Losing the meaning of Christmas

I got an unholy wake up call at the small hours of Saturday 14th December. In a riot of being half asleep and juggling to reach the handset, the call got disconnected. Not so nice hang up sound resulted. Seemingly, the caller did not want to leave a message, or be charged for doing so. The season of unreasonable expectations has arrived. While the world would be celebrating Christmas, fondly referred to by many cultures using various names: Chrismess, Yuletide, and Happy Holidays to name a few. In my neighborhood, creatively attractive ornaments and colorful lights are streaming and adorning the place, doing justice to a brilliant glamour show. However, in January an expected inflated utility bill will show up in the mail for using more electricity to power the water heater and central heating system that work overtime plus using extra outlets, as the cold weather takes a toll.

However, Florida, the Sunshine State has germinated an increased colony of homeless people. More Whites than blacks have become homeless. Did we foresee this scary trend ever possible? While food stamps and other help or handouts for the needy are being brutally slashed with a giant knife by lawmakers, in both federal and state governments nationwide. Some churches and Charities will be giving out more food to the needy and hot meals too for Christmas. How would the poor and unemployed survive the rest of the year, while trying to secure habitable place to live. Statistics don’t show the whole picture of each needy family in these United States, and what they are going through all year round. The gap between the Haves and Have-nots has widened so much one wonder whether the curve would ever intersect.

Planning on buying expensive gifts for those who don’t need them? Consider the homeless and needy folks who have been displaced by the cruel and man made divide called poverty as late Nelson Mandela puts it. It’s not Christ like or morally upright to see others suffer needlessly, while a minority partake a big chunk of the national cake. The Trinity that includes Christ, whom some believe they are commemorating his birth and mission, will make Christ heart broken, if not actually rejected. Knowing how we have transformed his birthday, missed the right date, be pleased. Transforming the season into a big commercial venture without Christ in it. He gave all he had himself. What have we given him in return for his unblemished sacrifice? As we swipe the credit cards and dip into the pocket books think about the less fortunate and very destitute, whom Christ died for too. Exchanging gifts with friends and coworkers defeats the mission of the Messiah whose purpose is universal not selectively centered on the connected elected or selected. For many, He’s not the reason for the season. The controversy pivoted around his birth will remain the greatest unsolved mystery of humankind. May we prepare our hearts, if not purge them from the malaise of lust for things that drift us away from the love of Christ and our neighbors, and make the event more spiritually meaningful about the immortal Son of God, who perfects our faith. Does the profit versus salvation argument bear sound merit in today’s world endlessly drifting away from the tenets of Christmas?

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