The most profitable time of the year

I was looking through the mail the other day with my wife when we noticed something odd. The shopping season had begun in earnest, and we were looking through about a half-dozen full-color ads, full of artificial trees, colorful lights, tinsel and garland, and all of this year's must-have toys.

But something was missing. One word. "Christmas."

In a land of sacred tolerance and religious freedom, it seems that the Christians are always the exception to the rule, as though there is an asterisk next to the word "tolerance" in some cultural lexicon, footnoted with the explanation "but not for Christians." For example, one school district in New York recently decked the halls with Hanukkah and Kwanzaa decorations. When asked why there were no Christmas decorations, the principal responded, "I don't want to offend anyone." And another school in Plano, Texas ripped down a student's art project because, when asked to put a message on her picture, she had the audacity to write the words "Jesus loves me." If there ever was a time in America for Christians to lovingly and graciously defend our religious freedom, that time has come.

So what does this have to do with our "Holiday" ads? It's very simple, really. We are reaping in our larger culture the seeds we have sown in our educational system. Every time we teach kids to believe that there are no absolutes (except the absolute that there are no absolutes) or that tolerance of someone's belief's implies an ignorance that renders us unable to think critically about those beliefs, we are teaching them that Christianity should be discriminated against. For Christianity teaches that there are moral absolutes that have been given to us by a particular God, and that systems of belief (both sacred and secular) can be examined philosophically, ethically, and experientially. So, couched in words of tolerance and respect, our educational system has methodically taught millions of us that true Christianity doesn't play by the rules.

So what are the "tolerant" elite in a society to do about the inconvenient fact that millions of us hold beliefs that they have been wrongly taught are intolerant or even hateful? Well that's easy. The world may be becoming less tolerant of our beliefs, but they are no less welcoming toward our cash. So those ads that came in our mailbox were full of "Holiday Trees," "Winter Lights," "Seasonal Greeting Cards" and the like. The message is clear: give us your money and we'll help supply your holiday needs; just don't bother us with those troublesome religious trappings.

So, as Margie engaged in more substantive reading, I found myself pouring through every inch of a well-known merchant's "Holiday Catalog." My mission: I was in search of Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't have much luck. After 35 minutes of searching, I had managed to find the C-word exactly twice. Both times, the word "Christmas" was not in the ad copy that the merchant themselves had written, but rather in tiny, nearly-indiscernible print in the product picture. So while the ad copy said "Holiday Treats," there was one package in the picture that actually said "Christmas Candy." Similarly, I spotted the words "Merry Christmas" in the picture of what we were told was a "Seasonal Greeting Card."

For the record, this was not one of the national merchants that have come under fire recently for banishing the Salvation Army or for eliminating the word "Christmas" from its stores. I guess that means that this merchant is "friendly" toward Christmas? To be fair, I did see the word "Navidad" once, actually written into the ad copy for a "Musical Holiday Ornament" that would play the song Feliz Navidad. I guess it's OK to mention Christmas, as long as it's not in English. So if you want to fly under the radar, maybe you should send out some Froeliche Weihnachten cards this year.

Beneath the obvious omission of the word "Christmas" from these ads lurks the deeper truth of what's going on. While Christians across the nation are fretting over the disappearance of the word "Christmas" from public view, we almost take for granted that another word is also MIA. That word? "Jesus," of course. It almost goes without saying that as goes the Christmas Tree, so goes Nativity. If we can't make public reference to the word "Christmas" without apology, then the word "Jesus" certainly presents an even more bothersome taboo.

I don't know about you, but such methodical "secular sanitization" of one of Christianity's main holidays is actually very motivating to me. For example, I have been trying to make sure I tell people at work Happy Thanksgiving, and I will be sure to tell them Merry Christmas too, whenever I have the opportunity. Since I work at a government institution, this is a very easy way to mark myself as dissenting from the secularization of my heritage.

But the secularization of Christmas also reminds me that I live in an increasingly post-Christian culture. In such a culture, I am finding more and more people that really believe that Christianity is intolerant, hateful, and as exclusivist as a religious country club. Against that background, I am finding more and more people who have never before spoken to someone who takes faith in Jesus seriously.

As sad as this is, it is also means that it is easier for the true gospel to catch people off guard, shining in its own glorious and unexpected light. If the secularization of Christmas helps sift the true believers out from among those who are only nominally or culturally Christian, then it just might help us communicate more clearly about Christmas, and Jesus, when we have a chance. And if that happens, maybe it can still be the "most wonderful time of the year."