The commonest symbol of Christmas in the village where Anna and I live last year was a star. We have noticed this year, the Christmas Father in various attire and positions outside homes, churches and public places. This is a change in the trend.
I was invited for a Christmas gathering. The one who gave the message spoke about the three features of Christmas-the Christmas tree, Christmas star and the Christmas father. I noticed that the ‘babe of Bethlehem’ did not appear in the list of the ‘features’ of Christmas.
As it is elsewhere in the world, Christmas has acquired more commercial significance than spiritual significance even in rural areas. Every nativity scene will have a Christmas tree, Christmas father and Christmas star. Because they are more colourful and prominently placed, the small manger recedes into the background.
I fear that Christ of Christmas would get even more peripheral as we get drawn by the glamour of Christmas.
While one my evening walk yesterday, I found four groups of young men sitting beside the irrigation canal and consuming alcohol. One group stopped me and offered me a peg, saying, ‘celebrate the joy of Christmas’. When I refused, one of them said, ‘how can you be joyful without a drink?’.
That statement left me thinking. In today’s news paper, I found an item of worshippers of a congregation having their Christmas service in a residential home, where women with psychiatric illnesses stay. The service was followed by breakfast, games, walks, singing, etc. The congregation chose to be incarnational in their behaviour and honoured the ‘least of God’s children’.
It will be such exceptions which would resonate the heart of the Christmas. A leading news paper of Kerala encouraged school children to save money which they would have spent on clothes, cakes, cracker, etc and spend that money to help the disadvantaged children staying in hostels. Most of the schools turned that to be an occasion to share the good news of Jesus and of His coming.
We would not be able to stop marginalization of Christ of Christmas in a commercialised world, but we can promote acts of goodwill to remind others that ‘Love came down at Christmas’.
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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