Has its true meaning been emasculated by the advertising industry? Is the season now hopelessly secular as merchants promote potential gifts and hope that good sales will give the economy a needed end-of-the-year lift?
Such questions seem to stir anger and protest. A conservative church in Raleigh bought a full-page newspaper ad encouraging a boycott of stores that were not sufficiently “Christian” in their approach to Christmas. The ad prompted a spate of letters to the editor, some applauding it as a bold affirmation of faith and others equating it to the vicious propaganda Hitler once employed in behalf of Aryanism.
This episode reminded me that I was marginally involved in such an issue, just over 50 years ago.
We had recently settled in a small city in the Midwest, and I was elected to the local Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors. At one of the group’s first meetings, we were visited by a deadly serious delegation from the local Business and Professional Women’s Club. They wanted the Chamber to endorse and help to fund a large public creche on city property. They said it would help to “put Christ back into Christmas.”
My fellow directors thought it a splendid idea, and so the creche was erected (a rather awful piece of work sawed from plywood and printed in bright colors). But everybody seemed to like it, and the Christmas holidays passed in just about the same way they always had, I surmised. I had to wonder whether the creche was a telling blow against secularism.
Frankly, Christmas is much more fun without a lot of grim debate!
Nostalgically I remember the rural community of my boyhood in Missouri. We had special holiday programs at school, consisting of a variety of verses recited or scenes dramatized or music performed. Most of these offerings were focused on Santa Claus, trees, food, and the sheer pleasure of family gatherings.
Our parents attended the program, and we performed in the presence of a Christmas tree decorated with strings of cranberries and popcorn. (The Rural Electrification Act had not yet been passed, so there was no electricity in our school building.)
Before we left for the Christmas vacation, we were visited by a local Santa impersonator who handed out little brown paper bags containing hard candy, a few cheap chocolate cones with heavy white filling, and a tasty orange.
The local church we attended also had a Christmas program. Surprise! There were only a few religious dimensions to our memorized pieces. For the most part, the little poems, skits, and songs celebrated the same themes: Santa, trees, and big Christmas dinners.
It never would have occurred to anyone there that we were indulging in “secularism.” We were simply enjoying what we had always done in the season. And yes, Santa came to church, too. He handed out the very same treat — a brown bag with candies and an orange. I’m sure the bags had been filled at the village store with both school and church markets in mind.
So lighten up! Just enjoy what Christmas brings. Truth to tell, the “true” Christmas is possibly a matter of cultivating inner peace.
I remember well the day I was standing in line in John Wanamaker’s wonderful store in Philadelphia long ago. I was reveling in the decorations and sheer excitement of all the displays. In fact, I was only vaguely aware of the tensions around me, with people hurrying and shouting. When it was my turn at the counter, the saleswoman startled me by saying, “Sir, you’re different. You seem so calm while the people ahead of you in line were so agitated and hurried. Are you a Christian?”
Well, yes, I really am. But I don’t talk about it a lot, especially when I’m having such a good time waiting for Santa Claus.
Locke Bowman, a proofreader with The Pilot, is a retired Episcopal priest who lives in Penick Village.
