Merry X-mas!

My friend Stephen Cavness has written a great post about the big fuss we Christians tend to make over the use of alternative references to Christmas (“Happy Holidays!”, “X-mas”, etc.).  Now, I’m certainly a fan of “keeping ‘Christ’ in Christmas” and for making the holiday season point to Jesus, but I think Christians ought to pose three questions to themselves:

The "Chi-Rho" symbol, adopted by early Christians as a way of referring to Christ. The first letter of the Greek spelling of Christ looks like an English "x".

1. Does the tone & spirit of our debate on this issue actually help draw unbelievers to the Christ of Christmas?  Or are we merely giving the unbelieving world another reason to conclude that the church exists merely to wag its finger at their behavior?

2. Am I more concerned with removing the speck (“Happy Holidays”) in my brother’s eye when there is a reindeer-sized (materialistic approach to Christmas, impatient spirit in busy stores, etc.) log in my own eye?  Most Christians I know–including myself–are guilty of becoming more absorbed in all the “stuff” of the Christmas season than they are with the Christ.

3. What is my greatest concern:  ensuring my actions, words, and attitudes exalt Jesus throughout the entire year, or making sure it’s a Christmas –and not a holiday–parade that proceeds down Main Street this year?

As for the whole “X-mas” stink, Stephen uses the second half of his post to rightly point out this was originally a reference to Christ.  Nowadays, the “X-mas” reference is either used as shorthand, or as a way to avoid referring to Christ.  Maybe instead of launching a “Ban X-mas” campaign, Christians should see the “X-mas” reference as an opportunity to lovingly inform the offender of its origins, giving a witness for Jesus in the process.  Now that would really put Christ back into Christmas!