December 11, 2007 | 3:54 pm

Not the typical Christmas dilemma

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Follow JewishJournal.com on

That, would of course be the challenge of what parents should do if they are raising their children Muslim or Jewish or Hindu but don’t want them to be the only giftless kids on the block Dec. 25. But, no, this story deals with a Christmas dilemma for families that actually are Christian.

Come each December, high atop the choir loft of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas sit the traditional three purple and one pink Advent candles for several Sundays.

But as the month comes to a close, another candelabra appears when the Kwanzaa kinara — with its seven black, red and green candles representing principles of black heritage — is placed on the altar below.

“We’ll light the Advent candles and we’ll light the Kwanzaa candles,” said the Rev. Tyrone Gordon, pastor of St. Luke, where stained glass windows depict the civil rights movement. “Both have prominent places. The Advent candle, of course, is higher up and that’s symbolic because we’re Christian.”

At some predominantly black churches, celebrating Christmas and Kwanzaa is a matter of both/and instead of either/or. Some congregations, especially those with an Afrocentric emphasis, mark both holidays, singing carols about Jesus and reflecting on Kwanzaa’s principles of unity and collective responsibility throughout December.

But some Christians say Christmas should be the sole holiday at year’s end because Kwanzaa lacks a clear biblical message.

Indeed, Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday but is a pan-African celebration started 41 years ago by Maulana Karenga, a former black studies professor at Cal State Long Beach.

So, who’s right? Should it be both/and or either/or? (I know that sentence is really hard on the eyes.)