Xmas has inexplicably become the accepted shorthand replacement for Christmas. Now that we are officially entering the season, someone needs to express outrage over the growing trend to take Christ out of Christmas.
Are we really that lazy that we can’t take the time to spell out the entire name for this sacred holiday? Maybe the English language has been replaced by some form of Chinese hieroglyphics?? Or are we so hard up for space that we can’t afford any words over four letters long?
I guess the best way to illustrate the absurdity of this dilution of meaning is to provide some parallel examples. Can you ever imagine any of the following contractions catching on?
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Xseries for World Series
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Xbowl for Super Bowl
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Xgiving for Thanksgiving
So what gives? Could it be that our materialistic, consumer-driven society prefers to suck all of the Christ focus out of this special season? Has the church been willing to stand silently on the sidelines and allow the sacred to be profaned?
to quote from an excellent article by Berit Kjos. He brings back into focus what it truly means to celebrate the miracle of Majesty coming down to earth and becoming fully man in order to bring us the precious gift of eternal life.
“Our root problem has to do with our view of God and our relationship to Jesus. We have been taught to think of the King of the universe more like a super-Santa than a jealous God who holds us accountable to His Word. We forget that His favors are designed to conform us to His image, not meet all our wants.“
Given the derivation of this abbreviation, maybe I shouldn’t be so worked up:
“This abbreviation for Christmas is of Greek origin. The word for Christ in Greek is Xristos. During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Christ’s name, “X” in place of the word Christ in Christmas as a shorthand form of the word. Although the early Christians understood that X stood for Christ’s name, later Christians who did not understand the Greek language mistook “Xmas” as a sign of disrespect.“
But the fact of the matter is that our ACLU agenda-driven culture would love nothing better than to strip this sacred holiday of its Majestic King. Now we have lawsuits filed over traditional celebrations of live Nativity scenes or other displays overtly connected to the biblical Christmas record. Activist secularists have taken the stripping away of Christian elements to ridiculous levels. Public schools are now restricted in what songs are deemed appropriate for the season. Forget about any of the familiar Christmas carols. The only sanitized acceptable lyrics are songs such as “Winter Wonderland” or “Frosty the Snowman.” “The flagrant attempt to remove Christ from Christmas would never be permitted if applied to the holy days of any other religion. So much for religious ‘tolerance.’”
We need to be outraged! We need to keep Christ in Christmas!