Merry Happy Christmas Holiday

It's that time of year.  The time when everyone gets a little kinder, when people seem to be a bit friendlier and when all the world falls in love.  It is that wonderful time of year when people begin protesting the phrase "Happy Holidays."

I am not sure when it was exactly that "Happy Holidays" fell on such hard times.  I remember, with some nostalgia, Perry Como crooning "may the merry bells keep ringing, happy holidays to you..." from somewhere back in the '50's.  It seemed to have been okay then.  Why is it suddenly such a bad thing?  Is it because we believed some talking head who told us that it was anti-Christian?  Is it because we truly believe there is a war on Christmas in this country?  Are we somehow trying to "keep Christ in Christmas" by saying only "Merry Christmas" and not "Happy Holidays?"

As a historian, and as a church historian, allow me to correct our perceptions, if I may.  The phrase "Happy Holidays"is actually rooted in Christian tradition, and is, in fact, in its origin, Christian.  That's right.  It began as a Christian tradition and cannot be divorced from Christian faith simply because we do not remember its origins.  In the early church, when Christmas was still celebrated for twelve days (yes, the song is historical in its origins as well - so, too, is Santa Claus, whose beginning is like wise Christian, but that's another blog), the greeting of Merry Christmas was only used up until the actual arrival of Christmas.

For the next twelve days, from Christmas day up to Epiphany, which is still celebrated in many churches, and which marked the end of the holy tide of Christmas, a different wish and greeting was extended.  During that season the greeting and wish was for Happy Holy Days.  Holy Days was eventually contracted into the more modern form, holiday, or holidays.  The wish was extended that one might have a happy season of holy day celebrations, or that they might have blessed holy days.

Writing in his blog, Lew Rockwell says, "Holiday is not only a religious word; it is a Christian word. Its derivation is from the Old English through the Middle English. Holy might somewhat predate Christian England from the Angles and Saxons, but in its persistence down through Middle English holy very much has brought down its Christian associations, both Roman Catholic, then Church of England. The reader doesn't have to believe, just acknowledge."

Eventually the phrasing crossed from Middle English into more modern vernacular and we end up with the modern greeting "Happy Holidays." This greeting, by the way, can be documented in common usage during the holiday season in the U.S. in newspapers and magazines going back about a hundred years.  It is by no means new and by no means secular.  One cannot, in fact, deny its roots in Christianity even if one intends it to be a less religious greeting.  By definition and derivation, holy days, cannot become secular simply by contracting the word.

And finally, I would suggest that if we want to keep Christ in Christmas, it is not the greeting that does it, but rather our participation in church and our own faithfulness to the Lord.  We cannot influence anyone else to be religious, except by our own participation and through our own example.  So whether the store clerk wishes you "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" know that both are a nod to the Christian origins of this most blessed of holy days and take comfort in your own faith practices as the example to others of God's love in Christ that we celebrate at Christmas.

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!

The Fast God Chooses

I am going to tell you something that might startle you.  Do not fast for Lent.  Do not give up anything for Lent.

Shocked?  Don't be.

Over the years I've heard many people talking about what they are giving up for Lent.  Often I hear things like chocolate, soft drinks, alcohol, and assorted other items.  One year about midway through the Lenten season at a Wednesday night dinner at a previous church, the lady in the serving line next to me commented, "The desserts look so good, too bad I can't have one.  I gave up sweets for Lent.,"  As she proudly proclaimed her Lenten fast, I think I may have stunned her a bit when I replied simply, "Why?"  I could see the puzzled look on her face as she searched for an answer, "Well, for Lent,"  she said as though that was answer enough.  "But why?" I responded.  She paused for a moment then changed the subject by asserting that the line had moved.

So have you given up something for Lent?  If so, my question for you is the same as it was for her, why?

Don't get me wrong; I am entirely in favor of fasting.  In fact, as I stand on today's 'Soapbox' I will suggest that this is one of the spiritual disciplines that the modern church most desperately needs to reclaim.  We (the church in general) in this country are, for the most part, extremely well to do.  We have forgotten, in many cases, what the generations of the Depression and WWII knew so well:  how to sacrifice.  Indeed, statistics suggest that as of last year almost 1/3 of Americans qualifies as obese.  So, yes, by all means fast - give up something.  But this is what we need to remember:  if the point of the fast is the fast itself, that is not a fast, it's a diet. 

The point of a fast is to give up something so that we can focus more deeply on God.  The point of a fast and the point of Lent is not to diet - it is to reconnect with God or to connect with God in a deeper way.  This is what my friend who gave up sweets wasn't understanding in our conversation (and yes, I did clarify this a little further down the line).  What I was asking her was how was giving up dessert going to deepen her connection to God.  Yes, we need to fast, and I am all for healthy eating, but the fast we need is a fast that deepens our connections to God.

So here is the question I encourage you to ask as you begin your Lenten journey:  what is it, in my life that is keeping me from God?  That's the fast you should choose.  It may be food.  More likely it is not - more likely giving up chocolate, sweets, or soft drinks is done for you, for your personal betterment.  But if that is what you need to do, then I encourage you to find a way to connect that fast to a deeper walk with God.  However, let me again urge you to ask the question, what is interfering with my relationship with God?  Is it TV, Facebook, internet?  Perhaps you could fast from these and use this time for devotional or prayer. But let's get down to the real nitty gritty.  Is it alcohol?  A secret porn addiction? Do you gossip?  have unbridled anger?  a swearing habit?  There is no rule that says you need to tell other people what your fast is, and if you are struggling with one of these, I encourage you to use Lent in your battle, strive to give it up for Lent, and spend that time in prayer or Bible study.  What interferes with your relationship to God?  It is a difficult question, but if you answer honestly, your Lenten fast can become one that not only builds you but builds your faith walk with the Lord.

But there is an even deeper fast that God calls us to.  Remember that Jesus summarizes all of the laws, commandments, purity codes, and oral traditions into two commands:  love God, love your neighbor as yourself.  Then he equates our relationship with our neighbors to our relationship with God.  The way we love our neighbors (and who is my neighbor? the teacher asked, and Jesus replied with a pretty inclusive answer in the Good Samaritan), the way we love our neighbor IS the way we love God.  So as you consider your Lenten fast, hear the words of the prophet Isaiah (58:6-10), "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice...to let the oppressed go free...?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; ...Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness ..."

I encourage us as we choose what we will give up for Lent - do not just give something up, but engage in a true fast, giving up something to focus us more deeply on God.  I encourage us to fast, but to engage in a fast of the Lord's choosing.  What stands between you and a deeper relationship with God?  Perhaps more time in devotional study and prayer is what you need.  But perhaps the fast that you need is to surrender time, talent, and treasure to serve at the food bank, or the homeless shelter.  Perhaps you need to fast from the abundance of your normal life to serve in a mission or on a mission trip or some other form of outreach.

I encourage us as we begin this Lenten journey toward Holy Week and glorious good news of Easter not engage in meaningless fasts or diets, but to examine ourselves deeply and ask what we need to do to deepen our connection to God.  That is the fast that we should choose, because that is the fast that God chooses.