Keeping Christ's Mass in Christmas

I've seen a lot of billboards around town that say,"Keep Christ in Christmas." They all seem to be sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, so I assume this is a nationwide campaign.

I think it's fine to want to celebrate a Christmas that is Christ-focused. But what grabs my attention on these billboards is not what they say, but what they don't say.

Christmas is short for Christ's Mass. The Mass is a Roman Catholic liturgical celebration. So is the implication in these bulletin boards that the Catholic mass should also be kept? I'm sure the Knights of Columbus would reply to that with a resounding "Yes!" as they're one of the largest Catholic fraternal service organizations in the world. But what about all the people who echo the "Keep Christ in Christmas" phrase?

Back in 2005, Christmas fell on a Sunday. What a perfect time for Christ and Mass to collide. And yet the New York Times reported that many megachurches (which tend to be Protestant, so we're really talking about "services" rather than "masses") canceled their Sunday morning events. (Here's the NY Times article or if you can't view that, try this repost.)

What's my point? I think it's just that this is a band-wagon and people love to jump on it without thinking through what it means. Shall we celebrate the Christmas holiday (Christ's Mass Holy Day) as Catholics - with a midnight mass which we attend in reverence and probably also a sense of obligation? Or is this rather a phrase to be used as a weapon of the culture wars, more for bludgeoning others than anything else?

I'm not a big fan of religious bandwagoning. I'm all for jumping on the Doctor's bandwagon ("Bow ties are cool.") or a viral bandwagon (Chanukah with the Maccabeats) or perhaps even a technological bandwagon (Kindle vs. iPad). But God is not a bandwagon, and I don't believe the birthday of Jesus is a divinely sanctioned time to bludgeon others with words. If a non-Christian celebrates a time of Santa and evergreens and lights, what is that to me? They're not making a religious claim by that, so why should I respond with a religious polemic? On the other hand, it seems like a far more interesting and meaningful discussion to approach "Christ in Christmas" Christians and discuss the intersection of the birth of Christ with pagan rituals involving trees and garland or corporations' co-opted version of Saint Nicholas. If you're going to push the Christ back into Christ's Mass, then why celebrate with the non-religious trappings of the holiday rather than with... well, a Mass?

Happy Chanukah (with a song from The Maccabeats)

Christmas Quiz

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/quiz?id=PQBQS
This is from the Christian History Magazine folks. I only got 6 out of 10 right. (And most of the ones I got right I had guessed on.)

Whew! Does this mean I should expect a lump of coal in my stocking? (Or is Santa handing out Carbon Offset Credits this year instead of coal?)

How December 25 Became Christmas - Biblical Archaeology Review

http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp
Here's an interesting take on how December 25th was chosen as the date to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Rather than attributing the date selection to a holiday makeover of pagan holidays, the author argues that it might rather be based upon the time of Jesus' conception.

Still sounds kinda odd to me, but it might be worth giving a "hmmm" to.

Thanks to Don for the link.

This pretty much sums up why we don't have a Christmas tree

There's lots of possible excuses I could use on why we don't have a Christmas tree:
* It's a Germanic pagan tradition and I'm not a Germanic pagan.
* They drop needles and make a mess and I don't want to deal with it.
* Trees often represent fertility and the last thing I need in this house after having had twins before my firstborn was even 2 is more fertility.

But none of those are really the real reason why we don't have a tree. The real reason is that I just can't get past this idea that we're celebrating life by killing something and then enshrining its dying carcass, as wonderful as it might smell, in our house. It just feels all wrong to me.

I have nothing against people doing Christmas trees. But I just find that year after year, even when the kids beg, I can't make myself do it. The last time we had a tree was in 2001 when I bought a live one in a pot. It was only a few feet tall, cost an arm and a leg, and then we were stuck with finding a place to plant it afterwards. (It now lives somewhere out on the plains with my brother-in-law's parents and is apparently doing well.)

This year my mom took pity on the kids and gave them a little plastic tree that they've set out front next to the Christmas cactus that I told them they could put the presents under. They seem OK with that. Then I showed them this cartoon. With my girls, cartoons speak louder than words. I'll be curious to see if they beg for a tree next year or not. To be honest, their begging has always seemed a little half-hearted.

(Click on the picture to enlarge it.)