{"id":65960,"date":"2012-12-22T20:25:16","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T20:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=65960"},"modified":"2012-12-24T12:04:46","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T12:04:46","slug":"the-meaning-of-this-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-meaning-of-this-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning Of This Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Malinda+Seneviratne&amp;x=14&amp;y=4\">Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0&#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_44732\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/expatriate-tamils-and-the-dimensions-of-culpability\/malinda\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-44732\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44732\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44732\" title=\"Malinda\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-44732\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It is Christmas time; the time for good cheer, merriment and fun.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the signs say.\u00a0 Christmas is \u2018Christian\u2019, officially.\u00a0 In reality though, it can be argued that it belongs to business.\u00a0 This says something about its appropriation by profit-seekers.<\/p>\n<p>In another reality, Christmas, in Sri Lanka, belongs to all Sri Lankans, regardless of faith.\u00a0 Children of all faiths eagerly await the arrival of Santa Claus.\u00a0 This says a lot about the meaning of Christmas.\u00a0 In Sri Lanka, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Christians&amp;x=9&amp;y=6\">Christians<\/a><\/span> (of all denominations) are just 7% of the population, making them the 4<sup>th<\/sup> largest religious group.\u00a0 The embrace of <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Christmas&amp;x=14&amp;y=-1\">Christmas<\/a><\/span>, then, says a lot of the tolerance and accommodation of other faiths, especially <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Buddhists&amp;x=8&amp;y=7\">Buddhists<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>What is most important however is not compositions and cultural predilection spawned by philosophical preferences and upbringing, but message.\u00a0 Christmas is about Jesus Christ, the celebration of his birth.\u00a0 Given the significance to the fundamentals of the faith, Easter is more important to Christians spiritually, but this does not mean that Jesus Christ, what he said, what he did and the relevant lessons should be forgotten.\u00a0 It is a celebration, sure, but it can also be a time for sharing, giving and reflection.<\/p>\n<p>When one thinks back on Christmases of the past, no Christmas time comes close to affirming the endearing qualities of Jesus (which indeed constitute the bedrock of the faith, some might claim) than the year 2004.\u00a0 Although the giving and sharing, the sympathy and empathy, following the Tsunami did not come decked in red and green of holly leaves and berries, or dusted with something to indicate snowflake, the effort can be described as embodying what Christmas ought to be.<\/p>\n<p>That monumental \u2018giving\u2019 sits well with many biblical passages contained in the Book of Deuteronomy, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Micah in the Old Testament, as well as the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the Letters of Paul in the New Testament.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if Buddhists were urged by the teachings of the Buddha and Muslims by those of the Prophet or Hindus by the words sacred to them.\u00a0 For all this, there was an affirmation of Christmas in ways not seen before or since.<\/p>\n<p>Today, in 2012, we are not in a post-Tsunami moment, but are nevertheless in the midst of a natural calamity where hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered homeless, dozens of lives lost and untold damage caused to livelihoods.\u00a0 Today we remember and salute the thousands of public servants who have gone beyond the call of duty to bring relief to the distressed and note with dismay that some have deliberately failed to respond as per their contractual obligations.\u00a0 Today, we celebrate those citizens who individually and collectively reached out to help.\u00a0 Today we ask ourselves, \u2018have we done enough?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>This is Christmas time.\u00a0 It is a time when goodwill and cheer come in buckets.\u00a0 It is, right now, a time when the heavens have opened and the floodgates of misery have burst.\u00a0 There are many ways to celebrate Christmas, which as was observed above, belongs to all.\u00a0 We can choose.\u00a0 We can choose poorly.\u00a0 We must not.<\/p>\n<p>QUOTE<\/p>\n<p>Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loosen the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter&#8211; when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? \u00a0<strong>Isaiah 58:6-7;10<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nation.lk\/\">The Nation<\/a>\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.malindawords.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a>\u00a0.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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