-Vinod Shemron. S
Unity and Mission
National Council of
Churches in India
As we
intercede with God...
I invite you
to journey to the place where the babe laid in a manger...
Let us imagine
the nativity through today’s eyes...
Let us
remember the migrant
family, the pregnant Mary and Joseph the
carpenter, like whom, many still migrate until this day. None can comprehend
the turmoil they go through during this Himalayan journey. Through thick and thin,
dry and wet, hot and cold, journey that never seems to end. Through the eyes of
the media, we have glimpses of parts of their struggle but we cannot comprehend
the depth of and pain in their struggle. We have seen corpses setting ashore,
many losing family, with just one hope, to find life somewhere. Pause life for
a moment, and imagine... What would the refugee Christmas tree look like? What
would the decoration on the tree be?
Let us remember
the innkeepers,
who still deny space for the homeless though they have room to accommodate some
more. They decorate their homes with decorative articles, and make the plain
look awesome and grand. But are these decorated dwellings Christmas itself? Are
we trying to ‘mean’ Christmas or celebrate a “mean-Christmas” through this act
of ours? How would these decorated homes and offices bring the Christmas
message to the homeless people lay on the streets battling the chilling
weather?
Let us
remember the Ox, Donkey and the cattle in the stable. They witnessed the first Christmas in front of
their eyes. What would have been their thought as they heard the first cry of
the baby on that Christmas night? What would the cattle be thinking of today?
Would it be about the beef ban in the country? Or would it be the suicide of
their farmer-masters who toiled with them to grow our food, yet die poverty? What would Christmas mean to them in today’s
context?
Let us
remember hay in the stable, on who lay the excreta of the animals, yet graced by the
visual of the birthing of the baby Jesus. If it had a mind to think, what would
the strands of hay think? Would it rejoice the birth of the one who can give
life-giving water or would it think of the earth that we have drained and
brought drought? The hay would feel the groaning of the earth in its deepest
grief but bearing it all, as we steal its resources and concretize just to make
our lives cosy. What then would Christmas mean to the hay as the earth lies in
peril?
Let us
remember the shepherds,
who were watching their sheep out of the city. Just like them, the many we have
pushed afar from our lives. The Women, Dalits, Transgenders, Lesbians, Gays,
Bisexuals, persons with HIV positive, the Persons with Disability, and all
those we have pushed afar, lay watching at our lives. What good news would the
angel bring to them? Would the good news bring glad tidings of great Joy or
remind them that they are to be out? What joy would this Christmas that we
celebrate, bring to them?
Let us
remember the ‘Herods’,
who incessantly steal the live of the vulnerable with their greed for power.
How would they celebrate this Christmas? Will they start with the massacre of
the infants as Herod did or live in fear of losing their throne? What would
their option be, to serve the people they chose to serve or to make their lives
miserable just to see themselves secure? How many lives will they claim in the
process of claiming excellent self-credentials? Is this Christmas also an opportunity
for such an act?
Let us
remember the wise ‘men’
who visited that baby in a manger, who gifted him with Gold, Myrrh and
Frankincense. They symbolise the many that are rich in their wealth of love and
deep in their sound wisdom. They wish to serve. They wish to give. At times,
knowing not what to give, yet they give. What would they give for people this
Christmas? What would they be thinking as an apt Christmas gift? Would it be
what the people need or would it be out of their own greed to give?
Let us
remember the Baby Jesus,
who cried the first tears that Christmas night. Did he cry as a sign of life or
was it in solidarity with the voice of Rachel crying in Ramah? Did he know of
the babies killed during his birth or was he ignorant of the lives Herod
massacred? How would have that little baby Jesus spent that Christmas night?
The divine child he is, though human, fully God and fully human. Would he have
anticipated the gifts the wise ‘men’ would bring? Or was he content with the
gifts the shepherds gave? How would Jesus feel about Christmas if he were to be
born this year?
God has
heard the words ringing in our minds, and has known the convictions of our
hearts. Let this Christmas season not merely be a celebration as an outward
expression of a gloriously decorated Christmas tree or a statued-manger but,
let it lead us to ‘remember’ the characters of the nativity and guide us to‘re-member’
the people that are symbolised in the Christmas narrative.
May God in
mercy, hear our pleading cry. Amen
