Bearing each other’s burdens this Christmas

Christmas message from the St Vincent and the Grenadines Christian Council

Luke 2:7“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn”.

Dear brothers and sisters, Christmas greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord and Saviour!
On this glorious celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, togetherness is the central theme as we make every effort to mingle and jingle with family, friends and the wider community.

We have even immortalised in various songs the story of Jesus’ birth, with Vincentian calypsonian Alston Becket Cyrus singing thus in the well-loved “Sing we Noel”. “Sing we Noël, sing we joyously Noël! Joyously sing of the news we have to tell! Born to us in the little village of Bethlehem on this day, is the little Christ Child so pure and holy; he’s sleeping there in the hay. Poor little baby, no other place was found, except in a manger with cows and sheep around. Yet the story of this wee baby was told by angels so fair. There were wise men, shepherds to pay Him homage and bring him presents so dear”.

Beyond the melodious rendition and beautiful music of Becket’s song, there is a serious message on which we will do well to ponder.

The writer of Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room in the inn, with the Greek word being kataluma. In fact, the updated edition of the New Revised Standard Version uses the term guest room instead of inn. In our modern, commercialized world, we may easily regard an inn to be a motel or hotel; however, research of the then Jewish lifestyle will reveal that inhabitants stayed at relatives when they travelled from one location to another. To accommodate such, they culturally built houses with deliberate upper-level guest rooms, kataluma, for visiting family members, and lower-level dwelling with an area for their animals to be housed. This very much reflect our community life and family interactions. In the case of Mary and Joseph, when they arrived, the guest rooms may have already been filled, so they were accommodated downstairs. As such, the story of Jesus’ birth is not about highlighting an insensitive innkeeper; but rather reflecting the fact that Jesus was born in humble circumstances of lower-level dwelling, with this babe being laid in a manger, the animal feeding trough.

Importantly, Jesus was birthed in a community setting among family.

Vitally though, despite the circumstances of Jesus’ birth, God was still able to carry out his intervention into human inhabitant as Emmanuel, God is with us. In fact, all through the centuries, before and after the birth of Jesus, God the mighty redeemer was able to do his will, and I believe desires to do the same among us.

Due to the passage of Hurricane Beryl, this Christmas there will be many from the Grenadines who will be residing with family, friends, and others on mainland St. Vincent. At the same time, those who remained in the devastated circumstances in the respective Grenadine Island will spend Christmas in a restrained manner. Furthermore, because of unemployment or hardships of one kind or another, some will have little income, and we must be very concerned for these our brothers and sisters. With the opportunity provided, we therefore ought to continue to joyfully help wherever necessary and share one another’s burden, as we strive for wholistic living.

Praise God, at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus our Saviour and not the circumstances of his then dwelling. So, like Becket, we too can acclaim, “Sing we Noël, sing we joyously Noël! joyously sing of the news we have to tell!”
Fellow Vincentian citizens, residents and visitors, please mingle and jingle with each other in love, peace, respect and harmony. Destroy the guns, refrain from anger, stop the abuse, and praise God for his great love and rich mercy in Jesus Christ. Let us live beyond the striving for mere material acquisitions that leave us stressed, angry and insensitive to the needs of others. Let’s join in worship and making room for Jesus, rejoice in singing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come”! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing”.

A Very Happy and Blessed Christmas to you, my mother, father, brother, sister, son and daughter!