To Med School and Beyond

Today I waited on 3 men from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints. Two were young missionaries and one was their supervisor or pastor or something (I didn't ask him his role). The conversation started like this;"Sher, can you find a nice way to tell Nick or Gus (my managers) that it is 'Merry Christmas' not 'Happy Holidays!?'"* Now this is an important piece of information: I was 100% in the dark about the present national debate over this terminology. *My reply: "Well sir, I am sure they are referring to the Holidays - not only Christmas." (My tone during the whole conversation is still one of a waitress who wants a tip - so rudeness was absent)Then he exploded "No it's not! They are trying to take Christ out of Christmas and I'm not going to kiss anyone's butt by changing what I say! You know Miss that 90% of America is Christian? I'm not going to kiss 5% of the populations butts!"My response: "But sir, is that really the right way to treat that 5%? Do we want to communicate that to them? I don't think Jesus would demand this. And Holidays is accurate - many holidays are celebrated during this time of year..... (in my quick thinking all ic ould come up with:) Christmas and New Years..."One of his young missionary friends says "Oh! So you know about Christ?!" Quite impressed I think.I said: "Oh yes. I'm a licensed minister in the Wesleyan Church." Now as I write this - I realize it reads a bit arrogant. Let me explain that I was talking to "church men" and I wanted to express my biblical training to them. If it had been just a fiery church-goer I most likely would have gone with "Oh yes! I love Him!" or something about my relationship with Christ - not my church affiliation.Well - the original antagonist resumes the argument - a bit annoyed with my confidence: "What does holiday mean?" I said - as I understood his point; "Holy-Day - BUT sir, culturally people use the term holidays to refer to the holidays - not just holy days." The discussion shook me up! I began to tell one of my co-workers about the conversation - and THEN is when I was made aware of this whole national debate! Not until after work did my dad explain that it is really about the Christmas tree.So... Although if I could talk to that man again right now I would say a few things slightly differently, I am still pretty adamant that this is just ridiculous. Here are some of my reasons:* So don't call the Christmas season "The Holidays" because they are not all holy (ex: New Years). But then don't call a Christmas tree a holiday (holy-day) tree because you take Christ out. WHAT? I don't even know how to communicate properly because this is so obvious to me. * Someone tell me what is spiritual about a Christmas tree? And... when you do that - take into consideration that before it was used as a symbol of the celebration of Christ's birth it was derived from celebratory decorations for a pagan holiday called Roman Saturnalia. The practice had FIERCE opposition for hundreds of years as it gradually became the tradtional part of our Christmas decorations. So what's so bad about it being renamed? * Calling a Christmas tree a holiday tree doesn't change someone's heart. If someone wants to call their tree a holiday tree b/c they don't celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas (if this sounds bazaar please consider Mardi gras) why should I, as a Christian, protest that? What I should rather be passionate about is their need to know about Christ!! Not about what they call their tree!* Do we really want to waste our time defending something that is simply a tradition and has no spiritual weight at all? * I read in the news this comparison: Calling a Christmas tree a Holiday tree is like calling a Manora (sp!) a candlestick." No, no it isn't. A manora has significant meaning in the observance of Hanukkah. It is a pure representation of a real event. A Christmas tree, on the other hand, is simply a way to decorate your house! If there are spiritual implications I feel as if they have been applied after the acceptance of the decoration aspect. I could be wrong and am open to further research on that point. Although I will stand to say that there's no Christmas tree in the Bible - and no biblical significance in a Christmas tree.I think this debate is silly for both ends. I think those who want to change the name to be political correct have decades to wait before any noticeable fraction of our population agrees with such a change. I also think that the "believers" who are getting defensive over this change are doing more damage to the name of Christ than they could imagine and that breaks my heart.

Sher Sheets
Server at "The Clock" in Spartanburg, SC