“Why We Say Merry Christmas” by Rev. Dr. Reginald F. Davis

Why We Say Merry Christmas
by Rev. Dr. Reginald F. Davis, Pastor Historic First Baptist Church Williamsburg

There have been efforts in the past to get rid of the greeting Merry Christmas. The secular progressives have made the argument that we ought to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas because it is culturally insensitive not to do so. Since, we are living in a multi-cultural multi-religious society, happy holiday is the politically correct term to use. To say Merry Christmas is too exclusive of other people’s culture and religion. The secular progressives have been successful in having all nativity scenes removed from public places; they have legislated the Ten Commandments out of the courts in favor of a nonreligious setting. Slowly but surely our Christian symbols and tradition are eroding before our very eyes. We who call ourselves Christians don’t learn to stand for something, we will fall for anything. Being a Christian is more than a title. It is more than hymns, creeds, and a Sunday gathering.

Being a Christian is a lifestyle. It is doing the will of God on earth as it is in heaven. Too often we are silent. Our silence gives consent to what is, and a Christian should never be silent when the very foundation of our faith is being challenged. Not to say Merry Christmas takes away the identity of Christmas. Merry Christmas has been a part of our American tradition for years, and to allow some group, some organization or some political party to tell us that Merry Christmas is politically incorrect should be considered preposterous for Christians. It may not be politically correct, but we say it because we know the Christ of Christmas. What God has done for us has never been politically correct. Every prophet, preacher, and deliverer God has sent to his people has never been politically correct. When God gets ready to act in our world, God doesn’t need to get political approval. God doesn’t need a legislative vote from politicians. God is God. “God moves in a mysterious way: His wonderers to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sand, and He rides upon the storm.” God doesn’t register the temperature of human society. God sets the temperature the way God wants it.

Now, I don’t have anything against people saying Happy Holidays. If saying Happy Holidays is a greeting people prefer to use, I don’t have any problems with it. But, people should not have problems when other people say Merry Christmas. All we are doing is recognizing the Christ of Christmas. When the 4^th of July holiday comes around, we recognize the freedom and independence of this great republic. When Memorial Day Holiday comes around, we pause and remember what our American soldiers have sacrificed. When Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday comes around, we recognize what this great man did for America in general and black people in particular. When the Thanksgiving holiday comes around, we pause and give thanks for all of the blessings of our nation. There is nothing wrong in saying happy holidays during these holiday observations. But, these holidays and others would not be possible had it not been for the most important holiday of them all, which is Christmas. Christmas is above the other holidays because it is the time in which we believe that God visited with us. God entered human history through the Christ child to bring salvation to lost humanity. You see through the first man Adam all must die, but through the second man which is Christ all shall be made alive. This is something to be very merry about. So, when we say Merry Christmas, it is not for all the commercialization surrounding this season, it is not for all the parties, gifts, and multicolored lights and ornaments hanging on evergreen trees. It is not for all the plays that take place doing this season. We say Merry Christmas because:

• For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

• There is no salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be save.

• In Christ we are new creatures. Old things have passed away and all things have become new. We are now sons and daughters of God.

• At the name of Jesus every knee should bow……and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

• God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

• He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last.

• Jesus Christ is coming back again with great power and glory to receive us unto himself, and where he is we shall be also.

• Merry Christmas because Christ is God’s gift to the world.

Rev. Dr. Reginald F. Davis pastors Historic First Baptist Church of Williamsburg on Scotland St. He has authored three books: From Wall Street to Main Street Why America Is Being Destroyed from Within; Douglass A Precursor of Liberation Theology; and The Black Church Relevant or Irrelevant in the 21st Century. Links to where you can purchase his books are Wipf and Stock, Mercer University Press www.MUPress.org and Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc. www.Smyth&helwys.com, and Amazon.com. The author can be contacted at mdavis118@cox.net or Drdavis04@aol.com

   

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