This weekend 3 friends and I went away for the final time in Sierra Leone. This morning as I sat in glorious sunshine having breakfast with the palm trees gently swaying in the warm breeze I suddenly heard the distant strains of 'O Come All Ye Faithful' being sung in a local church. As the sound drifted towards me through the lush vegetation I got to thinking how strange it is to think of celebrating Christmas in a tropical climate. But so many people in the world do.
We all have our Christmas traditions. For me it is fires, mulled wine, candle light and long walks in the cold wintry air. For others it is presents, for many it is that slightly nauseous feeling that comes from having eaten too much. But these are just things. Being in a place where the senses are not overwhelmed by commercialism, bright lights and the buy, buy, buy culture of the Western Christmases makes me realise not how lucky we are but how blinded we are by our ever growing need for...stuff.
Now I am in a place where the frantic rush to attract the attention of consumers does not begin in October and this makes for some serious reflection. In a place where people have nothing but their voices to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, the simplicity and joy of people's faith becomes all that matters.
Where we are blinded by our consumerist need, the people here live by blind faith. They follow and praise God with a deep joy despite their circumstances. They think nothing of spending hours in a hot church singing and dancing praises to the Lord. When they have nothing, God is enough.
God should be enough for us all this Christmas but for many (including Christians) he isn't. When we are safely ensconced in our houses surrounded by all we could possibly want, the people here will continue to sing praises despite their circumstances and not having what they need.
As I was listening to the carol singing, I read these verses from 1 Peter 1:6-9:
'6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.'
As Christians, and like those I have encountered here, we should not dwell on what we don't have. Maybe this Christmas we should wake up from our food and alcohol induced haze and see that Jesus doesn't owe us that new phone or toy but rather that we owe Jesus our sacrificial lives, even if life isn't quite going the way we want it to. We should rejoice in Him this Christmas, putting aside all the distractions and the flashing lights and simply thank Him for all things, whether we have what we want or not. After all, to Him our faith is of greater worth than gold (and presents).
The Africans get it right when they bring their only gift, the most precious gift of faith to celebrate Christmas. And that, I think, is a lesson I will be reflecting on for many Christmases to come.
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