Christ-mass and Christ-missionis
In western countries Christmas resembles a folk festival. It is centered on external activities: people frequently visit shopping malls, share presents, and amuse over gift-dispensing Santa Claus. Many people decorate a fir tree in their living room; others send out greeting cards wishing a Happy Holiday. Some visit the neglected, the elderly and the sick in hospitals or old age homes. These activities are good and needed to cement human relationships in stress-ridden societies. But many people in western countries do not give importance to the spiritual aspects of Christmas because they are carried away by secularism, consumerism, relativistic ethos of pluralism, and postmodern ideologies.
In the modern world people need not reject or hide their religious identities. Instead they can learn to cope with differences in such a way that their religious identities are not portrayed as soulless entities. Westerners can learn much from pluralistic countries such as India where people with different kinds of worldviews, ideologies, religious expressions, cultural practices, and languages have been living for millennia. They constantly learn to overcome tensions, conflicts, and wounded memories. Now the Indian Constitution, for example, grants freedom to all Indians to believe in, to practice, and to propagate their faith traditions in a respectful manner. This is one of the major reasons why India has recognized two major Christian festivals — Christmas and Good Friday —worthy of national holidays. It is noteworthy that this privilege is accorded to a small group of people who make up only 2.4% of the population! Christians in India celebrate Christmas joyfully and publicly, no matter on which day of the week it falls.
For Christians in India, Christmas is not a mere folk festival filled with secular and commercial aspects. Their biblical literacy and their status as minority people living in the midst of dominant religions such as Hinduism and Islam make them take seriously their identity as Christians. They know that Christmas has to do with the “mass” of Jesus Christ. Hence they gratefully recall and remember within the context of worship not only the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, but above all his death on the cross of Calvary. In this regard, worship on every Sunday is considered to be Christmas. Generally, every worship on Sundays concludes with the missionis (“mission” = to send), and encourages the worshippers to go into the world and to live a life worthy of their identity as Christians. They are reminded to be true to themselves in real life situations so they can be true to others in their real life situations. Just as we learn to be true to the real meaning of Christmas centered on Jesus Christ we will be able to understand the meaning and significance any other non-Christian festival. Christmas is more than a mere happy holiday season; it is indeed Christmas.
Daniel Jeyaraj, Judson DeFreitas Professor of World Christianity
In the modern world people need not reject or hide their religious identities. Instead they can learn to cope with differences in such a way that their religious identities are not portrayed as soulless entities. Westerners can learn much from pluralistic countries such as India where people with different kinds of worldviews, ideologies, religious expressions, cultural practices, and languages have been living for millennia. They constantly learn to overcome tensions, conflicts, and wounded memories. Now the Indian Constitution, for example, grants freedom to all Indians to believe in, to practice, and to propagate their faith traditions in a respectful manner. This is one of the major reasons why India has recognized two major Christian festivals — Christmas and Good Friday —worthy of national holidays. It is noteworthy that this privilege is accorded to a small group of people who make up only 2.4% of the population! Christians in India celebrate Christmas joyfully and publicly, no matter on which day of the week it falls.
For Christians in India, Christmas is not a mere folk festival filled with secular and commercial aspects. Their biblical literacy and their status as minority people living in the midst of dominant religions such as Hinduism and Islam make them take seriously their identity as Christians. They know that Christmas has to do with the “mass” of Jesus Christ. Hence they gratefully recall and remember within the context of worship not only the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, but above all his death on the cross of Calvary. In this regard, worship on every Sunday is considered to be Christmas. Generally, every worship on Sundays concludes with the missionis (“mission” = to send), and encourages the worshippers to go into the world and to live a life worthy of their identity as Christians. They are reminded to be true to themselves in real life situations so they can be true to others in their real life situations. Just as we learn to be true to the real meaning of Christmas centered on Jesus Christ we will be able to understand the meaning and significance any other non-Christian festival. Christmas is more than a mere happy holiday season; it is indeed Christmas.
Daniel Jeyaraj, Judson DeFreitas Professor of World Christianity
posted by Andover Newton News at
11:54 AM
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