Opinion: Holiday busyness - Heta Vaikona

12/08/07 , by Posted by: admin

Here in grand Paris, the city is a buzz with Christmas festivity. Lights swirling every lamp post, tree’s decorated with bright glittery bows and the beloved Tour Eiffel beaming in traditional Christmas colours – all help to make us feel festive.  Our village ‘Marche de Noel’ opens this evening – where local artisans display their finest handmade crafts in traditional chalet market stalls. As we are new to the city of light we are discovering French Christmas traditions for the first time – some are obviously familiar but nonetheless the ‘foreignness’ of Christmas in a different culture encourages us to search for the meaning in all of the festivity.

Christmas familiarity

As we pile on the ornaments to our tiny Christmas tree and wrap the toys for the kids, we can’t help but think of our beloved Tonga and the festivity so many of our friends and family will enjoy this year. Our phone is ringing more frequently with requests for specific trinkets and treasures to aid special programs and dramas. We made a run to the airport yesterday morning at 5am to drop a plastic wrapped parcel with special Christmas requests. As we get ready to celebrate Christmas we find ourselves searching for things to do; those will help us remember the profound gift God gave to all of us – and the significance and impact it should have on our ordinary daily lives.

I am eager to find some good Christian gospel music. I find communion with God in the raw emotionalism of simple songs and I feel encouraged by the claims of Faith and Triumph that is common to Gospel music. My husband wants to find a live nativity, similar to the nativity plays in Tonga which illuminate the simplicity of the profound message of the birth of Christ. Our sister Salote wants to hear some good Tongan Christmas hymns. Those hymns give illustrative narrative of all that happened on the first Christmas night in a manager many years ago in Bethlehem.

However in a lot of places today, and creeping into Tongan life as well, many have come to recognize that our culture has taken “Christ out of Christmas”. Let’s face it; it’s difficult enough to focus on God at any time of the year, but with the added fury of the month of December, even adamant Christians struggle to get beyond the commercialization of Christmas.

Christ amongst Christmas busyness

Off-course schools have long holidays, civil servants take time off, (well, the Tonga government closes for up to a week), and people in general take time off to be especially in their villages. For many of us, the time off is a desperately needed break from our busy and complicated lives.  It’s a lovely pause to commune deeply with our families and find God in our fellowship. But most would acknowledge this period, of December and January months, is probably the busiest time of the year.

I suppose it was kind of like that at the time of the birth of Christ. Especially when Caesar Augustus announced he would hold a census. I can imagine a lot of people in the Roman-ruled world were travelling or making arrangements to accommodate the decree from the ruler of the time - as Joseph and Mary did. People of Israel were pre-occupied with trying to get to the right place to register and I can imagine travelling was more taxing then than it is today.

Immanuel – God with us!

We know from the Old Testament, the Jews were waiting and expecting a Messiah, and one who would arrive as a king on a stallion with a flashing sword. But God, who delights in confounding worldly wisdom, dealt with Satan's cruel reign with a quiet invasion of planet earth. Instead of sending a mighty army, he chose an unknown, teenage virgin.

Christ came into the world in an unexpected way, may be when busyness occupied most people.

A lot of Christians may have confined Christ to a superior form of therapy. At times, I feel we treat the gospel that way in Tonga – elevating God to be so far away from our daily realities that in all the pomp and flair of our festivities, it’s difficult to find the Great God - man’s relevance to our very here and very now. Much the same as the Jews who expected the Messiah to come in a blaze of glory.

We can and shall go ahead with our usual, full-on celebrations during this festive time. But my hope is that we take time to slow down and look at where Jesus was found on the first Christmas night. My hope is that we can recognize Him in things and places familiar and unfamiliar to us. Don’t be surprised if Jesus unexpectedly turns up somewhere likes a manger. Don’t be surprised if you turn up and find Jesus in those homes that no one notices in your village, in those places that Tuituivao Ministry goes to; the places where Vai-tafetafe-malie visits.

Wishing you all a merry Christmas and Triumph in the New Year!

Heta lives in Paris with her husband, Tevita and their two boys.

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• December 11, 2007, 4:15 am - Naki Misa

  really enjoyed this article. Like you Heta, I would settle for some good gospel christmas music. They help me think more about the Lord Jesus Christ my saviour and the significance of such gift in my life, my family's life, my son's future, my friends (believers and non alike), extended families and everyone I come into contact with.

  Malo 'aupito and blessed christmas