A Deeper Connection: The True Meaning of 'Merry Christmas'

Last year, stores and communities threw out the phrase "Merry Christmas" in favor of the more generic phrase "Happy Holidays."

Some of that politically correct hysteria has calmed down a bit this year.

The words "Merry Christmas" have returned to the lips of retailers across the country.

After the hue and cry of last year's reactions to the decision by many of the nation's largest shopping chains to remove the greeting, we are once again hearing that familiar refrain.

And the nation's merchants are reporting, in the words of the yuletide classic It's a Wonderful Life, that it may be their merriest Christmas ever.

Please don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the return of this declaration of greeting and giving.

However, my greater hope is that the essential elements that make these words meaningful are not overshadowed this year.

Unfortunately, some of the phrases strongest defenders last year, and I was among them, failed to exhibit the very spirit that this message intends to convey.

The grinch-like behavior of anger, protest and boycott may have done more to steal the "merry" from Christmas than spread and preserve its joy.

On the first Christmas, a broken and hurting world was greeted with "fear not" and the promise of "peace on earth and good will to all."

The reality is that our world today needs the message and the ministry of these words more than ever.

and if we fail to live out that ministry as we convey those words, the real message of those first angels is at best confused and at worst compromised.

Christmas is "merry" because "unto us a Savior is born!" That Savior gave costly gifts of compassion, sacrifice, service and selflessness.

It is in the going and giving to the least, the left and the lost, done by a myriad of organizations like the Joy Fund, Angel Tree, Operation Blessing and the Salvation Army that the significance of "Merry Christmas" can best be found.

A few years ago, I found myself far from home, half way around the world in Singapore during the Christmas season. One of that nation's largest retailers is Tang Department Stores.

As I rounded the corner in the city's hectic commercial district I came face to face with the life-sized images of three kings riding three camels laden with gifts for the one whose star they had seen in the East.

Above the scene were the simple words "Wise Men Still Seek Him."

I want to be wiser this Advent, giving more and perhaps saying less, so that Christmas might truly be "merry" for those whom the Babe of Bethlehem came to serve.