Christmas must be more than Dec 25 : The King is born
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 24, 2022 -

The King is born. This is the line that all Christians or as they like to call themselves, the Believers, stick to especially when Christmas is at hand and even as Manipur, like the rest of the world, gears itself up to welcome the birth of Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps this is the ideal time to question why Christ should be remembered only when Christmas is at hand.

Everlasting life, this is the promise from the Son of the Lord, as the Christians would like to believe and the question is why can’t the life and teachings of Christ reverberate throughout the year ?

Why can’t those who religiously observe Christmas every year be a follower of Christ all throughout the year and not only when it is time to celebrate His birth ?

Why can’t everyone remember the teachings and philosophy of Christ each waking and sleeping minute and not just during the service period on Sundays ?

These are all questions which Believers should ask themselves even as the world decks herself up to welcome the birth of Lord Jesus Christ who was sent to this earth to save mankind.

And speaking of mankind, why is it that one finds those who were born Christians are the ones scripting the same old story of targeting and victimising others ?

It was just a few days back that the Government of Manipur arranged a special flight to transport the people of Mao who were left stranded at Dimapur and elsewhere in Nagaland after the Southern Angami People’s Organisation (SAPO) and fully backed by the Southern Angami Youth Organisation (SAYO), gave the people of Mao marching orders and told them not to cross into Angami territory in Nagaland.

Don’t the people of Mao and members of SAPO and SAYO share something common in Christ and hence Christmas ?

This is the latest example that comes to mind and go back some time and one can and will certainly come up with a myriad of examples that are far removed from anything that has got to do with Christ or His birth, Christmas.

Makes no sense to go to Church every Sunday and celebrate Christmas every year while living a life that is far removed from all that Christ believed in and espoused.

Why should Christmas be observed only on December 25 every year ?

Why can’t the spirit of the Lord who was sent to earth to save mankind be the guiding light all through the year ?

Why should the birth of the Lord be reduced to the status of an annual affair ? Why can’t it be an everyday celebration ?

Celebration as understood in the context of following His teachings and all that He stood for.

As in the past, all Churches in Manipur, as in the rest of the world, must have been spruced up for the special day.

Nothing wrong in setting aside a day to commemorate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ, but the matter of greater import here ought to be to live His Words and His Deeds throughout the year and not reduce the birth of the Lord who came to save mankind to just another date on the calendar.

This should be the ideal way of celebrating the birth of the Lord and ideally it should not be confined to a single day.

It should guide all Believers to live His Word and Deeds throughout the year and only then would Christmas gain any special meaning. Make it more meaningful.

Don’t understand the birth of the Lord via a single day on the calendar.

This is about those who profess Christianity as a faith and at the same time it would do good for mankind as a whole to study His teachings and life and try to follow each word religiously.

There should be nothing wrong in imbibing the teachings of Christ in one’s life and this should not mean that this is akin to being converted to Christianity.

Be a good human being is the core message that one can read on observing the birth of Jesus Christ and anyone can be a good human being, irrespective of the religion one follows, whether one is a Hindu or a Sikh or a Buddhist.

So even as December 25 comes knocking at the door of everyone, let everyone celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ every day of the year and not understand His birth via a single date on the calendar.

Merry Christmas to all the readers, patrons and well wishers of The Sangai Express.