Nagaland celebrated Christmas with more maturity and decency in 2010. Our river sides are quieter and less noisy, roadsides and streets were peaceful, our roads safer, and far less accident with exception of few happenings. Of course, the writer of this article does not know the inside story of each home. The way we behave in celebration and festive events prove how we are catching along with our world. The following is written to help our readers grow with vision and objective in the years to come.
Mindset Regarding the Prince of Peace
In our century, the magnitude of our faith depends upon how we welcome the Prince of Peace as we celebrate Christmas. Maybe our faith is always infant and weak because we always view Jesus Christ in terms of a child as recorded in the Bible more than two thousand years ago. Jesus is no longer an infant now. He grew big, served humanity and gave His life for the world. He is in Heaven and is about to return. He wants us to proclaim the message that came long back. The celebration is just a memory of his birth that time. Perhaps our next Christmas celebration will turn up different according to the level of maturity or size of our faith. Our Christmas cakes, stars, decorations, gifts and feasts, and all expenses involved in December may be judiciously construed and invested for proclamation of the purpose of Christmas; or give for mission as much as we spend for Christmas celebration.
An overseas Bible fried called me just before December 25. I replied “Nagaland is ready for Christmas.” He asked “What?” I replied “Church service, foods, gifts, cakes, stars, home decoration, new dresses for children, Christmas feast .....” It stunned me when he told me “We did all this once but what we do now is investing all this to proclaim the message of salvation that came in Christmas. We now give Christmas to the world that the world may find eternal life.” How true it is! The world needs Jesus Christ the Savior and not a baby boy any more. Christmas must become a missionary event. Let us think about even Nagaland’s covenant of ten thousand gospel volunteers.
Practical Aspect of Prince of Peace
Christianity is not a religion like other ritualized systems of practice. It is our living relationship with the Creator who incarnates to reveal His salvation plan to mankind in human terms and context. Our prayers to God is not a religious ritual. Rather it is as the way we talk to our father or mother in proper order. It is also like a communication with a superior. It is a living dynamism. It is not based on a fear-psycho but love. God loves us that He gave us eternal salvation. In response, we love God, obey Him and live for Him. Negative words such as fear and judgment become common in the context of disobedience and deliberate sins. These words must be replaced with positive terms like love, honesty, faith, works, harmony, and hope and peace. The Prince of Peace brings positive life to us. The terms ‘Christianity, church and denomination’ have historically western connotation because of encoding process from the West. For instance, the Nagas were evangelized by the American Baptist missionaries and naturally we follow their patterns. But if Jesus is to be as a Naga it would have been quite another history.
A life with and in the Prince of Peace has nothing to do with a denomination or a religion. It is a life living Jesus Christ where our life values become the index of what is inside. In this context, the believers are compared with salt and light. The value of salt is understood in terms of tasting while the importance of light is known in the context and in relation to darkness. That means the recipients of the Prince of Peace live a life which is like salt and light.
Good people is an appropriate term to substitute or replace ‘Christians.’ Who are the good people to describe the term? They come and leave on time, they practice honesty and faithfulness in society, they don’t steal and do not take what does not belong to them, they don’t kill, they help others, they work or study hard, and they reflect their Lord’s character. They promote peace and harmony. They keep their tongues from slandering and gossiping habit. They are optimistic and are sure of living in heaven when they are done in the world. Excellence is their motto.
Mindset Regarding the Prince of Peace
In our century, the magnitude of our faith depends upon how we welcome the Prince of Peace as we celebrate Christmas. Maybe our faith is always infant and weak because we always view Jesus Christ in terms of a child as recorded in the Bible more than two thousand years ago. Jesus is no longer an infant now. He grew big, served humanity and gave His life for the world. He is in Heaven and is about to return. He wants us to proclaim the message that came long back. The celebration is just a memory of his birth that time. Perhaps our next Christmas celebration will turn up different according to the level of maturity or size of our faith. Our Christmas cakes, stars, decorations, gifts and feasts, and all expenses involved in December may be judiciously construed and invested for proclamation of the purpose of Christmas; or give for mission as much as we spend for Christmas celebration.
An overseas Bible fried called me just before December 25. I replied “Nagaland is ready for Christmas.” He asked “What?” I replied “Church service, foods, gifts, cakes, stars, home decoration, new dresses for children, Christmas feast .....” It stunned me when he told me “We did all this once but what we do now is investing all this to proclaim the message of salvation that came in Christmas. We now give Christmas to the world that the world may find eternal life.” How true it is! The world needs Jesus Christ the Savior and not a baby boy any more. Christmas must become a missionary event. Let us think about even Nagaland’s covenant of ten thousand gospel volunteers.
