Friday, December 22, 2006

Happy Holidaze

By Rev. Alan Jones
Via The San Francisco Chronicle

It's good to know that word has come down that it is OK to greet each other at this time of year with "Merry Christmas!" The current crop of vociferous atheists have OK'd it, and it's good to see that they are in agreement with those on the political right who want Christmas to be honored. From the atheists' point of view, what is the harm because the holiday is meaningless. It is the winter solstice and we can all -- atheist and believer alike -- enjoy a bit of holiday cheer. I put off Christmas as long as I can (because it does not really begin until Dec. 24) but the pull of the season (as in shopping) gets harder and harder to resist -- all that struggling in a shopping mall, looking for presents that people really don't want.

In our effort to honor the separation of church and state, we get worried around religious festivals and do our best to squeeze out all spiritual significance. In spite of the recent rehabilitation of "Merry Christmas," some of us have a sneaking feeling that it would be better to greet each other with the generic "Happy Holidays!" rather than "Merry Christmas." Better Frosty the Snowman than the crèche. Better the Sugar Plum Fairy than the Shepherds and the Magi.

We like the chance for a break from work but are anxious about "beliefs" spoiling the holiday season. We don't want one set of beliefs dominating at the expense of others. In some places, the holiday symbols get all mixed, like the image that once appeared of Santa jolly on the cross in the big shopping district of Tokyo. But maybe we're going about the question of religious symbols and the holiday season the wrong way.

Lurking beneath the surface of our culture, there is a serious error in the way we have come to view the role of beliefs in our lives. I think beliefs and convictions are important, but we tend to put the cart before the horse. Most people still equate faith with believing certain things about God or the sacred. The mistaken idea is that you have to swallow a few correct beliefs before you can embark on the spiritual journey.

It might come as a bit of shock for a priest to admit that I find it increasingly hard always to tell the difference between believers and nonbelievers. The difference that matters to me is between those who are awake and those who are asleep, between those who are open to a change of heart and those who are not. Noted religion writer Karen Armstrong points out, "In all the great traditions, prophets, sages and mystics spent very little time telling their disciples what they ought to believe." They were invited to trust that "despite all the tragic and dispiriting evidence to the contrary, our lives did have some ultimate meaning and value. You could not possibly arrive at faith in this sense before you have lived a religious life. Faith was thus the fruit of spirituality, not something that you had to have at the start of your quest."

It would be great if believers and unbelievers would call a truce and recover this ancient wisdom of inviting people to live a certain way before they were clobbered with doctrines of belief or unbelief. How about leading a compassionate life? How about recognizing the dignity of others? How about showing up at rituals and ceremonies which help us wait before mystery?

So, what about Christmas?

When I am asked questions at this time of year about the divinity of Christ and the status of Mary in the life of faith, I invite people simply to look lovingly at a woman (in the first instance, any woman) with a baby (in the first instance, any baby) in her arms or at her breast, and ask themselves, "In the light of this image, how should I be in the world? How should I behave? How should I treat others and myself?"

As I am touched and moved by the symbols and stories of other traditions, I live in hope that the symbols and stories of my tradition might touch and move others without there being any sense of religious imperialism. A woman holding a baby is hardly threatening, and surely an image that is not owned by any particular religion exclusively. The point is, there's only one family -- a holy family -- and it's us -- all of us together. I mean all of us -- without exception. There's only one ethnic group. All of us -- together, of whatever belief. We're in this together.

Happy holidays!

The Rev. Alan Jones is dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, except for this opening bit of silliness... It's good to know that word has come down that it is OK to greet each other at this time of year with "Merry Christmas!" .... this is an interesting and chewy essay.

The Reverend Jones's brief dipping into right-wing "War on Christmas" nonsense aside, he has generally got it right. I accept "Merry Christmas" and "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" and "God bless you" and "Jesus bless you" and "may Allah's blessings be upon you" all as expressions of good will and fond hopes for me and my family's health and well-being by whoever says them, and I reply in kind. It would be churlish to a degree only Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and their ilk [though the Rev. Jones does not mention them] and the "vociferous atheists" he does mention, seem comfortable with to object to "Happy Holidays" because it isn't "Merry Christmas" or to object to "Merry Christmas" because it isn't "Season's Greetings."

Good posting, Rudi. Thanks for the pointer.

Anonymous said...

Well, Curm, I wasn't impressed with The Rev's essay.

When asked abut the divinity of Christ, his answer is to look at a mother with child, any child....

Seems a tad shallow to me, coming from a man of the cloth and all.

I guess I'm just one of those churlish O'Reilly types who really likes to hear and say "Merry Christmas", and like my religious leaders to be more in tune with scripture.
But, I wish one and all a very UNchurlish Merry Christmas and a very Happy Holiday (if that sits better with you).

Anonymous said...

