For a lot of people, Christmas is one of their favorite times of the year. I know it is in my family. We go out and cut down a live tree every year, we listen to Christmas music while decorating the tree and we get together with our family and loved ones to eat a big meal and exchange gifts. From the traditions to the memories to the music and the movies, there really isn’t another time of year quite like Christmas.
Those are great traditions and there is nothing inherently wrong with them, but have you noticed what is happening to Christmas in our culture? Sure, there are images of Christmas all around us. The stores put up lights and decorations and every commercial on TV has a Christmas theme, but what is the message those stores and commercials are putting out about Christmas? Increasingly, it’s the secularization of Christmas. It’s “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry CHRISTmas.” It’s the commercial that shows people giving gifts to one another, but not talking about God’s greatest gift to his people – Christ. It’s the stores selling every product and thing a person could possibly want except what we really need – again, it’s Christ.
There’s the obvious attacks on Christmas, like the cities and towns that remove Nativity displays, or schools that refuse to let students put on Christmas plays or sing traditional Christmas songs out of fear of offending someone. I’ve fought those battles, too. In fact, in 2013 when I was serving in the Missouri House of Representatives, I passed a bill that would have prevented the state, or any local government, from prohibiting the celebration or display of any federal holiday. The bill was ultimately vetoed by the governor at the time, but it was because of “woke” attacks on Christmas that I filed this bill. Cancel culture and the “woke” mob is bent on imposing political correctness on Christmas up to and including replacing Christmas altogether with “holiday,” or — if it’s a school — “winter break.” Those are the head-on attacks we are seeing all over the place. But, there’s another, more subtle attack taking place on Christmas. It doesn’t make headlines and it doesn’t include banning Nativity displays or forbidding kids from singing traditional Christmas songs. It’s one that wants to divert our attention and focus away from faith. It’s the one where shoppers think Christmas is about sale prices and where children think Christmas is only about presents. It’s where people start thinking more about the holiday instead of the real reason for the season – Christ.
Christmas represents so much more and promises infinitely more than any gift or piece of secular imagery. Christmas is the promise of “peace on Earth, and goodwill to men.” It’s the promise of mankind’s redeemer and our redemption and salvation as a people. It’s the promise of our past, present and future all in one, and it comes in the form of a child born in the humblest of settings.
The movement to secularize Christmas or influence people into forgetting the true purpose of Christmas only happens if we let it. The truth is, no matter how hard one may try, you cannot tell the Christmas story without telling the greatest story of all. You can’t take one without the other. So, let’s remember the true reason for the season. Let’s keep Christ in Christmas and, most of all, let us tune our hearts and minds to the gift of Christ, not just on Christmas, but every day of the year. From me and my family to you and yours, Merry Christmas!
If you have any ideas, questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the State Capitol: (573) 751-2108, rick.brattin@senate.mo.gov, or by writing to Sen. Rick Brattin, Missouri State Capitol, Room 331, Jefferson City, MO 65101.
God bless and thank you for the opportunity to work for you in the Missouri Senate.