Christmas And People’s Offbeat Approach

Dr jarlath Uche Opara

I believe in the birth of Christ. I equally believe in the worth the while commomeration of it. But what I don’t believe in, is the manner with which some Christians commomerate it.

This disposition of mine, is personal. It does not have any scientific evidence to it. At best, my musings which one may agree or disagree with. If you agree with it , cool. If you do not , scroll pass it or at best delete.

When Mahatma Gandhi said *I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ*. He was more or less re-eoching my position on Christmas .

When a practice becomes more of a ritual without it being a lifestyle, it is nothing better than an automated device, robotic, acting and responding in a very mechanical manner.

There is a great chasm between Christmas as a lifestyle and Christmas as funfair activities with all these vain and frivolous rasmattaze.

The latter would have meant nothing to me, something I wouldn’t bother much, more of fringes for mere decoration if the former is the centre around which the razzmatazz , funfair, the wishes, etc of Christmas revolve.

I see the attitude of some people to Christmas as one of automated play, with a censor, sensitive to seasonal mood that activates without the commensurate human relational attachment.

I find it a bit off beat, one that shows nothing but mechanical, receiving Christmas messages from people that I have no relationship with. People that I share no sincere feelings of affection with, people that from January to November, my thoughts never closed their mind, never bothered to check on me, cared less about my challenges, difficulties, pains, happy moments etc boom ! Like a regulated and automated message, come their merry Christmas wishes.

Such wishes spike my sensitivity with the feeling that gives scratches than one with real joy of the birth of Jesus.

Many of such messages of merry Christmas are blast messages not one that truly reflects the very sincere emotional feelings of them to you. They are expressions in their generic mode, one for all purpose.

If one believes many of those messages as sincere reflection of people feelings, one probably will be believing a lie.

Let the joy that comes with the commomeration of the birth of Jesus be such that would provoke genuinely the love of Christ. One that would make our feelings towards others very real, hedged around godliness in lifestyle manner not one in a one off manner without humanity around it.

When a Christmas wishes become mechanical, transactional not transformational, not a lifestyle that would continue beyond this season, such wishes are at best a massage not a message, a facade not a feeling, lacking in love but filled with loud expressions, if subjected to sincere and godly approval would weigh zero

Let the joy of Christmas never be a seasonal one. Rather one that comes and expressed daily as a lifestyle.

Happy Christmas to you today, tomorrow and forever. The sincere beating of my heart to you in season and out of season. The message of the birth of Christ.

Dr. Jarlath Uche Opara Jarlathuche@gmail.com