What do YOU say?

Our local paper, The Concord Journal, invites the town's clergy to rotate authorship of a weekly column on matters related to faith. This week's Journal carries my article on a much-discussed seasonal topic.

Merry Christmas
-or-
Happy Holidays?

How ‘bout this “Merry Christmas” debate? Lots of heat’s being generated around how we greet one another in December - more heat than what’s coming from the LEDs on that big old blue spruce in the center of town.

“Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”? Depending on the circumstances I say one or the other, as I’m free to do, and I make no apology for either usage.

I’m certainly less antagonized by the person who wishes me “Happy Holidays” than I am by the one who wishes me: “Merry-Christmas-and-you-better-not-get-upset-that-I-said-that-
because-that’s-what-this-season-is-all-about-whether-you-like-it-
or-not!”

Those who do celebrate the birthday of Christ may need to remember that he came as the prince of peace and that his message was about loving your neighbor, not trying to outdo a neighbor’s political correctness with your religious rectitude. In fact, both ideological strains are as annoying as they are polemical.

Particularly annoying are the “Merry Christmas” hardliners who haven’t seen the inside of a church since – well, last Christmas! If a faith-based vocabulary is that important, then consider connecting with it more than once a year. Your life might become even merrier!

Conversely, there’s something peculiar about parishioners who, passing through the church doors for a Christmas Eve service, wish their pastor “Happy Holidays!” If there’s one place when you can safely tell someone “Merry Christmas,” Midnight Mass is it.

I understand that a shared “spirit” of conviviality and generosity flows more freely in society at this time of year. And if people of all faiths or no faith choose to take some seasonal delight therein – marvelous! I’m all for anything that truly contributes to peace on earth and good will among all. Hasn’t something gone tragically awry when we begin to draw lines in the sand over a greeting of good cheer?

When friends or strangers or store clerks greet me with either “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays,” I often hear in their voices and see in their faces something more, something different than what I hear and see the rest of the year. It’s as if we share a secret comfort and joy that need expression: a voicing of something within which might usually be too personal to share with strangers but in these few special weeks trips off our lips freely and gracefully.

We share the secret of something important and dear to us that connects us to our faith and belief. In those two words of greeting (whichever pair we choose and use), we open the door of our hearts to one another as if to say, “I know, too! I know that in spite of everything else there is a truth to be known, a hope to be lived, a promise to be kept, a faith to be explored, a peace to be made and a love to be shared. And you know, too!”

For those of us who celebrate holidays at year’s end, that seasonal greeting may be brimming with fond memories, old disappointments, new hopes, and the spiritual resiliency that comes from knowing that at least once a year, we light candles (not LEDs) against the darkness and we believe afresh that all shall be well, that in the end all manner of things shall be well.

Perhaps your candle is in an Advent wreath or a window of your home. Perhaps your candle is in a menorah for Chanukah . Perhaps your candle is in a kinara for Kwanzaa. Perhaps you have a candle simply because you know the darkness and you welcome the light. For many reasons, with and without prayer, we light candles at this time of year. For you and yours, may this candled season be bright and warm, holy and whole, healthy and strong - and merry and happy!

May the New Year find us sharing all year ‘round the light that glows in the depths of our hearts.

-The Concord Journal, December 20, 2007 Voices of Faith