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Celebration of love, challenging values and principles

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26 December 2016 09:25 am - 0     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Yesterday (25) Christians the world-over celebrated the birth of the Christ child. As the clock struck twelve, the stillness of the night was shattered as crackers and fireworks exploded commemorating the birth of Christ. A man born in a cattle-shed in Bethlehem.  Yes, Christ, whom all Christians believe is God made man, was actually born in a cattle-shed, amidst sheep, cows and the putrid smell of cattle urine and dung.

His mother and father were betrothed, not married
This is the eternal truth and reality of Christmas. A child born to unmarried parents -Joseph and Mary- who were moving in accordance of a decree of Caesar Augustus that the entire world should be registered.  It was also time for Mary the mother of Christ to give birth, but because of the crowds of people moving from one place to another the Inns were filled to capacity.. and there was no place, she could give birth to her child. And so it came to be the Son of God was born of an unwed mother in a cattle-shed in Bethlehem and shortly after his birth, forced to flee persecution in Bethlehem to seek asylum in Egypt.  

What a far cry from what Christmas is portrayed today. From the time of his birth, until his death on a cross –between two thieves- Christ challenged values, principles, perceptions of justice and the structures of the day. He challenged attitudes toward those who had  materially less and were powerless. He challenged our attitude towards children born of single mothers; after all we still refer to such innocents by a single derogatory word. 

While Christ was born in dire poverty, to an unwed mother and forced to flee persecution, the birth of the Christ-child is today, commemorated with hardly a thought to what in fact he represented. Through his birth to an unwed mother Christ paid respect to womanhood and motherhood irrespective of whether the women were married or not. His birth in a manger or cattle-shed, shames the ostentatious celebrations held in some homes and mega hotels in his name. Aren’t they in fact an affront to the poverty and suffering into which he was born and around us today? And lastly but certainly not least the Christ-child was a refugee fleeing persecution.

The Middle East, the land of Christ’s birth is aflame. The travails of war, destruction, blood-letting and all manner of horrors are befalling them.   While we sat down to our Christmas roast and accompanying delicacies for Christmas lunch, a number of Christ’s descendants and followers were huddled in refugee camps in the Christian countries of Britain, Holland, Austria and Germany, where the population was not very pleased to have them in their midst. 

 Many others live in overcrowded camps in West Asia. According to the United Nations (UN), the numbers of forcibly displaced persons at June 2015 stood at 65.3 million with more people forced from their homes by war, conflict and persecution.  Of this number, 5.2 million are Palestinian refugees registered by UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency). We are forcefully put in mind that Christ, himself a Palestinian, was one among those people who the UN today refers to as forcibly displaced persons. Today’s conflict in the West Asia or the Middle East as it is commonly referred to have forced millions of desperate human beings to abandon their homes and lands and flee for dear life.

The friends, followers and descendents of Christ are, once again many centuries after his death, victims of a similar persecution which forced Joseph and Mary -the father and mother of the Christ-child- to flee Bethlehem and seek asylum in Egypt.

Just as in the days of yore, when the Middle East/West Asia was roiled by foreign rulers who put the ordinary people to the sword, today a similar, if not worse, war stalks that land.Yet, Christmas is not only a time when we are challenged, it is also the greatest expression of love-the love shown by God made man accepting humiliation, suffering and death on a cross for the sake of his fellowmen.  It is therefore a time to celebrate love, but always keeping in mind that Christians or followers of Christ are required to stand up for what is right and oppose that which is unjust even if it endangers life and limb.

 

 

 


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