Yes, in the modern world this means Santa Claus, Christmas trees, candy canes, and the like.
The challenge for us today is to not let the noise drown out the melody.
That is, to not allow the true meaning of Christmas to be forgotten.
Instead, to re-instill that meaning into our consciousness, into our society, and into our very beings.
Christmas.
The term has an ancient history, first appearing in Old English as Cristesmæsse.
It’s a combination of Christ and mæsse.
Mæsse (or “mass”), of course, means ecclesiastical celebrations.
So Christmas, by its very definition, denotes an ecclesiastical celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Because they understood the historic and transformational significance of the life of the One who came to offer hope and redemption the world over.
It was in that spirit that, decades before he became the first President of the United States, George Washington penned a Monday Morning Prayer that included the following:
But daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life.
And a young Benjamin Franklin, who described Jesus Christ as “the Redeemer of Mankind,” crafted his list of 13 Virtues, the last of which was: “Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
Our Founding Fathers thus came to declare that our rights and liberties are endowed to us “by our Creator.” And that because our rights and liberties come from God, they belong inherently to “We the People,” precisely because America was born “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence” and because “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” entitle us to them.
On the eve of the revolution, December 1, 1775, Declaration-of-Independence -signers William Hooper, John Penn, and Joseph Hewes wrote to the Provincial Council of North Carolina:
The present controversy is the cause of liberty, religion, of God—it is a theme worthy the character of the divine missionaries of the Holy Jesus.
Following the Declaration, the 1776 Delaware Constitution, which was authored by such Founding Fathers as John Dickinson, George Read, and Richard Bassett, required the following Oath of Office:
I do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His Only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New testaments to be given by Divine inspiration.
Many of our Founding Fathers, including Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, John Hancock, John Langdon, Samuel Huntington, Oliver Wolcott, and the author of the resolution of independence, Richard Henry Lee, issued Proclamations (of Thanksgiving, Praise, and Prayer) while serving as governors of their respective states, that appealed to the people to “unitedly implore the forgiveness of our Sins, through the merits of Jesus Christ,” to celebrate “ that we are still permitted to enjoy the first of Heaven’s blessings,” the “great and most important Blessing,” the “celestial blessing” of the “Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
They expressed thanks to God “for having above all things illuminated us by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, presenting to our view the happy prospect of a blessed immortality.” And they publicly prayed “that we may obtain forgiveness through the merits and mediation of our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST,” “that ALL nations may bow to the scepter of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, and that the whole Earth may be filled with His Glory,” and “that the divine Promises and predictions of the universal and Spiritual Reign of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the prince of Peace, may be speedily accomplished.”
Later, in 1813, John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson:
The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.
Just weeks later, Jefferson wrote to William Canby, a devout Quaker who had implored Jefferson to deepen his Christian faith:
Of all the systems of morality ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus.
Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania, wrote in his autobiography:
The Gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!
And on August 2, 1826, the 50th anniversary of his signing of the Declaration, Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer, wrote the following note on a copy of the Declaration:
Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, He had conferred on my beloved country in her emancipation.
Notwithstanding our nation’s Christian heritage, modern-day American society has sought to banish God from the public square, and even from our personal lives. We no longer teach our children about the religious aspects of our founding, that many of our Founding Fathers were driven by their fervent religious beliefs and came here precisely because they were not able to exercise them freely in their countries of origin. We have largely forgotten that our Founding Fathers were universally men of God who believed that all of society was premised on the pillars of morality and virtue that are themselves founded in religion and that our society and government should promote religion.
● A local school district in Marshfield, Massachusetts deciding to change the name of the school’s “Christmas Break” to “Holiday Break,” and city officials requiring the removal of an electronic sign welcoming visitors with the message, “Merry Christmas.”
● The Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists demanding the removal of a 40-year-old Christmas display depicting three wise men and a star, because it promoted “the story of the Christian Nativity.”
● A homeowner’s association in Hayden, Idaho threatening a lawsuit unless a Christmas display, complete with a Living Nativity featuring Dolly the Camel, be removed because “some of our residents are non-Christians.” And another association in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania demanding the removal of a Christmas display featuring a nativity scene and the name “Jesus.”
● Schoolchildren in La Harpe, Illinois no longer being allowed to receive free Bibles, thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which threatened the school for distributing Bibles along the roadway and for distributing flyers to teachers referring to Christmas and Easter.
● After thirty-three years, the removal of a manger scene and a “Merry Christmas” banner from a holiday display at the Audi Murphy Veteran’s Administration Hospital in south Texas, following the receipt of a complaint that the depictions were overly religious and offensive.
● With the Christmas season approaching, the principal of an elementary school in Elkhorn, Nebraska proactively issuing guidance to her teachers regarding what would and would not be appropriate in the way of classroom decorations and school assignments. Receiving a thumbs-up were such generic winter-themed items as sleds, scarves, and the “Frozen” character, Olaf. But the “naughty list” prohibited not only openly religious items, but also Santa Claus, Christmas trees, reindeer, green-and-red-colored items and even candy canes.
The red-and-white “J”-shaped candy canes were considered unduly religious because the “J”-shape supposedly stands for Jesus, the red for the blood of Christ, and the white a symbol of his resurrection.
● A federal judge in Indiana banning a live nativity scene from a high school’s decades-old Christmas Spectacular, stating: “The living nativity scene impermissibly conveys an endorsement of religion and thus runs afoul of the Establishment Clause,” and is illegal because it “conveys solemnity and reverence, as if the audience is being asked to venerate the nativity, not simply acknowledge or appreciate its place in the winter holiday season.”
● Schoolchildren in Wake County, North Carolina no longer being allowed to sing Christmas carols as part of the annual three-day Apex Christmas Nativity Celebration, because the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained that the event was sponsored by the Church of Latter-day Saints as a “celebration of the birth and ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
● After thirty years of honoring veterans by adorning their graves with wreaths during the Christmas season, the non-profit organization Wreaths Across America facing a complaint from the Military Freedom From Religion Foundation, which claimed that the organization was “carpetbombing” with “a Christian gang sign,” and that the grave sites would be adorned with a hijacked-from-paganism symbol of Christianity—circular and made of evergreen to symbolize everlasting life through Jesus Christ.
● After receiving a complaint, the superintendent of an elementary school in Johnson County, Kentucky ordering the removal of all religious references from the children’s performance of the play, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Found offensive and illegal were Linus’s reciting of a passage from Luke 2: 12-14: “Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” And Linus’s opinion: “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Our Founding Fathers didn’t know about Linus and Charlie Brown. But, surely, that sound you just heard was them rolling over in their graves.
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