Sometimes Gilroy seems like an island of sanity in an ocean of
politically-correct madness.
Consider: a few weeks ago, members of the Gilroy High School
Chamber Choir sang for our little Gilroy Bible Church: glorious
traditional music, unabashed tidings of comfort and joy.
Sometimes Gilroy seems like an island of sanity in an ocean of politically-correct madness.
Consider: a few weeks ago, members of the Gilroy High School Chamber Choir sang for our little Gilroy Bible Church: glorious traditional music, unabashed tidings of comfort and joy. But in Maplewood, NJ, the school board banned all religious music, even instrumental versions, from their “holiday” concerts.
Gilroy has a Christmas tree at Fifth and Monterey, and the Gilroy Fire Department, the Gilroy Police Department, and the California Highway Patrol take turns chauffeuring Santa Claus about and coordinating his visits to, for example, Gilroy’s San Ysidro Park. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bloomberg insists that the lighted tree outside NYC’s City Hall is called a “holiday” tree.
There are three forces contending over the expression of Christmas. There is the spirit of secular Christmas, as exemplified in E. Corine Byrd’s column of Dec. 21. In it she states “Christmas is about family, friends, sharing and the warmth of human caring.” Notice what she is leaving out: a baby in a manger; God caring enough for humanity to send His only begotten Son.
Ms. Byrd’s version of Christmas is lovely, because it rooted in happy memories of what was once a religious holiday. The happiness and nostalgia largely carry on, even when the Babe is deleted.
The negative side to the spirit of secular Christmas is the tendency to drive yourself into a frenzy, shop till you drop, go into debt, decorate better than Martha Stewart, cook yourself into a state of exhaustion, over-eat, and wonder why you feel blue at Christmas.
The second force is that atheistic, knee-jerk opposition to Christianity, as demonstrated in Mustang, OK, where the school board superintendent, on the advice of the school board attorney, ordered a nativity scene to be removed from an elementary school Christmas display, but allowed Santa, a Christmas tree, and symbols of Hanukah and Kwanzaa to remain.
(One wonders, in passing, why the American Civil Liberties Union does not protect religious liberty. After all, the First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …” This would seem to mean that Congress may not establish, say, the Presbyterian Church as the official religion of the United States, but neither may it prohibit a public school teacher from having a Bible on her desk. The ACLU vigorously attacks any imagined attempt at establishment, but fails to protect free exercise. Go figure.)
The third force is the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ moves strongly at Christmas, in spite of everything the anti-Christian force can do to expunge it. When the anti-Christian force demands that Christian symbols are singled out for removal, even the secular Christmas celebrants wonder why. When the symbols are allowed to remain, they remind people of the reason for the season.
Persecution of Christ is nothing new. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”
When Herod heard these things, he was troubled. He inquired of the priests and scribes where the Anointed One was to be born, and was told, Bethlehem. So he sent the wise men to Bethlehem, asking them to bring him word when they found the child.
The wise men followed the star, and found Jesus and his mother, and worshipped Jesus, and gave him gifts. Then, being warned by God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their country another way.
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. So Joseph did.
Then Herod, when the wise men did not return, was exceedingly angry. He sent out soldiers and slew all the children under two years old who were in Bethlehem and the surrounding communities.
‘Tis the season for old stories … Merry Christmas.
