A number of years ago, the Knights of Columbus issued beautiful magnets designed to display on your vehicle that featured the slogan, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” 

 

The whole campaign was an effort to remind us all what Christmas is about. And it was a way to make a public statement that it is not okay to turn the observance into a secular and generic time that can be all things to all people.

 

It’s wonderful that over the years, society has gone all in to make the birth of Christ an absolute bonanza for the senses and for the profits of retailers. And the fact that there was an effort to take the Merry Christmas out of our seasonal greetings to each other and simply make it another happy holiday for merchandizing can never erase the fact that Christmas is, was and always will be about Christ and his birth among us. 

 

Christians all know that Christmas is all that the name implies ... Christ Mass. You can decorate your house, your tree, light the lights, fix the feast and give the gifts but if faith is absent, it’s just a gesture. You can take the holy songs from the school program and sing about “Frosty the Snowman,” “Jingle Bells,” and how “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” but it will never hide the reason for our “Silent Night” or “Joy to the World.” Practically every symbol of the season is traced to faith. The “Twelve Days of Christmas” is a catechism lesson. The candles and lights of Christmas are an Advent symbol of waiting and watchfulness, and even the Christmas tree and Santa have religious roots.

 

No matter how politically correct or sensitive you want to be, there is no way you can truly observe or claim Christmas without religion. The same way you can’t take the observance of faith from Hanukkah or Ramadan. 

 

However, having said all that, I propose that we, meaning all people of faith, do indeed take Christ out of Christmas. And we start right now.

 

Before you pick up the phone, write a letter or post a note on social media about some perception of my heresy, read on.

 

My thoughts about plucking Christ from the nativity scene were reinforced in a homily delivered at St. Mary in Pecatonica by our new parochial administrator a few weeks ago. Father Joseph Jaskierny talked about how compartmentalized our lives have become. I thought, wow, that applies to me. I certainly needed a reminder that Christ is beside us always and not just relegated to Sundays.

 

 All our companions whether they be family members, school mates, friends, or the person on the next treadmill, should be able to recognize that we know Christ. Others should know that we believe in Christ, follow Him and desire to act in such a way that will afford us the opportunity to live beside Him in this life and the next.

 

Of course to do this, and prevent compartmentalizing our lives, we most definitely need to take Christ out of the crèche, out of Christmas and walk with Him and celebrate Him all year, in all seasons.

 

The peace, hope and joy we celebrate and hold up before all the world at Christmas time should follow us after the poinsettia’s have dried up, the decorations are packed away and the visits from friends and family are but a memory. Singing about the “hap, happiest season of all,” should stay with us long after the fire is dying, the goodbying is said and the snow melts. 

 

Even as we begin looking toward ashes and alms, we should hold in our hearts that promise and that joy which Christ gives to us in all seasons. His birth, His death and of course His resurrection, are all a gift to us that knows no season. If we really are the Christians we profess to be, we need to take all these things — the cradle and the cross — and make them part of the quilt that covers us in faith.

 

Personally, I know it’s not going to be easy. Taking Christ out of Christmas and letting Him sit next to me as I travel the freeway or trying to remember peace on earth when listening to the news or getting the wrong order in the drive-thru will be a test. But if all of us take this challenge, I am confident Christ will keep all our seasons even more merry and bright.