Why the true meaning of Xmas is not 'Bah! Humbug!'

By Grace Segran

JAKARTA (JP): Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol called Ebenezer Scrooge "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!" When his nephew came by to wish him "Merry Christmas", he said his famous, (or rather infamous) words, "Bah! Humbug!".

Scrooge saw no reason to celebrate Christmas, especially since "it's a time for paying bills, a time for finding yourself a year older but not an hour richer".

Christians all over the world celebrate Christmas as the day when Jesus Christ was born. It was God's ultimate expression of love for us, the sinner, the unlovely.

The Christmas message is a message of hope -- there is hope for humanity that has been ruined by sin. There is hope of a pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory.

Because Christians believe Jesus was God's gift to man for our salvation, Christmas has become traditionally a time for "gifts" -- a time of giving and sharing.

It is sad that Christmas has become so commercialized. Mankind has a tendency of turning something of beauty into ugliness. We have only to look around us and see what is happening to the environment, and what greed does to prosperity and wealth.

Come Christmas and there is crass commercialization; gift buying is a racket. Everyone is out there in the malls and at Christmas bazaars that begin as early as October, buying, buying and buying for loved ones. Hardly anyone stops these days to reflect and ponder on the real meaning of Christmas. They are all too busy doing one "Christmas" activity after another. The Christmas spirit rarely means more than sentimental family get- togethers and booze-ups.

However, so much commercialization doesn't mean that the meaning of Christmas is completely lost. For millions of Christians, it is a time of reflection on the birth of Christ and why he came to earth; a time of thankfulness for the gift of Jesus Christ and sharing the joys of the season with family and friends, and sharing of gifts with the poor and underprivileged.

As children growing up in a kampong, we looked forward eagerly to Christmas every year. Weeks before Christmas, there would be play practices every night. It was usually a nativity play or Christmas pageant. We hoped to be given a part, albeit a small one. The play would be performed on Christmas eve and friends and families would be invited.

After the play, we would go caroling. At 10 p.m. we would board buses that would take us all over our little town to bring joy into homes that had invited us to sing their favorite carols. Even non-Christians joined in the festivity. At midnight we would have a time of prayer and a short devotional to commemorate Christ's birth. We would then gather in the early hours of Christmas morning at the end of the caroling for a feast of porridge at someone's house.

We would all be back in church the next morning at 10 a.m. for the Christmas service and an exchange of gifts. Gifts back then were very simple items but they meant a lot when we were little. Then we would spend the day visiting and enjoying the company of family and friends where simple fare was served.

With Christmas over, we began to look toward Easter, at the death and the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Christmas message is also one of peace and goodwill among men. It is a season of forgiveness, of tolerance, of living peaceably with one another, just as God had forgiven us.

However, the Christmas spirit is not for this season only. It should be lived throughout the whole year. May we spend our whole life enriching our fellowmen, giving care and concern, doing good in whatever way there seems to be a need.

As Dickens' story unfolded dramatically, it ended with Scrooge understanding the true meaning of Christmas. He became a changed man and lived the true spirit of Christmas. He discovered that Christmas was not "Bah! Humbug!", but that it was a time of joy, giving and sharing.

He whom "the cold within him froze his old features ... who carried his own low temperature always about with him ...", now had joy in his heart. He was now able to laugh. Wrote Dickens, "Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh."

Then he couldn't wait to go out and share the joy that was in his heart and his wealth.

Scrooge "... was better than his word. He did all, and infinitely more ... It was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us and all of us!"

May we well discover the true meaning of Christmas.

The author (rsegran@cbn.net.id) is a freelance writer residing in Jakarta, and a former editor.