A
month ago, in a mall in Charlotte, NC., shoppers were taken by surprise to
discover a “Glacier Experience” had replaced the traditional Christmas Tree to
feature Santa Clause for their annual holiday pictures. Almost immediately
shoppers led protests and social media online went viral with outraged parents
bewailing their children’s ruined Christmas. Boycotts ensued....and eventually
Simon Malls replaced the glaciers with Christmas Trees. Just weeks after the
glacier fiasco, Starbucks made news with a plain red “holiday” coffee cup.
Again shoppers went viral online with their anger and accusations that the
company was being politically correct and some even suggested persecuting
Christians. Starbucks, unlike Simon Malls, has not changed their decision, but
it should be noted the Starbucks annual “holiday” cup has never said Merry
Christmas, but rather included snowflakes and candy canes designs.
It
seems a shame to me that Christians have turned Christmas into such a secular
and commercialized holiday, even to suggest somehow shopping mall decorations
and coffee cups could ruin Christmas. And let’s not forget the Santa Clause
image we see in stores IS and HAS BEEN a commercial endeavor for many decades. The
world has long since forgotten the story SAINT Nicholas, the ORTHODOX Christian
Bishop of Myra. If anything has ruined Christmas, it has been using Christmas
to sell toys and gadgets simply to increase profit margins for large
corporations. Twinkly lights and snowflakes hanging from a fur tree don’t “make”
Christmas anymore than Santa and his elves make Christmas.
Christmas
is the queen of Feasts as Saint John Chrysostom says. Without Christmas, there
would be no Pascha, and without Pascha, our life would be in vain. To prepare
to celebrate the coming of the Creator of the Universe into creation requires
more than lists of good little boys and girls, or waiting in line to sit on the
Santa’s lap. It requires prayer, fasting, reading the Scriptures, Holy
Confession, remembering and helping the poor, attending Divine Liturgy often,
and being prepared to receive Holy Communion – the Body of Blood of Christ – at
EVERY Divine Liturgy. If anything can ruin Christmas, it would be forgetting to
prepare our soul to receive God.
Fortunately
for us, we have another chance this year to “get it right” and worry more about
our souls than our Christmas stockings.
- Serve the Poor
- Read and Study the Scriptures
- Fast.
- Schedule Holy Confession
- Attend Divine Liturgy OFTEN
1 comment:
simple and true expression of how far from the true essence of Christmas we are lead to stray
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