Merry Chi-mas

My wife is the pastor of a small Lutheran church named St. Luke. And since it is a small church, they have a small sign outside their small church building. To invite the public to their children's Christmas pageant, the sign read "XMAS PROGRAM, SAT. 5 PM." The day of the program, someone called and left the following anonymous message on St. Luke's answering machine: "I'm calling as a concerned person going past your church all the time. I know commercial things are out there putting X-mas on signs, but it really hurt my feelings to see a church put "X-mas program" on their church and not "Christmas program." A church taking Christ out... That really bothered me and it would not make me come to your church. So, I just want to share that with you as a fellow Christian. Thank you very much. Goodbye." This semester in my New Testament Greek class we learned that the Greek word for "Christ" is Χριστος, which begins with the letter "chi." So when we abbreviate the word "Christmas" as "X-mas," we're using the Greek letter "X" rather than the English letter "X." The chi is often combined with a "rho," which looks like the English letter "P." Combined, they look like this:☧, an ancient symbol for Christ. In fact, if the gentleman who left this message had come into St. Luke for the Christmas program, he would have had the opportunity to help decorate the Christmas tree with Xs and ☧s and other symbols of Christ. So, whether we spell it "Christmas" or "X-mas," today we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. And St. Luke Lutheran proclaims this good news, just as Saint Luke did many centuries ago: The angel said to the shepherds, "Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" (New Revised Standard Version)