Tuesday, December 23, 2008


Living where Christmas is not celebrated country-wide has made me aware that there is indeed a "spirit of Christmas" and He and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, regardless of how the west has tried to cover up and secularize Him. I have railed against the whole "spirit of Christmas" term in the past believing that it ignored Jesus and enabled people to create a false spirit of "feel-goodies" steeped in tradition and rum- laced eggnog. But I've realized something very important. It doesn't matter whether your neighbor chooses to put santa on his front lawn or a nativity. Both have historical Christian roots and both are presently "hallmarked" in error; what matters is that the reason why the block is lit up, the churches are lit up, and even some of the neighbors are lit up is that on a national level, we believe that Jesus was born and that it is a time to celebrate. That is an awesome thing. A Spiritual thing. And if you were here, you would feel the void (except where our feet tread, of course!). Nothing changes in red China on the 25th of December... the people just keep on marching toward the future.

On my way back from Manjitan yesterday I ran into our building manager; a Chinese man named "Dragon" (I still don't know what his real name is after four months) who noticed my purchase of wrapping paper and began to talk about Christmas.
He said "In the west, Christmas biggest holiday."
I agreed " Yes, we celebrate Jesus' birthday".
"It's like our Spring festival... very big deal... we use lots of fireworks." He said.
"Yes, Christmas and Easter are the big deal for us. They are about Jesus". I told him.
He laughed. I'm sure he was thinking the same thing I was... "If Jesus is such a big deal for us, where are our fireworks???" - Kelley

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