Ranting and Raving

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV).

The contemporary idiom “ranting and raving” has seen a very clear illustration in our country over the last few months. It’s never been very far from our consciousness as so many people at one time or another find themselves participating in that form of communication. The most common definition for the phrase is to “talk loudly and vehemently, especially in anger, as in ‘There you go again, ranting and raving about the neighbor's car in your driveway.’ This idiom is a redundancy, since rant and rave mean just about the same thing, but probably survives on account of its alliterative appeal.” Now, I am sure you are wondering what a definition of “rant and rave” has in common with the Christmas story and our reading today. However, I hope you will stick with me for a bit longer. And, I sincerely hope this little bit of daily encouragement doesn’t seem like a rant. My desire is for it to be a clear look into the future and the vital necessity to know and share the real message of the birth of Jesus. So, I will start at the beginning. Last week I saw a kind message on social media where someone was thanking a business owner in their hometown for putting “Merry Christmas” on their windows rather than “Merry X-mas.” He spent a few sentences expressing his appreciation and then proceeded to “rant and rave” about the deplorable nature of leaving the name of Jesus out of Christmas in our culture. First, can I simply say that “X-mas” does not eliminate the word “Christ” from Christmas. The “x” is actually the Greek letter chi which is the first letter of “Christ” in that language. It is an abbreviation; and, perhaps there is some validity in insisting that we not abbreviate the name of Jesus. I’m just not sure it requires a rant or a rave to communicate that, especially when so many more important things need to be said in a world that is hopelessly lost without Jesus. Second, no one, no matter what they do, can ever eliminate the name of Jesus. The Apostle Paul reminds us that because of his work of grace on the cross, his name will one day be required when “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” his lordship. And that’s the real message. Perhaps we should spend our time talking about that rather than abbreviating Christ in Christmas. The good news is that Jesus has conquered death and hell on our behalf. Celebrate that today in our actions and words!