We wish you a Merry Xmas...

Christmas Carols. Christmas trees. Christmas parties. Christmas cookies. Christmas gifts. Christmas plays/musicals. Christmas cards. Christmas inches (around the waist.)

I proudly celebrate CHRISTMAS. I work for a Fortune 200 company that won't DARE use the C-word. Holiday & Season are fine...don't even get anywhere near the word Christ. (And, yes, I know the true origins of the phrase "X-mas", so no hate mail, ok?)

That brings up another subject. A colleague of mine who is a direct hire recruiter was talking about how a candidate recently turned a hiring manager off in an interview, simply by mentioning her personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The manager thought it was a little weird and not at all proper to bring religion up at that point. Now, my coworker professes to be a Christian, but she somewhat agreed. I HAD to reply.

"Would there have been any issues had the candidate mentioned 'bad karma' or 'negative energy'? Would the hiring manager even thought twice if she had mentioned her horoscope or yoga class?"

Well, no, it would not have been a problem, was her reply. It opened her eyes.

You see, the problem that is cited is rarely the real issue (take that one to the bank, whether it be reasons for getting out of a relationship, reasons for leaving a church...excuses for a lot of things.) The problem in that situation was not religion, per se, but the mention of Jesus Christ.

The world has no real problem with religiosity or icons or idols or rituals. Likewise this world has no issue with "holidays". They have a problem with facing the reason that Jesus came to this word...the royal mess that sin has made of mankind. The very name Jesus somehow points to the core of man's rotten core and makes it very personal. Hence it makes Jesus very controversial.

Controversy was nothing new to Him. He even mentioned in one discourse that division was one of the reasons he came.

Meanwhile the argument goes on, the talking heads drone on louder, the offended become bolder, and the divide grows wider. Will one voice change everything?

Maybe not.

I still say, Merry Christmas!

Now I'll go back to my merry little corner.