The annual lament has begun-our society/people/being politically correct is trying to keep Christ out of Christmas. Maybe it is the focus on decorations or the arrival of Santa BEFORE Thanksgiving. Maybe it the excessive spending on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Maybe it is those 'Happy Holiday' signs instead of 'Merry Christmas.' Maybe it is your frustration that a nativity display is not being allowed again this year outside the courthouse. Whatever it is, some of us are reacting. I have read letters to the editor or posts on face book and overheard comments at the mall all protesting what we see as someone attempting to take Christ out of Christmas.
In response to this lament I would like to offer a modest proposal. If you really feel that strongly about this then do something to keep 'Christmas in Christ.' The next time your feelings get stirred up or you are suddenly bothered about the seeming absence of Christ in Christmas do something. Immediately reach in your wallet and take some dollar bills out and set them aside to drop in the next Salvation Army red kettle you pass. Go to the grocery store and, as you check out, buy one of those brown paper bags filled with groceries for the needy. Visit a nursing home and ask to visit someone who has few, if any, visitors. Donate one of those winter coats you have in your closet. Start singing a Christmas carol as you fight your way through a sea of shoppers. Find one of those Christmas Trees decorated with requests for a present for a child and take one. OR give at least 10 percent of what you spend on Christmas to a church or charity for the hungry and homeless. You get the idea.
I don't think it is about whether or not there can be a nativity display or the singing of carols or what words are on the sign in the store. I do think it is about 'Keeping Christmas in Christ!' AND that means caring for those who need the hope of Christmas the most this year. No one can keep 'Christ out of Christmas' as long as we 'Keep Christmas in Christ.'
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