Let’s apply Christmas theme to foster unity

Christmas and Easter are the two main Christian festivals. They are bases on the belief that God became human, and that Jesus rose from the dead. While the original Christian tenet proclaimed was the resurrection, the celebration of Christmas overtook Easter in popularity and extravaganza.

As a season, Christmas has significance beyond the crucible of Christianity, in which it evolved. For business people, some not believers, it is a season to maximise sales. For many workers, it is a time to celebrate with family and friends. Christmas has transcended religion to become a secular cultural festival.

To St Paul, a leading champion of early Christianity, the principal ground of faith was the resurrection. Virtually all his sermons in the Acts of the Apostles culminate in this tenet. One of his longest and impassioned arguments (1 Cor 15), is a proclamation that God raised Jesus from the dead.

At least once, Paul refers to Jesus as born of a woman (Gal 4: 4). In two of his writings, he includes hymns (Phil 2: 6-11 and Col 1:12-20), whose main tenor is that Jesus Christ pre-existed in the form of God before his birth on earth and is the visible image of the invisible God.

Paul concentrates on the resurrection, inspired by his Damascus experience when the risen Lord appeared to him (Acts 9: 1-9).

As a liturgical period for many churches with roots in Western Christianity including Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, the Christmas season begins on the evening December 24 with vespers and ends on the Sunday after the Epiphany, celebrated on January 6. These branches of Western Christianity also follow the Gregorian calendar, established in the 16th century.

For churches associated with Eastern Christianity, among them the Orthodox and Coptic which follow the Julian calendar, Christmas falls on January 6.

Fixing Christ’s birth on December 25 was a long, complicated, controversial and sometimes hilarious process. But one thing on which scholars agree is that nobody knows the exact date.

According to modern researchers, Mark was the first gospel, written between 65 and 70AD, about 30 years after Christ’s death. And it contains no account of his birth.   Most scholars agree that Matthew and Luke, which mention his birth, were written between 70 and 80AD. Though Luke explicitly states that he checked his sources carefully, his account of Christ’s birth must have been based on oral tradition. 

One source on the origins of Christmas theorises that, after Christianity was tolerated by the Roman authorities with the issuance of the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine in 313AD, an arrangement was made to replace the celebration of the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun (dies natalis Solis Invicti) on December 25 with festivities marking Christ’s birth.

It is ironic that many Europeans, who until recently, defined themselves as the custodians of Western Christian culture, now identify themselves as Druids and pagans. One of their mai activities is to gather on December 22 to mark the feast of Juul or Yule, the winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere.

In an atavistic return to the practices of their pre-Christian ancestors, they chant and dance as they burn logs anticipating the return of the sun. Stonehenge in Wiltshire, UK, has become famous worldwide as a meeting place for Juul devotees. Last year, over 30,000 Druids participated in the pagan ceremony.

Through the ages, Christians have understood Christmas as a season of reconciliation between God and humanity on the vertical axis and the spread of goodwill among humankind on the horizontal line. One feature of our disposition for reconciliation is the willingness to share gifts with others during Noel.

Kenya comprises many of ethnic groups in dire need of national cohesion., so applying the Christmas themes of justice, reconciliation and goodwill is very relevant. For our survival and prosperity, we would do well to heed the angelic message, “peace on earth to people of goodwill” (Lk. 2:14).

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2020!

Fr Njoroge is the Catholic Chaplain at JKUAT where he is Professor of Development Studies and Ethics,