Holy Holiday

When we lament the distancing

of “Christ” from “Christmas”

we might want to rethink how that works.

Beyond respectful bowing to a plurality

that prays and worships differently,

and the way that unilateral freedom for some

inevitably suffocates freedom for all,

the separation of nativity from the

nauseating consumption frenzy

into which our culture's December descends

might be seen as a theological statement,

but only if we actually declare –

with our actions more than our words –

that the gift of Incarnation/Immanuel elicits

nothing more and nothing less

than spontaneous joy and generosity.

So, why don’t we focus less on

shoehorning “Christ” into everything,

and more on living as if his arrival transforms us?

© 2012 Todd Jenkins