Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people

Last night our local church put on a charming Christmas presentation. The music pastor actually opened the presentation with a long trailer for The Nativity Story. I haven't seen the movie yet, but what little I have seen has caused me to think about the birth of Christ in a different way.

Every year, we unpack our arguments, along with the ornaments and the inflatable singing Santa. The pious and the profane stand side by side at Macy's. Drop-kick a neighbor at Wal-Mart for the last TMX Elmo, but don't forget to grab a pack of candles for advent. When will Christians decide to make Christmas not merely a Holly Jolly time, but a HOLY time? When will we decide to actually set ourselves apart from the distraction that the gift buying and wassail drinking brings? We've long been in need of change.

This is not to say that the season is devoid of good things. People around the nation find it in their hearts to become more generous for at least a couple of weeks. We bake cookies, and send cards. We call on the lonely neighbor around the corner. For the majority of the nation, this is only ONE of TWO days a year that folks recognize that there might be peace and solace to be found in the chapel down the street. We shouldn't throw the holy infant out with the bath water.

Somehow, since time was split, we have managed to lose the incredible sense of mystery and amazement that lives in the nativity story. I don't know if I am feeling it this year simply because of the imminent arrival of my own child, or if I have just grown tired of the ever-present crassness of the Chrismahanukwanzakah "cheer" in the marketplace, and am reacting knee-jerk style. I want Christmas to be about Christ.

When you take Christ out of Christmas - what do you have? *****mas. For those of us in California, that word looks awfully familiar. Mas = More in Spanish. MORE. MORE. MORE. More what?

"Fortasse," inquit "Laetitia diei festi ex ipsis muneribus non proficiscitur..."

"Fortasse," inquit Grinchus, "Laetitia diei festi non est res empticia, non est res quaestuosa!"

Would it help for Christians to tweak the spelling? What about Christmass? Isn't it really about taking some time to think about a 15 year old girl going through labor pains in a barn? We romanticize the act. A teenager giving birth to a baby in the barn of a backwoods inn. There was blood and water to bring Him into the world. He was wrapped in cloths and laid in a feed trough, because the world knew nothing of Him. Let us remember Him now.