Practical Aspect of Prince of Peace
Christianity is not a religion like other ritualized systems of practice. It is our living relationship with the Creator who incarnates to reveal His salvation plan to mankind in human terms and context. Our prayers to God is not a religious ritual. Rather it is as the way we talk to our father or mother in proper order. It is also like a communication with a superior. It is a living dynamism. It is not based on a fear-psycho but love. God loves us that He gave us eternal salvation. In response, we love God, obey Him and live for Him. Negative words such as fear and judgment become common in the context of disobedience and deliberate sins. These words must be replaced with positive terms like love, honesty, faith, works, harmony, and hope and peace. The Prince of Peace brings positive life to us. The terms ‘Christianity, church and denomination’ have historically western connotation because of encoding process from the West. For instance, the Nagas were evangelized by the American Baptist missionaries and naturally we follow their patterns. But if Jesus is to be as a Naga it would have been quite another history.
A life with and in the Prince of Peace has nothing to do with a denomination or a religion. It is a life living Jesus Christ where our life values become the index of what is inside. In this context, the believers are compared with salt and light. The value of salt is understood in terms of tasting while the importance of light is known in the context and in relation to darkness. That means the recipients of the Prince of Peace live a life which is like salt and light.
Good people is an appropriate term to substitute or replace ‘Christians.’ Who are the good people to describe the term? They come and leave on time, they practice honesty and faithfulness in society, they don’t steal and do not take what does not belong to them, they don’t kill, they help others, they work or study hard, and they reflect their Lord’s character. They promote peace and harmony. They keep their tongues from slandering and gossiping habit. They are optimistic and are sure of living in heaven when they are done in the world. Excellence is their motto.
Holistic Aspect of Christmas
Christmas must bring total transformation in all human aspect. It must bear a consistent testimony of change. Christians must always live with a thankful heart to God. The spirit of Christmas must encounter and interact with our culture of work, touching our government office, public schools, business centers and market places, families and homes. The message of eternal salvation must transform our social life and elevate our economic levels. Faith in God must beget sweats. It must bring a new model of working system including lesser sleep and harder studies, restraining unhealthy habits, affecting healthier relationship and increasing human values of honesty and respect.
Today’s need is a living relationship at homes, churches, and work points. The love of God must be translated into our political systems and practices, and social habits. The love of God and political revenge and rivalry cannot go together. There is no dichotomy. The Prince of Peace brings honesty, justice and equality. As recipients of the Wonderful Counselor, our homes must be placed in order.
Missiological Aspect of Christmas
The recipients of the Good News, beyond spiritual eternal, are expected to proclaim the message to people who are yet to be told and reached with. In the New Testament, people who witnessed the birth of Christ, people who were healed, and those witnessing the resurrection of the Lord went back as missionaries, telling the world about what had happened to their lives. God expects every believer to ripple to Good News.
Believing individuals
Each believer can participate in mission in terms of praying, going, supporting and encouragement. There are dozen of ways one can actively participate in missions.
Believing family
A family is a strong unit of a church. As Abraham gave his beloved son Isaac to God, what each family can do for Christ is the most capable and brainiest child for mission. Medical science, engineering work and architectural science require accuracy. What about construction of eternal bridge between man and God? Certainly, a toper or first class child in a given family would be more capable than a child passing in a third class or a repeated failing. It needs good brain along with spiritual commitment. Mission of God needs competence and accuracy in biblical interpretation and cross-cultural mission. Also, families can form teams to send and support missionaries.
A living church
Every living church is a missionary church. And a missionary church means ‘mission as priority of the church.’ God expects a church to be praying, sending, supporting and participating in mission. Mission resources include funding, personnel and spiritual motivation and encouragement. The priority of the Great Commission must not be replaced with local priorities. And mission must not be sacrificed at the altar of local development. Because everything is not mission as Stephen Neill rightly.
Gospel influenced community
Nagaland is a state of churches and Christians. The peculiarity of Nagaland is its spectacular response to the gospel (not to any other religion), ten thousand missionary covenant, massive revival movement that swept through the entire state, Christian authority in public affairs and officers in government offices, its commercial city, Dimapur, having the highest number of theological colleges in India, if not in the world, and the first missionary training school (MRC) in the region. Calculating all this, the Nagas are a strategic people being significantly placed in a missiologically geo-political setting surrounded by millions of world’s major religions.
Christmas and mission are two-sided coin. We receive freely from God. We must now give freely to others surrounding us. There are over four billion people in the world who need to know the meaning of Christmas and the Prince of Peace. But it needs people to go with support to tell them. The Spirit of the Lord may speak to some readers to respond God’s call.
Rev. Dr. P. Dozo, Dimapur
