Guest column: Let’s keep Christmas!

In 2009, several retail giants told their employees to say “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings,” instead of “Merry Christmas.”

In an effort to be politically correct, they took the word Christmas out of their November and December advertising campaigns.

After much criticism, bad press and several boycotts, most of those retailers went back to saying “Merry Christmas” in 2010.

I wrote a column back when all of this was going on. So I pulled it out of my file cabinet, revised and updated it, and thought I’d share it with you, again.

Imagine if there were no Christmas.

I’m always in search of the perfect word, the one word that captures exactly what I’m trying to say.

The perfect word usually has just one or two syllables. Its meaning is well-known. It’s never trendy, overused or outdated.

It draws no attention to itself, but without it the sentence falls flat. Finding that perfect word feels like catching a huge walleye, when Bob has only caught a couple little bluegills. (That has never happened, but a girl can dream.)

Editor and bestselling author, Chuck Sambuchino, understands the predicament of every writer. He says, “You’re a writer because of … the joy you feel stringing the right words together so they sound like music. You’re a writer because you’re obsessed with making your ideas clearer, tighter, fiercer.”

That’s what finding the perfect word is all about. The more passionate I am about the topic, the more obsessed I am about finding the right words.

We’re being told once again Christmas is a bad word, when really it’s the most perfect word of all.

Hop online and you’ll see that many people think saying “Happy Holidays” is much more respectful than saying “Merry Christmas.” One article stated, “We must break the habit of saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to strangers.”

Melissa Mohr, in an article on NBCnews.com, says until recently saying “Merry Christmas” was the same as saying “See you later!” or “Have a good day!” But now she says it causes division, and it might be best to just start saying “Happy New Year” a little early.

Let’s imagine, for a moment, a world with no Christmas. Imagine December being as uneventful as May. Imagine having no thoughts of buying or receiving just the right gift.

Imagine having no family gatherings or lighted trees; no home-baked cookies or candy canes; no Christmas carols or bedtime stories.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in a country where the birthday of a Savior is ignored; where Santa Claus and an elf on a shelf are exalted, but Jesus Christ is considered taboo.

If not for Christmas, guilt for our sins would torment us for all eternity. There would be no second chances. God’s forgiveness would be unattainable, because a sufficient sacrifice for our sins was not made. There would be no hope of heaven, because no amount of good works can earn us a residence there.

The Bible would end with the book of Malachi, and every prophesy about a coming King would be missing.

Believers in God would be forced to follow Old Testament laws, without ever finding God’s grace in the New Testament. “For the law was given through Moses,” but “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

We could pray for peace on earth, but to no avail, because the Prince of Peace was never born (Isaiah 9:6).

If there were no Christmas, the gospel would not have come to the Gentiles, and there would be no church.

If not for Christmas, the invisible God would remain invisible. But in Christ, we see God.

Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-9).

John said, “No one has ever seen God;” but “the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18).

So, you see, Christmas is the perfect word. And “Merry Christmas” is the best greeting of all!

Kathy Hardee is a former Write Team member, wife, mother, grandmother, children’s church teacher, and Godvworshiper. You can contact her at kathy@kathyhardee.com.