X-mas - one of the most annoying terms out there. You can't take the Christ out of Christmas. Thats the whole point of Christmas to celebrate that Christ came into the flesh.
On that point, Jesus CAME into the flesh. He was born in a little manger, a stable. In todays equivalent, it was pretty much a shed. He was born into the spot where the animals ate out of, the saliva mingling with the hay. Then a mad king plotted to kill him, and his family had to flee the country to escape him while he violently massacred every boy under 2 years in Bethlehem. Not excatly the sort of conditions you'd expect for the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the creator and designer of everything you've ever seen.
But thats just how God works, God consistently uses the weakest things to lead the strong (I'll blog more on this later.) I find so much hope in that thought, God will use the weak, the sinful, the broken. I often feel weak and sinful and broken (because I am,) but God uses the weak and sinful and broken.
Once again, I apologise if my thoughts aren't very well articulated.
Don't apologise, spot on mate.
ReplyDeleteHey there Luke,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to point out that the word "Xmas" is not truly removing Christ from Christmas. You might be glad to find out that the meaning behind "Xmas" is almost precisely the meaning of the original "Christmas".
Xmas is made of two parts, "mas" is from the Latin-derived Old English word for "mass" and the "X" comes from the Greek letter "Chi", which is the first letter of the Greek word "Χριστός" which translates into "Christ"
You see, the word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt".
You may have heard of the "Labarum", which is also known as the "Chi-Rho", which is a Christian symbol used to represent Christ. It looks like a P with an X over it.
Thought I'd just like to point this out, of course some people use "Xmas" so they may refer to Christmas without religious undertones, but the reality is that it has much the same meaning. Perhaps your issue was that the actual word "Christ" was removed from Christmas, but I was just letting you know that the meaning is essentially the same.
I hope you had a both a merry Christmas and Xmas!
Thanks Ryley, thats really interesting.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not sure how many people view it like that. Most people take it out the 'Christ' bit simply for convenience, and to refer to it without 'religious undertones' as you said.