The Happy Occassion

I've never been one to get all wrapped up in society's concessions to the Christian faith. Partly this is because I think the fact that our culture has historically been associated with Christian ideas and traditions has caused a persistence of watered down allegience. Sure, I'd appreciate it if people who celebrated Easter actually acknowledged that it was a day to commemorate my Savior's death. If they want a day for bunnies and eggs hunts pick some other day of the year. But that hasn't happened yet and waging a war against it seems kind of self-defeating.

However, I was amused when I attended a local city's recent Christmas concert. Technically it was called "Joyful Jingles" - presumably to disassociate it with any one of the December celebrations. What amused me was that in the introduction to a song parody about the wives of the 3 Wisemen the choir director performed a magnificent fete of verbal gymnastics to describe Christ's birth without actually saying those words. She called it "the trip to Bethlehem" and the "happy occasion." It amazed me because the song was in fact about the birth of Jesus and yet in her introduction she tactfully avoided any mentioned of that fact plainly choosing instead to describe it in the most nondescript way possible.

If you're going to celebrate a happy ocassion, I think that's all well and good. But please, if you are going to celebrate the birth of my Lord and King - can you just call it Christmas?