Well, first off, there is the tone. When I listen to it with the ears of a non-Christian, it comes across as in-my-face, cocky, even aggressive. That is not how Jesus approached people. The songwriter seem to have failed to think through whether the aim is to draw people winsomely to Christ or to score a point.
In addition to the tone, there is the message itself. "I remember when people used to say, 'Merry Christmas!' to each other" (including to "Mr. Lowenstein"). So there is nostalgia for a golden age when "everyone" mouthed the words, "Merry Christmas," even when they didn't believe them, as the song indicates. That mythical golden age was also a time when the descendants of the slaves suffering the indignity of legal segregation and discrimination by some of the very people using the expression in question.
But there are at least two additional problems with the song's outlook. First, the Christian faith and the Bible nowhere suggest that mouthing insincere words is pleasing to God or advances his Kingdom on earth. If anything, challenging non-Christians to say, "Merry Christmas" is to invite them to take the Lord's name in vain, to use it out of custom and social conformity instead out of a deep love for Christ.
Second, the song confuses the Church with society as a whole. But Christmas is a Christian celebration. We live in a civilization that has, since the 4th century, been nominally Christian. Those days are gone, and will not return, nor should they. There is no reason why Christians should want everyone in society to use the hallowed expression of the past. I cannot help but wonder why some feel the need to get everyone to say the words.
Second, the song confuses the Church with society as a whole. But Christmas is a Christian celebration. We live in a civilization that has, since the 4th century, been nominally Christian. Those days are gone, and will not return, nor should they. There is no reason why Christians should want everyone in society to use the hallowed expression of the past. I cannot help but wonder why some feel the need to get everyone to say the words.
The early Baptists left England in 1609 because of religious control by the state church, and advocated religious freedom for all faiths, Christian and non-Christian, as early as 1612. The last thing on their minds was to enforce a shallow external faith the way the Roman Emperor Constantine did in 313 AD. Our aim as Baptists is for men and women to enter into a heart relationship with God and to be transformed by his Word and Spirit.
I like to wish people a Blessed Christmas. "Merry" goes back to when Christmas was largely a season of carousing and drunkenness in England (despite "God rest ye merry, gentlemen...").
So here is wishing you and yours a Blessed Christmas, in all its glorious and weighty meaning!
I like to wish people a Blessed Christmas. "Merry" goes back to when Christmas was largely a season of carousing and drunkenness in England (despite "God rest ye merry, gentlemen...").
So here is wishing you and yours a Blessed Christmas, in all its glorious and weighty meaning!
