Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everybody thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and today's episode we're asking the

question is it okay to say happy

holidays this is prompted by an article

I read in the Atlantic recently by

Elizabeth brunck who's a columnist that

I really find interesting she is herself

a Christian and she's asking the

question is this a hill that Christians

should die on should we be working so

hard to get people to say Merry

Christmas instead of happy holidays

should we see companies that are moving

from Christmas to holidays as an assault

on Christianity even as Christians

should we ourselves uh be okay with

saying happy holidays instead of Merry

Christmas and she makes the case that

actually she thinks happy holidays is a

fine substitute for Merry Christmas

here's why for from her perspective I'll

tell you what I think in just a second

she says first of all there are a lot of

Christian holidays in this season that

are not Christmas day uh Advent for

example is a whole celebration about the

coming of Jesus that does include

Christmas day but is bigger than that uh

if you're Catholic there are feasts

associated with this season that are a

part of the holidays but aren't actually

Christmas New Year's Day New Year's Eve

Thanksgiving if it's late November these

are holidays that Christians celebrate

that can be lumped into the banner happy

holidays but really don't fit under the

banner of Merry Christmas uh her second

argument is Hanukkah you know Judaism

and Christianity are are inextricably

linked because Judaism believes in the

Old Testament so do Christians that the

god of the Bible the god of Abraham

Isaac and Jacob is the one true God uh

when a Jewish person is celebrating

Hanukkah identifying with the story of

God rescuing Israel from the book of

mccabes uh are they doing something

awful from a Christian perspective and

if I wish them happy holidays uh as a

way of saying hey I'm celebrating

Christmas and you're celebrating

Hanukkah am I really compromising my

faith and then third she says hey isn't

Christian charity saying where possible

I want to uh see and celebrate other

people who might be celebrating for

example a secular Christmas instead of a

Christian Christmas so is she right well

it's a complicated answer to be honest

because on the one hand I do think

Christians have to be aware that there

is an anti-christian bent floating

through our culture it is often true

that the one religion you're allowed to

marginalize or to push or to treat

unfairly is Christianity in fact in my

own kids uh Elementary School for

example there was recently a celebration

of a Hindu holiday including making

something to a Hindu goddess now my

child did not participate but I as I

asked my wife the question can I come in

and do a birth of Jesus Christ story and

will make a project of the Son of God

who was born you know the answer to that

and so do I no you can't do that with

Christianity and it is time for

Christians to say you know what enough

if we live in a pluralistic society

where everybody gets to bring their

worldview to the table I'm okay with

that but everybody means everybody and

that means I get to bring mine my family

gets to bring ours Christian teachers

get to bring theirs you know I feel that

way we've talked about that in previous

episodes of wakeup lookup Christianity

is not a pinata for our secular culture

it's the worship of the one true God and

our King our Lord Jesus Christ it

matters it's meaningful it's not

something to be made little of on the

other hand though we have to be wary of

this kind of martyr complex just because

there's an anti-christian bent floating

through our culture doesn't mean every

little change is in and of itself

anti-christian WI a store says happy

holidays instead of Merry Christmas

aren't they just acknowledging the fact

that they have Je Jewish customers that

they have Muslim customers secular

customers customers that don't celebrate

the holidays uh they're just saying

we're not telling you what holiday to

celebrate when I get my cup of coffee if

they were to say to me happy Hanukkah

that would feel like I don't really

matter to them they're not really trying

to understand me or see me when they say

happy holidays I just say hey for me

that's Christmas I understand why

corporations are saying hey we want to

sell sneakers to Christians and Muslims

and Jewish people so let's put happy

holidays on the box I don't think that's

anti-christian if anything that is them

trying to be truly pluralistic I don't

think when Andy Williams sings happy

holidays he's being a secular or bowing

down to secular culture I just think

he's catching all the holidays under one

umbrella term listen when we overreact

to when culture really isn't aiming at

us and we pretend we're martyrs we

actually trivialize the meaningful times

where Christians are being treated

unfairly so here's a little feedback for

you celebrate Christmas boldly let's

sure make everyone in your circle aware

of the fact that for you Christmas isn't

about Hanukkah it isn't about any other

holiday it isn't about presents or Santa

Claus it's about the birth of Jesus

Christ be unabashedly Christian in your

celebration of Christmas but then be

unreasonably

kind in the way you deal with other

people as for me in my house we're going

to celebrate Christmas but I don't mind

telling you happy holidays when I see

you around the community because my love

for you is bigger than needing you to

give tacit approval to my faith holidays

the way we win people to Jesus is

through the preaching of the word and

the power of the holy spirit it's not

through a catchphrase or how we frame a

holiday so celebrate your Christmas but

be kind to those around

hey thanks so much for watching this

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