Merry Christmas

This Christmas, far away in an Islamic land, I've thought more about the Savior and the meaning of Christmas than perhaps I ever have. I've been singing Christmas songs for weeks, driving my buddies crazy I think, and in spite of the ongoing grind and lack of a Christmas season and all that entails, the world has acquired a special sheen for me recently. On Christmas Eve we went out to work before dawn and sat in a spot where we could see the whole city for most of the morning. Watching the sunrise, hearing the call to prayer and seeing the city come to life was a Christmas I will never forget. Seeing a small elder sister holding the hand of her toddler brother as they navigate the bazaar made me smile to think of my own children. The Afghan people amaze me in their ingenuity and industry. Despite the nearly unbearable hardships they face every day, they meet it with courage and carry on the best they can. They and we who do not know such troubles have all been greatly blessed. With the revelator I pray "Come, Lord Jesus, Come." Come and bring the day when the lion lies down with the lamb and we beat our swords into ploughshares.

Happy Holidays

My first missionary companion was a dedicated, smart and stubborn Elder from a foreign land. As we were tracting (going door-to-door) during the holiday season he would offer to share a Christmas message with the people we met. After he got a couple of doors slammed in his face at homes with mezuzot on the doorpost I explained to him the significance of the mezuzah and why a Jewish person might be offended by a Christian missionary offering to talk about Christmas. I also suggested that he might say "Happy Holidays" as a more neutral seasonal greeting. Perhaps my delivery was off, but my companion was deeply offended himself and said, "You don't understand my culture!" I said, "We are not in your country, I'm trying to help you." Of course there was a mezuzah on the very next door. When he offered to share a message with the person that greeted us at the door she replied, "Not interested." My companion: "Merry Christmas." Shouted reply, while slamming the door: "I'm JEWISH!!!"

We live in a pluralistic society. Those of you who find generic cultural minutiae like "Happy Holidays" which downplay "our" Christian heritage offensive you are either oversensitive or insecure in your faith. Jesus does not care whether you ever mention Christmas, the celebration of which he nor his apostles ever mandated. For those of you who are Christians, the modern much-derided "politically correct" spirit or avoiding giving offense unnecessarily is completely in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Paul said, "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died." That is, if you know that what you eat is a stumbling block to your brother, do not eat it.

Wilford Woodruff, a successful early Mormon missionary and future prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, told a story from his English mission: "I had with me an old cloak which I got in Tennessee [. . .]. It had once been a dandy cloak, and had on keg buttons, and when new had a good deal of trimming and fancy work about it; but it was then pretty well threadbare and worn out. I wore it in Kirtland and I carried it to England with me; and when I was called by revelation to go to John Benbow's and preach the gospel I wore that cloak. I went there and found over six hundred people, called United Brethren [. . .], and they, as a people, were prepared for the word of the Lord, and I wanted to catch them in the gospel net. Before embracing the doctrine of the United Brethren, Sister Benbow had been what is called a 'lady' in England, and she had worn her silks and satins; but after obeying the doctrine of this religious body she cut up and burned and destroyed her silks and satins and wore the plainest calicoes she could get, because she thought that was religion. When I went there to preach she looked at me with this old cloak with the keg buttons on, and the Spirit of the Lord bore testimony to me that religion, so far as she was concerned, had a good deal of tradition about it, and that her faith could be tried by the coat a man wore; and as Paul said, if eating meat offended his brethren, he would never eat any more, so I felt a good deal, and one morning I went out and cut off the buttons from my old cloak, and never had a button on it afterwards. By doing this and some other things, which some perhaps would call foolish, I, through the blessing of God and with the assistance of Brother Young, George A. Smith and Willard Richards, caught the whole flock and baptized every soul except one solitary person into the church and kingdom of God."

Those who insist on public (i.e., on public or governmental land) expression of a particular religious tradition to the exclusion of another or who bristle at "Happy Holidays" would do well to consider that Jesus' apostles taught that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth," that Jews, Muslims, Wiccans and atheists are our brothers and sisters and that we will be able to accomplish more united in what we hold in common that we will dwelling upon such petty matters as our neighbor's seasonal habits.

Postscript:

This reminds me of the time I asked to buy Eid ul-Fitr stamps at the post office which were advertised in a poster on the wall. I had to ask three times for Eid stamps and the confused attendant muttered, "What? Aid stamps? Like, first aid? Like, Red Cross?" So I had to break down and said, "No, the stamps for the Islamic holiday with the funny writing on them." She understood that well enough.