Holidays, birthdays, as well as Christmas, and New Year's Day are all causes for celebration. They are celebrations that focus on life expressed in history and time. When we use words like past and future, and express them in terms of quality, rather than a historic timeline, they help us understand, as well as focus on, the meaning of what we are in fact celebrating.
When I was growing up, during the post-war period in the Netherlands, we celebrated Christmas with friends and family and the focus was on the birth of Jesus. It was the time of year we would go to church, and I would receive a small gift of an orange and some candy. At that time for me an orange was a novelty, and the only orange I would get to eat during the year.
My father was not a religious person, yet he would not allow a christmas flowers netherlands tree in the house. He viewed Christmas trees as pagan symbols that had no place in our celebration.
We grew rabbits during the year, and the fattest rabbit would be killed for Christmas dinner. The major event was a feast with the family, and shortly after we began to look forward to the new year and the future.
Now that I have lived in Canada for nearly 50 years my life has become a mixture of cultures, where Santa clashes with St. Nicholas and Jesus. Sometimes I'm not sure - and even troubled about - how to celebrate Christmas. Moreover, when I speak with other clergy, they often express they do not look forward to Christmas and view the christmas flowers netherlands blogs holidays as one of the most difficult times of the year.
On reflection, I believe this is so because, in the age and culture that is now emerging, we have difficulty learning to live with a secular and a religious Christmas.
In a USA Today article with the headline "Balancing religion and the public square,'' Randy Singer reflected on the commercialization of Christmas and wrote, "We hear the word 'Christmas' more often, but celebrate its meaning less; Christmas becomes associated with a shopping mall more than with faith and a manger."
It seems this year there is a bit of a war on Christmas. According to some, political correctness not withstanding, the greetings we receive in stores and elsewhere, should once again be "merry Christmas," rather than "happy holidays." So much for "peace on Earth and goodwill to all."
As a clergy person, my struggle is with the meaning behind the greeting. It seems to me if, during this season of celebration, we want to tag everything we do with the title Christmas, we are actually inflating the meaning of the word. Just like all inflation, the inadvertent result will be devaluation.
Perhaps peace on Earth has something to do with having equal respect for all. With those thoughts in mind, it is a pleasure to respectfully wish those who like to celebrate this season without religion a happy holiday and those who like to celebrate Christmas in a religious way, merry Christmas. Perhaps more important my wish is that, "Peace be with all."
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