Are you prepared to hear about the “war on Christmas”? I am sure it will be talked about by some people. What may be talked about can be as varied as the design on the Starbucks coffee cups to the positioning of nativity scenes in public places. What those who make a lot of noise about these things are really doing is revealing something about themselves. They don’t like change. Every change and anything they did not learn in their childhood seems to be a threat to their security or privilege.
That said, there is something to the idea of keeping Christ in Christmas. It is not about Xmas x-ing out Christ because the X is the Greek letter chi, the first letter in Christ. Sometimes both the first and second letters in Christ, the chi (X) and the rho (P), are joined together stylistically into the Chi-Rho, a symbol often used in Christian art. But Christmas is about Christ or else, obviously, it would not be called Christmas.
“Christ” means anointed one. Leaders of church and state were designated by pouring oil on their heads. This was the anointing. It symbolized that they were dedicated to fulfill roles to which they were called by God. Prophets were said to be anointed by the Spirit, which meant that with or without the oil ceremony, they were called by God to fulfill certain roles.
In church-speak we talk about inviting Christ into our hearts and about being the Body of Christ. This is implying that we, not just the baby in a manger in Bethlehem, are all part of the Christ. We are all dedicated to fulfill certain roles. While we attribute these roles to Jesus, we also understand that these roles are fulfilled through us.
You will hear about these roles in Scriptures and songs:
Joy to the world
Peace on earth
Good will among people
Save the world from lovelessness (sin).
If we are going to keep Christ in Christmas we need to be dedicated to fulfilling these roles.
Pastor Phil