Chi-mas

Back when we still lived in Texas, I remember my father complaining about a sign on a store. It had “Xmas” on it. He did not like that they had replaced “Christ” with an “X.” Years later, when I was more fully submersed in theological studies, I knew that the practice was not new by any means, and did not originate out of disrespect. In Greek, the title “Christ” begins with the letter chi which looks like a “X” to us: Χριστος.

It is important to keep aware that Christmas is about celebrating Christ, the Incarnation, the embodiment of God. Probably the best way is expressed by a meme on Facebook that says: “Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the stranger and the unwanted child, care for the ill, love your enemies.”

What would it be to look into the eyes of an alien stranger and gaze as tenderly as we would upon the eyes of a beloved baby? I remember holding my boys as babies for hours and looking so deeply into their eyes that I when I saw my own in the mirror and I would be surprised that mine were green and not brown like Andrew’s or blue like Max’s. Could I possibly look upon a stranger with that much love? I think that is how God looks upon each of us.

Matthew 25:40

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’