Spare a Christmas thought for our valiant
soldiers
Millions of Christians the world over will be celebrating
Christmas 2007 on Tuesday. The followers of Jesus Christ celebrate the
birth of their saviour, which had taken place in Bethlehem. It's the day
on which 'the Prince of Peace' was born in a humble manger, over 2000
years ago.
Christmas provides an ideal platform for all nations in the world to
join hands with everyone to unite in peace. As millions of people across
the globe celebrate Christmas in two days' time, we in this beautiful
Indian-ocean island hope that Christmas would usher peace to our
country.
Christmas is typically the largest annual economic stimulus for many
nations. Sales increase dramatically in almost all retail areas, and the
shops introduce new products as people purchase gifts, decorations, and
supplies. There is no exception in Sri Lanka since Christianity was
introduced to this island by Europeans five centuries ago.
Moreover, Christmas has turned out to be more than a religious event.
Over the years, Christmas has become a global event, celebrated by
people all over the world. Christmas is an event looked forward to by
many belonging to different races and faiths. They observe it with joy
and merry making.
Hope and peace are special gifts of Christmas and all the people of
goodwill would need lots of hope to wait patiently and work towards a
lasting peace in Sri Lanka.
Liberating innocent civilians from the clutches of the LTTE terror
acts and achieving an honourable peace acceptable to all communities has
been the Government's goal.
Under the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Government
has been successful in marching towards that direction to a great
extent. With faith and hope, the Christian community in Sri Lanka could
reflect during this Christmas time on the role they need to play to help
bring about unity through acceptance and respect for diversity in terms
of race, religion and culture.
That should be an honourable peace that would respect feelings and
aspirations of all communities here.
The Christian minority here would share their joy with their
neighbours belonging to other religious beliefs. There are Sinhalese,
Tamils and Burghers amongst the Christians in Sri Lanka. Over the years,
they have lived in harmony, sharing the good times and the bad. For
centuries Sri Lanka has been blessed with a general commitment to the
ways and the values of a multi-religious, multi-racial and
multi-cultural society.
However, some Christians here, especially, need to reflect deeply on
whether their customs, rights and traditions are more Western than Sri
Lankan. Enculturation or practice of the religion through signs and
symbols more representative of Sri Lankan culture would be an important
step towards the Spirit of unity in diversity.
Jesus practically telescopes the love of God into the love of
neighbour. The implication is that in Jesus God has become our neighbour.
We cannot have a sound knowledge of God except through our love for
neighbour. The burden Jesus lays on Christians is that they serve the
poor in order to worship God worthily.
Unless the Christians show compassion to the poor, they cannot claim
to be God's covenant partners. The secret of Christianity's success all
over the world, amongst different nations is due to its supreme Law of
Love, the core proclamation of Jesus Christ, that man must not only love
God selflessly and do his bidding but also love his neighbour in equal
measure.
We must ponder on the very meaning of the word - Christmas, which has
been flooded by a torrent of commercialism to the point where most
people have forgotten the true meaning of this Holy day.
Various commercial activities all over the world have wrongly
portrayed Christmas as a season of splashing on worldly goods and
generally having a gala time. Though we don't find anything wrong in
engaging in a festive splurge we should also think about thousands of
people suffering, due to various reasons, all over the world.
In Sri Lanka too, thousands of people are suffering as a result of
Prabhakaran's terror acts. Many who have either become unfortunate
victims or lost their loved ones due to terrorist acts here should have
a prime place in our prayers.
While enjoying the glamour part of the Christmas, we should also
pause a moment to reflect on the words of Jesus, who called for
compassion to all. True Christians must remember the poor and the
downtrodden during the season. As Jesus Christ has taught, Christmas is
all about giving, sharing and caring.
In order to live up to the message of true Christmas, we must focus
our attention on the less affluent and under privileged segments of our
society. We must not forget the true sons of our soil who sacrifice
their today to make a better tomorrow for all us.
Our gallant Security Forces spend many sleepless nights in bunkers
under tiring conditions to make our Christmas a happy and a peaceful
one.
Our prayers and wishes should be with those who have made the supreme
sacrifice on behalf of us to protect our country. Christmas should be a
day for reflecting on the need for peace in our island, torn apart by
the LTTE terrorism for the last 24 years.
Let us also spare a thought for the thousands of our people who lost
their lives as a result of the tsunami disaster on the Boxing Day three
years ago. |