Sharon:

Nothing whatsoever wrong with your liking to hear folks say "Merry Christmas"... unless you decide to berate someone who greeted you with a "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings," which I doubt you would do. [I've heard people snap at cashiers when the cashiers did nothing more than wish them "Happy holidays!"]

My favorite greeting this season is the one that was up in front of Pizza Runner until very recently: "Have a Joyous Increased Spending Season!" [grin]

Have a merry Christmas, Sharon.

RudiZink said...

A couple of quotes and a link:

“It seems to me to be obvious that everything we value in Christmas — giving gifts, celebrating the holiday with our families, enjoying all of the kitsch that comes along with it — all of that has been entirely appropriated by the secular world,” he said, “in the same way that Thanksgiving and Halloween have been.”...

"Even hardliners like David Silverman, the national spokesman for American Atheists, the group founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, find it difficult. Many of Mr. Silverman’s fellow atheists celebrate the Winter Solstice, which occurs Thursday at 7:22 p.m. Eastern Time, or HumanLight, a humanist event created in 2001 by a group of New Jersey residents and observed this coming Saturday. But not Mr. Silverman, who feels that any such doings around Christmastime are suspect. “There’s such a Christian flavor to it,” he said of the season, “that it’s just not to my taste.”

But he added that, as with his mother’s Passover, some seasonal participation is just too hard to avoid.

Besides, he admitted, “I do like to go to the parties.”

An Atheist Can Believe in Christmas

;-)

Anonymous said...

Rudi, Thanks for the excellent post.

Sharon, It’s always interesting to hear you promote Mr. O’reilly. He can usually be relied upon to make interesting comments.


From the December 19 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: Sixty-two percent of Americans will have a Christmas tree, but most of the trees will be artificial.

E.D. HILL (co-host): That surprises me. Only 62 percent have Christmas --

O'REILLY: Yeah. And here -- and here's a very -- here's something that Rasmussen didn't poll but I know, that most women who like artificial trees --

HILL: Yeah?

O'REILLY: -- have artificial breasts.

HILL: What?

O'REILLY: Did you know that? Yeah. There's a correlation. Yeah, there was a study done --

HILL: You know --

O'REILLY: It was. It was done at UCLA in L.A. All right --

HILL: I don't believe you --

O'REILLY: -- we gotta take a break -- we gotta take a break, and we'll be back with Reverend Barry Lynn to talk about why there's so much angst about Christmas in a moment.

So, Sharon, I believe the obvious question is, “Do you have an artificial tree?”

Mele Kalikimaka

Anonymous said...

I'm amused by the Atheists. Do they have a dilemma?

Are they the only ones working in their respective buildings on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Easter?

Surely they don't take off for those days WITH pay, do they?

I wonder if it's galling to be paid in our currency that states "In God We Trust".

Just a thot.

Anonymous said...

Dear Santa's Helper,

You pegged it...yeah, the tree is artificial....

but, the breasts (such as they are) are 'real'.

Since only the tree is artificial, does that mean I'm not a true blue O'Reillyite or Hannity groupie?

I have the secret decoder ring, so I'm hoping I'm still in the club.

From my bosom to yours, I wish you a heartfelt MERRY CHRISTMAS or whatever HOLIDAY wish suits you best.

Be happy.

Anonymous said...

any body see the artical about the grand jury? is this where we take all of the godfrey complaints.

Anonymous said...

Sharon,

Thank you for keeping me abreast of the status of your tree.

It’s interesting that your tree is real. What do you think Mr. O'reilly was blathering about? Do you think he was knowingly broadcasting false information? Do you think he actually believes that women who have artificial trees have artificial breasts? Perhaps you should write Mr. O’reilly a letter and inform him of the nature of your tree, and his blatant error.

Only you know if you are a true, blue groupie of Mr. O'reilly or Mr. Hannity. Do you believe everything they pontificate about is factual? Do you believe they are both heroic personalities? Could it be possible that your decoder ring is actually artificial, unlike your tree?

Personally, I can't imagine why anyone would want to be a true, blue groupie of such arrogant preachers of hate.

Forget the atheists. There are plenty of Christians that work on Christmas. Numerous Christians make plenty of money off of the commercialization of Christmas. How do you feel about that? What do you think Jesus would say? Would He be happy?

Thank you for your heartfelt wishes. Truly. I wish the same to you and yours.

Be well. Again, Mele Kalikimaka.

Anonymous said...

gasp...try a cold shower, Helper

Anonymous said...

g'day mate,

What are you attempting to say? Step away from the Foster's Lager and type clearly.

Anonymous said...

Sharon,

What say you? Still tilting at atheist windmills and feasting on O'reilly and Hannity B.S. and hatred?

I'm not trolling for trouble. I'm curious why an intelligent person, such as yourself, is wise to the mayor's faults but gives O'reilly and Hannity a free pass.

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