John Dunnett
Last Sunday several of us went to the Christmas celebrations at Sherbrooke Village. As we got out of our vehicle we noticed the giant sign which read Old Fashion Christmas.
From where we were parked, the “mas” was obscured by the entrance roof so the sign read “Old Fashion Christ”. It caught my interest so I snapped (or clicked) a quick picture on my phone. It was a passing notice but it got me to thinking about the tempest in a teapot issue of politically correct greetings.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ. The greeting “Merry Christmas” is my preference but I am not sure it is solely because of the religious connotations. You see as a Christ follower, the greeting “Happy Holiday” I tend to think of it as “happy holi day” or “happy holy day”. That connects to my faith as much as “Merry Christ mas”. My preference has as much do with my cultural upbringing. This is a truth echoed for many who participated in an Angus Reid poll on the question.
I was reading the Angus Reid poll about Canadians preference for Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays. The polls show some interesting results about Canadians thoughts of this time of year.
In all but one province more than 90 per cent of the respondents said they preferred the Merry Christmas greeting. In the one dissenting province 60 per cent still preferred Merry Christmas. While only 13 per cent suggested that the Dec. 25 celebration was overly religious compared to 83 per cent who expressed that it was over commercialized.
No matter how you greet me in the coming weeks, I wish you the best of the season. I wish you joy, peace, hope, and love.
From my perspective those are all thing that are part of the Christ story and available to us as we connect to the Christ who’s incarnation we celebrate in December. Like I say, this is from my perspective and it may or may not be yours. Still I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and I want you to feel free to greet me in what every way you wish.
John Dunnett is pastor of First United Baptist Church in New Glasgow
