Homily

There has long been a campaign and I'm sure you have seen the wording on signs or posters that promotes the Christian celebration of the Nativity of our Lord with the slogans, "Keep Christ in Christmas" or “Jesus is the reason for the season.” I tried to imagine myself standing at Gateway Mall the day after Thanksgiving holding up my little sign at 2 a.m., "Keep Christ in Christmas," holding up that sign before the door where the queue of crazed, credit-card carrying customers crowded quite closely, cold and concerned about carrying away consumer goods from the store called Kohl's. Que lastima! I don't think that I would have much of an impact. In fact, if I got in the way of some people, I might end up being impacted. Sure, there would be some people who would be very supportive of my message. There might be a few people who would be hostile. But I think most people would be indifferent, not caring, even if they did think about the message for a second or two. They would have other things on their minds.

These signs carry a great message, but I worry that some people may worry more about keeping Christ in Christmas out there in the public, in the market place, in the town square, rather than focusing on keeping Christ at the center of their own lives.

The secularization of Christmas was not forced on us by the government. It didn’t happen because big business made it happen, although both government and business have played their parts. Christmas turned into a secular holiday because Christian people, in a Christian nation, no longer cared much for Christ. It wasn’t a deliberate choice. People didn’t say “I don’t want Jesus in my Christmas.” It was done by neglect. People didn’t care much whether Jesus was with them or not because other concerns, other values, took His place and He could not find room to stay in the hearts of so many Americans, recalling Bethlehem once again.

It seems only right to celebrate the birth of Our Lord, but what is it that makes our December 25th observance a Christian celebration? The buying and exchanging of gifts? The family together at a big meal? Decorating our homes with trees and lights? These are all things that some pagans, even atheists, Buddhists, Rastafarians and secular Jews do (but not JW’s!), so obviously these things are not at the heart of a Christian feastday. What about going to church?

Same thing. Churches across the land will find some atheists, pagans and non-believers sitting in their pews for a number of reasons. So not even going to church makes for a Christian Christmas.

That's why I think it's a good thing to seriously think about how we, as believers and disciples of Jesus Christ plan to celebrate the feast of His birth. It doesn't mean that we can't do all of the things I listed earlier, and certainly it does involve coming to one of the Liturgies to specifically worship the Lord Who became man for our sake, but I suggest it's very important that we stop and take care about what we are doing, why we are doing it, and about the person whose feast it is, so that we can spend the whole day in an even better way, every single year, because every single year we have used the occasion of the birth of the Lord to grow closer to Him.

Every priest knows how tender and bruised and even sad people can become at this time of year. Tempers can flare up, anxiety can wear on us, wounds that have never healed can be re-opened, stress can weigh us down, difficult relationships with family members can make us sad or angry or both, even at the same time. But if we do not open our minds and our hearts to Christ on Christmas, how do we expect to celebrate in peace? He can help us keep a guard over our thoughts, to watch our mouths and the words we speak, to turn our eyes to what is good and beautiful instead of looking for the faults and the weaknesses of others. He can support our hands to act in service instead of self-centeredness. He can bring satisfaction even to hearts that feel empty and hurt. The Lord became man to lift us up and guide our lives into His own life of all that is good and all that is loving. But how can He do so if we are, like most of America, unable to place Him first and at the center of our activities on the day of his birth?

Going to church isn’t nearly enough for us, or it shouldn’t be. Yes, we absolutely need to come to Liturgy but when we come let’s come to praise Him as much as we can, to beg Him to help us though we are sinners, to reinstate Him as the Lord of our lives, even if we need do that every day. No turkey has ever sanctified a family, no present has ever bestowed virtue on a relative. But Christ in my life, Christ in my thoughts, Christ in my words, Christ in my actions, Christ as my peace, Christ as my hope, this is our greatest treasure, this is the glory of Christmas. This is what the family and the world so desperately needs. And so do I.

Certainly, I am not criticizing the use of signs that tell us that “Jesus is the reason for the season” and “Keep Christ in Christmas.” It’s just that it seems to me that such signs are like preaching to the choir (or, in our case, preaching to the cantors.) They might have some value for the general public. But what is extraordinarily more important is that we meet with Jesus on Christmas and let Him guide our way and grant us peace, because there is no greater sign to the world of His presence and his truth than the lives of those who are His true disciples.