The reason for the season?

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Several years ago I received from a parishioner a "Jesus Is the Reason for the Season" cookie tin. Every time I reached for a piece of Doris's divinity, I had to read that cheery-angry motto of Christian moralism.

Combine that irritation with the times that December when I was embroiled in versions of the perennial "church Christmas vs. cultural X-mas" confab, and by the time Christmas Eve rolled around I was lathered into a sermon that began, "Jesus is NOT the Reason for the Season." In fact, I ranted, Jesus is horrified that his followers insist that he is. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. We are the reason for the season; Christmas has always been "for us and for our salvation."