We’re sure looking forward to the long weekend ahead. Maybe we’re the only ones who have put off Christmas shopping, but having all weekend to get ready seems a vast improvement over those years when the holiday falls mid-week.
Say, why not have Christmas on Monday every year? The feds moved Abe’s birthday, and George’s (does that make them twins?), so why not Jesus’ birthday?
As a recent letter writer pointed out, nobody really knows when Jesus’ birthday was. Likely, it was not in the dead of winter, if we accept Luke’s statement that the shepherds were “out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” In any case, it’s true that the winter solstice holiday was not distinctly Christian.
Maybe Christians should relinquish the claim to that holiday and pick something in, say, August, bereft as that month is of holidays, to honor Jesus’ birth. And maybe, leave out the gifting, and make it a day of contemplation, instead. But who are we to buck centuries of tradition?
It sometimes seems the winter holiday tradition has become its own end, regardless of origin. For many people, the holiday is merely commercial, devoid of any particularly spiritual significance, and that’s too bad. Santa makes a shallow, bureaucratic god, fortunately exposed as a hoax every year to new millions of children.
But organized religion itself gets in the way of faith. Does it really matter when Jesus was born? Or even if the conception was immaculate? What matters, for those who believe it, is that Jesus rose from the dead – that’s what makes him unique among all other spiritual leaders. Of course, organized religion can’t get the date of his resurrection right, either, as Easter wanders from March to April and back again, depending, literally, on the phase of the moon.
No, these externalities don’t really matter, just as the location of the creche doesn’t really matter. What matters is the love in our hearts. Christians can enjoy the season as a reminder of their savior Jesus – Merry Christmas! Non-Christians can enjoy the season for reminders of their own, too, and everyone can enjoy, as mankind has for millenia, the anticipation of newly lengthening days. Merry Solstice!
Gone Gray
We say adios to our friend Bradley Gray this week. He’s taking a few weeks of vacation and then beginning new adventures when he returns. We’ve appreciated, as have our readers, his insights for the last two years into smooth wine and fast cars, and we’ll miss the shined dome around our offices. Good fortune to you, Bradley.
