It’s interesting the things that you remember as a kid particularly around Christmas. I still remember carefully peeling back the tape of the wrapping containing my Harlem Globe Trotters’ coloring book, finishing a good portion of it, carefully re-wrapping it and storing it back under the tree and then my mom’s horror when she realized she had bought the only coloring book in the store that had been colored ahead of time. Or the Vertibird helicopter toy that I simply had to have only to realize that a mechanical piece of plastic that hovers in two feet circles around a base is interesting for about 2.5 minutes. But the memory that continues to resurface is the one of waiting with my brother and sister in the car outside drug store in Dahlonega, Georgia as a 5 year old and seeing the windows of the store painted with Christmas greetings except it didn’t say Christmas. It instead read "Merry X-mas”. It didn’t make any sense to me. The window was plenty large enough to complete the word "Christmas”. Was it simply that they ran out of paint? I inquisitively asked mom when she returned from the store to which she responded "Oh, it’s just another way of saying Christmas”. Well, why didn’t they just spell it out then, I thought - lazy window painting adults. The most important holiday in a kid’s life and here they are taking shortcuts.
Some things never change. I later learned my mom was right. The "X” is Greek shorthand for Christ from some word that I can’t pronounce and made of letters that don’t translate to English. According to scholars, early manuscripts of the Greek New Testament dating to the third and fourth centuries used the "X” abbreviation to fit more words on the page and reduce time and cost of producing the Bibles of their age. Given the lack of e-readers, word processors, and printing presses I can appreciate their desire to make the most of the resources available. And, it might be worth mentioning these early scribes were avoiding persecution while attempting to crank out more manuscripts so while they abbreviated the single greatest title in all of history I think it unreasonable to hold them to the same standard of drug store window painters.
I’ve wondered if these scribes were alive today in my neighborhood would they still use the same abbreviation. X-Men doesn’t represent a group of evangelical missionaries, if I’ve paid attention. X-Games aren’t Vacation Bible School gatherings. Would they use "X” to represent something most holy in a sea of "X” that’s either against God or doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. It bothered me as a kid to see X-mas but if I were a 5 year old today, these many years later, would I feel the same? I’m unsure which……bothers me. Christ (the Greek "X”) is the single greatest happening in my life and I don’t want anyone to confuse him with Wolverine or a freestyle skateboarder. No, my Christmas greetings will all be spelled C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S. Oh, and I did eventually confess to coloring in my coloring book ”“ sorry mom.
Merry Christmas everyone!
