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.
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