I just received a Christmas greeting today that I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I love receiving Christmas greetings; on the other this one has some political undertones that I'm uncomfortable with.

It reads:

I will be making a conscious effort to wish everyone
a Merry Christmas this year ...
My way of saying that I am celebrating
the birth Of Jesus Christ.
So, I am asking my email buddies,
if you agree with me,
to please do the same.
And if you'll pass this on to
your email buddies, and so on...
maybe we can prevent one more
American tradition from being lost in the sea of
"Political Correctness".

---------------------------

The first part is wonderful. The sender is expressing his or her personal faith and celebrating something that I also celebrate.

But the last part gets me a bit.

I don't celebrate Christmas because it's an American tradition. In fact, as an American, I feel constantly challenged by the man that babe in the manger grew up to be, for he spent much of his ministry reminding the rich and the powerful to be humble and compassionate. I feel like a pretty ordinary person but, as an American, I'm richer and more powerful than most of the people on earth. I think that Christmas should make me, and people like me, uncomfortable with my privileges and more mindful of the poor and the oppressed.

I also don't celebrate Christmas as an act of defiance against political correctness. I'm not a huge fan, for PC can be as obnoxious and self-righteous as any cause, but I have to remember that it grows out of a desire to show respect for all people. At it's heart it says that we shouldn't show contempt for the poor (like Mary and Joseph), or those who are ethnically different, (like the Gentiles Jesus reached out to) or mentally or physically challenged (like those he healed in so many stories), or those who come from a different religious tradition (like the good Samaritan), or those who society condemns as unclean or immoral (like the sinners and tax collectors he often ate with).

I am going to wish people Merry Christmas this year, but it's not to get in the face of people who say 'Happy Holidays'. It's to offer the very best gift I know how to give.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, may peace and joy be with you in this season, and may the blessings of kindness, compassion, justice and peace extend to all people of every nation and every faith throughout the world.