply left.