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Soldier4Christ
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« on: December 19, 2005, 03:47:49 PM » |
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I found this article to be somewhat humorous yet at the same time a very serious subject.
"Merry Christmas" May Not Be Enough
By Mark Gauvreau Judge
December 15, 2005
There’s only one response to the war against saying “Merry Christmas”: We need to add another Christian greeting to the American lexicon. We need to meet secular force not with equal force, but with overwhelming counter-force.
It’s easier than you think. Last spring I was visiting a little religious icon store near Catholic University in Washington, D.C. The store is run by the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is slightly different from my folks, the Catholics. I realized this when I entered the store and a middle-aged man looked up at me and said:
“Christ is risen!”
I stood there, not knowing what to do. If this was a homeless guy, he was a spirited and happy one. I mumbled something about, “Yeah, great ain’t it?” and scuttled away.
Then it happened again. I was leaving the store right as another man was coming in.
“Christ is Risen!”
Before I could speak, the original guy responded.
“Indeed He is Risen!”
Ok, now it was clear that there was some kind of club operating out of the store that I was not a part of. A quick inquiry explained things. It was a few days after Easter. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, during the time from Easter to the Ascension, members great each other with “Christ is Risen!” And then the reply: “Indeed He is Risen!”
I say that in the wake of banned nativity scenes, “Happy Holidays” greetings, and solstice celebrations with “winter trees,” we add to the misery of the ACLU and the secular left. I think it’s high time we took the Orthodox Easter greeting and imported it to America.
Actually, this is a good idea for deeper reasons than you might imagine. To be sure, watching anti-Christmas jackboots implode at the prospect of not only losing the war on Christmas but helping midwife an entirely new Christian catchphrase is worth the price of admission. But it would also go a ways toward correcting the sometimes unseemly emphasis on Christmas in America.
Despite the theologians who remind us that Christ was born in the shadow of the cross—who ever gets to the third verse of “We Three Kings,” which refers to Christ as “child and king and sacrifice”?—the commercialization of the holiday has largely overwhelmed it’s religious intent, a fact recently noted by Pope Benedict. Easter, which is supposedly the time of the greatest miracle and cause for the profoundest joy, suffers by comparison. A recent encyclical from the Eastern Orthodox Church, delivered this past Easter, eloquently says as much:
Christ is risen, shaking the earth,
Removing sadness and bringing joy.
With these words of the Holy Bishop Nicholai, we announce the most joyous of all days—the day when life manifested itself to the world, when death was defeated, when the doors to Hades were destroyed, the all-joyous day the day of Resurrection.
The resurrection is the greatest event in our human history, our Divine-human eternity. It is the day that delivers us out of all the worldly days and nights of this life and brings us into the day without evening, the eternal day of God's Kingdom. “Pascha is the Feast of all feasts and Celebration of all celebrations, which surpasses all other feasts and celebrations just as the sun surpasses the stars,” said St. Gregory the Theologian.
Imagine the sea change that could occur if we adopt the simply orthodox call and response. To be sure, there would be a significant breaking in period. I learned this the other day when I tried out the greeting while Christmas shopping at the mall. I tried it at three stores. At the first, a nice young lady rang up my purchase, some clothes.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Christ is Risen!” I shouted.
“Thank you,” she said, backing away.
“Indeed He is Risen” I said, furnishing my own reply. She seemed relieved when I made for the exit.
The second store, a record shop, was more of the same, except this time is was a male teen-age clerk.
“Christ is Risen!”
“Um...I don’t think we have that.”
“Indeed He is Risen.”
“You may wanna check our Christian rock section...” He reached for the phone. I think he was about to buzz the manager. I beat it for the front door.
The third time was the charm. It was a middle-aged African-American man. He had an accent that I guessed was from Nigeria, and an inquiry proved me right. Christianity is booming in Africa, and it shows.
“Christ is Risen!”
“Amen!” he shot back with a laugh.
I told him the proper response. He nodded but didn’t repeat it. All he said was, “I believe it.” Then, like a member of a dissident underground, he leaned forward and whispered “Merry Christmas.”
I considered that the baptism of a new movement. For a few years we can look forward to baffled looks from friends—even fellow Christians—store clerks, even clergy. But the key is in making oneself as obnoxiously ubiquitous about it as ACLU lawyers are whenever a creche appears in the public square. Say it to your mailman. Greet store clerks with “C is R!” Put it on t-shirts. If we wanted, we could even take things further. How about, “Grand Annunciation!” Or “Brilliant Immaculate Conception!”
If we put our minds to it, we could have some kind of Christian greeting for almost every day of the year. Of course, in these times of aggrieved oversensitivity, some will be offended and things could get ugly, perhaps even winding up in court. But that would be worth it just to see where the ACLU ends up—defending free speech of the anti-Christian minority.
On second thought, maybe a tsunami of greeting is not a good idea—its ubiquity may take away its punch and even lapse into farce. Best to stick with the assault twice a year.
“Christ is Risen!”
All together now.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
PRAISE GOD FROM THE DEPTH OF MY SOUL
CHRIST IS RISEN!!
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