I'm in something of a quandary. Maybe it's a conflict. I'm not sure. I feel like Rip Van Winkle, having awakened from a long sleep only to discover that the world has changed. I've awakened to discover I am living in the midst of a war.

	Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger version. The Rev. N. Graham Standish is pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople (ngstandish@mac.com).

It must be because everywhere I turn I see pundits punditting and opinion-makers opining about some so-called "liberal" war to ban Christmas. To make it even worse, apparently there is some kind of consumer conspiracy to take Christ out of Christmas.

Evidently armed liberal secularists and their capitalist companions are, right at this moment, assaulting Christmas in a desperate attempt to kill the Christmas spirit. Apparently I've been far too busy buying presents, eating Christmas cookies, getting our church's Christmas Eve worship service ready and spending time prayerfully reflecting on Luke's gospel for Sunday's sermon to even notice.

The truth is that what's taking place today is no different from the perpetual struggle that all pastors and churches have had to grapple with throughout the ages: how to get people to strive for the deepest experience and meaning of Christmas, especially in the face of the constant cultural pressures to water down its meaning.

How do we get people to care about love more and presents less? I wrestle with this Christmas challenge not only as a pastor, but also as a husband, father, family member and friend. I live with one foot firmly planted in the deepest religious traditions of Christmas, and the other in its secular traditions. I'm immersed in the conflict between them.

Personally, I'm drawn mainly to the religious and spiritual experiences of Christmas, and I can get quite scroogey about the more commercial aspects. But when I quit ranting about the need to be more religious, and let go of my desire to have the world accommodate me and my beliefs, I end up appreciating so much how wonderful Christmas is because it invites every level of involvement.

As a Christian and a pastor, I want so much for people to experience the deepest level of Christmas, but the reality is that not everyone is willing or able to go there. Some only want Santa and ho, ho, ho. Some only want Christ and the virgin birth. What I've learned to appreciate is how wonderful all of it can be.

My wife, for instance, embraces and finds meaning in almost every custom of Christmas. She loves the secular stuff: buying presents for family and friends, trimming the tree, watching Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch on television, baking candy cane cookies and gathering with family to exchange presents.

She also loves the religious stuff: the story of Jesus' birth, the Advent tradition of prayer and reflection each day, the lighting of Advent candles in worship and going to worship on Christmas Eve (she must love this, because as a Roman Catholic married to a Presbyterian pastor, she goes to both churches on Christmas Eve).

I have young children who believe in Santa Claus and Jesus Christ, love to sing religious carols and secular Christmas songs and are fully captured by both the religious and secular pageants of Christmas. I have some extended family members who are deeply religious and focus mostly on the religious traditions of Christmas, and others who could care less about religion but love Christmas because it means gathering with family and friends to share in joy and celebration.

While I take seriously my calling to lead people to strive for the deepest levels of faith and spiritual awareness, I'm also a realist. I know that some will never seek that depth. They may never move beyond the fringes of Christmas belief and practice.

Is that bad? As a pragmatist I know that it's just the way it is, and that I cannot force someone to seek a deeper experience. If I try it usually has the opposite effect, causing them to push me away.

Yet I've also learned that even those who remain on the fringes of Christmas hear and experience the Christmas message of Christ.

It's impossible to take Christ out of Christmas because Christ finds a way to speak though all the Christmas traditions. The secular celebration of Christmas is still full of the message of Christ.

Christmas is a holy time for all, whether it is celebrated through secular traditions, deeper religious ones, or both. The deeper into Christmas we are willing to go, the more spiritually holy the day and season become.

I always encourage people to seek the deeper Christmas experience, an experience that begins with using the season of Advent as a time of prayerfully preparing for Christmas, and then continues as we let Christmas be a time of worship, love, and charity, for that is where the deepest meaning and experience of Christmas is.

But if they decide to stay on the outer fringes of Christmas, I'm happy to share the season with them.

My advice to everyone this Christmas is this: Don't engage in the War on Christmas. It just makes you angry, crabby and self-righteous -- three attitudes that ironically pull you away from experiencing the true meaning of Christmas.

Strive for the deeper experience if you can, but even if you can't, then celebrate where you are. I have faith that Christ will meet you wherever you are, even if you don't believe in Christ.

I'm still going to wish you a Merry Christmas.