EL-SALVADOR!

CredoWriters: Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.

Christmas has never been my favourite season, not because I believe less in the Nativity but due to the gust it comes with which makes little sense to me. The peak of Christmas is 24th of December when all the rush and hush reach a climax. Sure, that goes with a lot of financial implications. Savings are depleted, debts are escalated. The rich show off and the poor become more miserable. Of course in a country like ours prices of commodities soar. Food, meat, clothing and many other things. The worse one is the cost of transportation. Fuel queues become a nightmare as the oil industry is notorious at this time.

It becomes more difficult to live a normal life because of the hype of Christmas. The roads become busier and more risky. Drivers are more reckless and do not give a hoot about safety. Crime rates of all magnitude multiply. From fraud to ritual killings to armed robbery and of course kidnapping the newest in town, in a bid to measure up to the merriment of a day or just hours. By mid day of 25th December all these will start fading.

As such I have always wished for a quick and quiet Christmas so that life will return to normalcy. Once it is past Christmas, the prices of goods will stabilize, the rush and queues will reduce, crime rates will fall and people like me who do not succumb to the madness of Christmas will regain our sanity once again.

Ironically, Christmas is a wonderful time. It is the peak of promise when God redeemed His pledge to His people. It is the symbol of a renewed hope for us because a fallen humanity is sent a child who will raise us up again. Unto us a son is born and the government shall be upon his shoulders. Not the kind of corrupt, tyrannical and selfish governments found around the world. He came to redeem a condemned people; he brings forth good news always.

In contrast it means we no longer have one Christmas but two. Over the years we have skewed towards the first Christmas which is our own creation. We have created an “Economic Christmas” to show our extravagance typical of our human weakness. We have mostly relegated the second Christmas, “the Spiritual Christmas” to the confines of the church.

This year however reminds me of that first Christmas and the nativity story. The simplicity of Jesus’ birth in that manger. It is this guilelessness that has been wiped away by the “economic Christmas” over the years. The Roman authorities who were colonialists of the Jewish people had compelled them to return to their villages for census. This year, the economic authorities who have also colonized our lives have returned us to our economic villages to take stock. Many of us will be in the manger like Baby- Jesus and his parents. This will for once take away the hullabaloo of the “economic Christmas” which has over the years eroded the serenity of the “spiritual Christmas.”

The meltdown will enable us to revisit the true meaning of Christmas and acknowledge him, who truly left all His riches and glory in Heaven to come down and live among us, and will eventually shed His blood, give up his life for us. He is truly our Saviour, the Saviour. El-Salvador! The Messiah, our Messiah.

Powered by CredoWorld Media.