A Retirement Journal: Merry vs Happy Christmas and more

A divisive flashpoint in our current culture wars in America is the call to bring back the term Merry Christmas. As if it ever really left other than in a pluralistic society maybe, just maybe, Happy Holidays might be, depending on context, less offensive to some. Growing up in a Christian family in immediate post-British Raj India, the terms I heard were Happy Christmas and Father Christmas. Though I had certainly heard Merry Christmas and Santa Claus, it was not till we moved to the United States that those terms became an automatic part of my vernacular. As a Christian, I don’t believe either Merry or Happy capture the full sentiment of Christmas.

Merry Christmas was thought by the English nobility to denote the revelry and debauchery of the lower classes and hence the emergence of the Happy Christmas greeting. Queen Elizabeth 2 used the aristocratic term for over 50 years in her annual Christmas Message! For me, Merry is for an evening while Happy is for a season or a reason. The word Joy seems to better capture a state of being that transcends an evening or a season. And we can have joy even in difficult times. Heck, most of the traditional Christmas Carols have the word Joy as opposed to the few with Merry and even fewer with Happy. ?Christmas is indeed about Joy.

As a person who practices the Christian faith (aka a Jesus follower), in today’s Christmas blog I offer 3 reasons why the word Joy makes sense to me, and hopefully for you.

A.??? In the biblical narrative an angel appeared to shepherds in the field and said, “Behold I bring you good tidings of great JOY…”? I happen to believe that this was a historical event and really happened. You might think this a myth or a fairy tale. Fair enough!

B.??? The logical part of me believes that if there is a God, that God is infinite- infinitely good, infinitely wise, infinitely loving….?? We (I) are/am finite. For infinity to reach finitude we need what in mathematics is known as a singularity. (e.g., dividing a non-zero number by zero lets us reach infinity. Therefore, dividing by zero is a singularity.) It seems an infinite God must go through a singularity to reach finite humans. That is what the Incarnation is! If conceptually I believe this, then the story of the angels and shepherds can be historical!

C.???? On a more practical level, the true God and Jesus followers (I believe they are one and the same) I have known in my life exhibited a sense of joy. These folks’ joy over the years has been inspirational and infectious. I want in!

One of the most beloved Christmas Carols is Joy to the world. My friends Chris Coli and Patti Pierce recently pointed out that the musical notes in the first line of that famous carol depict the mathematical singularity I just describe. Joy to the world the Lord is come has the notes coming down in descending order like God descending to our level. The notes for Let earth receive her King then take us back up. That is, we can indeed get to God but first God needs to come and get us!

Whether as a reader of my blogs, you are a Christian or not, I encourage you to ponder the Christmas message and go to a Christmas Service at a local church. Think about “what child this was” that has disrupted our world over the last 2000 years to cause culture wars like Merry Christmas! I will be looking for a church in Boca Raton, Florida where my family is spending Christmas. For those in the Bay Area, check out Menlo Church, my “home” church. In any case I’d encourage you to just go!

As usual I will take a few weeks break with this blog during the Christmas Season and come back in the New Year. While writing this journal gives me great joy, and I am happy some of you enjoy it, today like the angel I am:

?Bringing YOU good tidings of great JOY. For to you this day has been born a Savior- Christ the Lord

Jake