Joy to the world and the brief thrill of happiness tomorrow

The timing seems to be perfect for me and you to wish one another the best of the season. Here, then, is to a joyful and blessed Christmas! You will note that I did not say “merry”, and I avoided the irritating “Xmas” format that takes the “Christ” out of the solemn memorial of his birth.

We do not want to be wet blankets, throwing doom and gloom upon our neighbours’ right to happiness and pleasurable enjoyment of life.

The fact remains, however, that Christmas is primarily a spiritual occasion, a “mass” or sacred mission to reflect on the divine presence, Emmanuel (God with us), in our lives. I will not pretend to preach any sermons today, but I would like you to give a thought to a saying you will hear repeatedly during this season.

The “word becoming flesh and dwelling among us”, to me, suggests a special level of dignity for us human beings. Constant awareness and consciousness of a supernatural component in our nature and existence raises us above the mere flesh, blood and bone, and above the weakness and baseness to which our mere human nature is prone.

The satisfaction that we get from our humble successes at living with the “divine word” (grace) in us, above the level of simple biped animals, is, I think, the “joy to the world”, the good news of Christmas.

This brings me to the core of my sharing with you. Christmas, in its, original, spiritual essence, is a season of peace and goodwill within us and among us. It is this peace and goodwill “inhabiting” in us that gives us the joy that defines and proceeds from Christmas.

Note the element of “habit” in “inhabit”. Christmas reminds us that peace and goodwill should not be a one-day flash in the pan but an enduring habit, a way of life. Our own pursuit of this ideal could help make every day a “Christmas” of sorts.

Unfortunately, however, many of us miss this simple point. We end up reducing the celebration to shallow merry-making (hence my avoiding of the “merry” tag in my wishes for you).

I repeat that there is nothing wrong with having a good time and enjoying the good things of life when we can afford them. But you know the kind of shallow and meaningless ostentation that I am talking about.

There are many misguided individuals who think that Christmas is about the thrills of gluttonous eating, drinking, noise-making, flirtatious frolicking and even reckless and deadly driving on our roads.

These escapades of course often imply unbridled expenditures that leave many families destitute for months on end. Sad as it is, we can bet that we will witness drunkards lying on roadsides, injuries and even deaths from bar brawls and road “accidents”, all in the name of merry-making at Christmas. The worst case I have heard of so far this year is of a 12-year old girl, in South Sudan, who speared her father to death because he could not buy her a Christmas dress.

A particularly disturbing aspect of this vacuous pleasure seeking is that, as our societies become increasingly materialistic, the thrill vendors devise more and subtler ways to lure us into believing that we cannot effectively celebrate without indulging in outrageous and extravagant pursuits.

Have you heard the one about Christmas not being Christmas without a helicopter ride? Yet there is no evidence that people, apart from the commercial exploiters, are any happier than they were with the simple pleasures of life.

Anyway, I am no Scrooge, hating Christmas for its own sake. Do you remember Mr Ebenezer Scrooge of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? He has a strong aversion to Christmas, mainly because of what, in his miserly and utilitarian, industrial mind-set, he sees as its wastefulness.

Why should his factory workers ask for allowances or a day off in order to celebrate Christmas? It takes a lot of visions and dreams, including one from his departed business partner, to persuade Scrooge that, maybe, there is something worthwhile about Christmas after all.

I have already hinted at what I regard as a worthwhile Christmas celebration. Apart from the spiritual dimension of evaluating our dignity and self-worth, Christmas celebrations should include an appreciation and a reaching out to our fellow human beings, starting with the members of our families.

Christmas is often described as a family festival, and so it should be. The starting point of celebrating family is being there with and for them. The value lies not in how much you can give them, but in how sincerely and lovingly you share with them whatever you can afford.

Equally importantly, we should try and find our joyful celebration in reaching out and fellowshipping with our neighbours, especially those less advantaged than ourselves.

This does not lie only in giving out packages of goodies but also in sparing time to interact with those who have no one to spend time with them. It is a well-known reality that the “merry” season of Christmas is also one of the loneliest seasons for many people.

These range from the rubbish heap-dwelling city chokora, through the lately sacked casual labourer and the recently divorced or “dumped” partner, the long-time rural widower, to the lifetime prison inmate and the terminally ill child in a hospital bed.

They also include the disoriented teenagers within our own families, who see no future for themselves and are too confused or inarticulate to share their fears with anyone.

A moment spent with any one of these, sharing a banana, holding a hand, exchanging a greeting or simply listening to their tale, will bring a true Christmas cheer not only to the lonely ones but also to you.

That moment of sharing, or even merely feeling with those “others” might guard you against the hedonistic thrill-searching excesses to which we are all tempted in this heady season.

Once again, joy, peace and blessings. Heri na baraka.

- Prof Bukenya is a leading East African scholar of English and [email protected]