"Keep Christ in Christmas" vs. "Keeping Christmas"

Today is the last day of Christmastide, at least in the Catholic liturgical calendar and, if one digs deep enough, probably in several more orthodox protestant denominations. As such, today ends, at least for me, the latest battle in the so-called "War on Christmas", as popular media outlets and traditionalist Christian groups have dubbed the radical secularization of the Christian holiday. As the final carols clear the air at today's daily Mass, it seems fitting to review the 2013 installment of this annual conflict, evaluating objectives and success in light of these goals. 

It appears to be rather universally agreed that a successful and ultimate conclusion to the War on Christmas from the point of view of Christians is a restoration or, at the very least, a recognition by the culture that Christmas is based on the Incarnation of the Word of God. In more simple and more marketable terms, victory consists in keeping "Christ" in "Christmas." 

But for all our casting of this effort for a restoration of Christian culture in terms of a military conflict, this war has developed into a situation very uncommon to wars in history. For although we, the Christian bloc, are clearly fighting a defensive war, we somehow find ourselves fighting, and losing, in the territory of the offending party. Japan has attacked the United States and the United States is fighting on the Japanese mainland in a worse condition than she found herself after Pearl Harbor. If we’re in enemy territory, we should be winning. We're not. This is why.

The day after Halloween, the Black Friday commercials hit the air and the stores vomit red and green and Rudolph. Holiday cards, ugly sweater party invites, and pleas for charitable donations (with a boldfaced note regarding your possible tax deduction) all flood the mailboxes. And we counter by shopping Black Friday on Christian bookstore websites, putting our "Keep Christ in Christmas" bumper stickers on our cars, sending "Madonna and Child" Christmas cards, answering "Happy Holidays" with "Merry Christmas," and throwing CHRISTmas parties. From November 1 to December 25, it is a season of intense secularization trading holiday lingo with Christian rebuttals. This is the Christmas season on which the battle is being fought.

But the liturgical calendar and Christian tradition claim a different field of battle. Christmas begins on December 25. Beginning four Sundays before December 25 is Advent. December 25 through the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God on January 1 and to January 6 comprises the Twelve Days of Christmas. From December 25 through Epiphany and up to the Sunday celebrating the Baptism of Our Lord in the Jordan is Chirstmastide. So far as we regard the church, our boundaries are clearly defined. Unlike the unbounded lines in the War on Terror or even the years-old trenches of the Great War, our front lines are centuries old and marked in time.

In our fight to defend this solemn territory, we must fight to bring this war back to the Holy Ground which Christian tradition has established as our camp, for  "Yahweh your God goes about the inside of your camp to guard you and put your enemies at your mercy" (Deuteronomy 23:15). And indeed, what mercy we will show these secular enemies as we imitate and have born anew in our hearts the Infant Jesus, the beginning of that great Being of Mercy who brings us salvation!

Of course, what I am talking about is a return to the proper observance of the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas, for we have exceeded the temporal boundaries of the seasons and find ourselves fighting and losing on enemy territory, not on holy, but on secular ground. We cannot and will not win if the battlefield is secular holiday season that collapses back into the everyday world on December 26. 

Encouragingly, I see an increased interest and recognition of the fundamental importance of returning to our liturgical homeland. I think it not too fantastical to cite the allegorical use of “territory” and “ground” as the foundation of our Christian mission against our secular culture, both in general and during Christmas, and others agree. Over the course of two seasons since discovering the beauty and power of the proper observance of Advent and Christmas, my family is now concluding the most meaningful holiday season we have yet experienced in our home.

As a small gift to all who read this, in the next post I wish share the slight changes and helpful suggestions that our family followed in keeping Christ in Christmas by keeping Christmas. While other blogs and writers have advocated a return to the complete observance of Advent and Christmas, I hope to provide detailed, practical ways to restore the seasons and to mark out the challenges of such a return and how to overcome these temptations.