You have probably seen the saying, “Put Christ back in Christmas.” This, apparently, is an effort to eradicate the use of the term “Xmas.” I am not sure why we would want to eliminate the use of the term Xmas.
The X in Xmas is the English equivalent of the first letter of the word “Christ” in the Greek language. The Greek word is Χριστός. The X is simply an abbreviation. I have many notes that I have taken from lectures and books in which I have written the letter X to stand for Christ.
Often on a cross or altar we see the letters INRI. This is an abbreviation for the Latin “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum” which means “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”. We have no problem with using those letters as an abbreviation.
We also use the letters IHS on altars and crosses. These letters refer to the Greek word “Jesus.” IHS is a monogram the first three Greek letters of the word Jesus transliterated into English.
We have no problem using Greek translations for IHS and INRI, so why the problem with X in reference to the Greek word for Christ? I don’t know. I will continue to use X in notes and personal writings and have no problem with using the shortened term Xmas for Christmas. To me, whatever the alphabet, whatever the language, Christ is. We cannot take Christ out of Christmas or anything else. We may shorten the letters, but the love is still the same.
No one has ever seen God;
it is the Only Begotten,
ever at Abbas’ side,
who has revealed God to us.
John 1:18
Prayer: We pray for the openness to see Christ in ourselves and in others. May we see that light and love shining brightly this season of joy and celebration. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 