One night we decided that we would tell kids to come back on Christmas Eve and we would hand out something then. While I was talking with these kids, I asked them what they were wanting. "Bisan unsa" (whatever). What were they going to do with it? "Magdala ko ani sa simbahan" (I'll take it to the church) Wait, the catholic church? Quick nod. Are you catholic? Violent head shake and a loud "dili!" (no). Something tells me they weren't really going to the church....
With that little story we are ushered into the Christmas season in the Philippines. Lights were going up way back in October (no respect for Thanksgiving here either!) and around the middle of November is when the caroling started. As far as we have learned, Christmas may be celebrated by families here, but unless you are Catholic, Christmas is more or less off limits in the church. So there are no decorations or Christmas trees up. No Christmas Eve service is planned, and no Christmas hymns will be sung, for the most part. With our church back in Texas being such a HUGE part of our lives, and with all the Christmas and Advent stuff they have going on even now, it is another big glaring reminder of the cultural differences between the US and the PH.
Another big holiday deal for us is the familial aspect. Even while living in Texas we would be back in Arkansas for Christmas Eve with one grandparent, Christmas morning with another, and Christmas dinner with yet another. The whole two days was spent with family and just hanging out with each other. But now we are here without our families and that is going to be difficult on us this year. I'm sure we will try to video chat with everyone, but it won't be the same.
Now, before anybody reading this thinks we're moping around here, just hold on a moment! We were in a tight spot emotionally a little while ago, but now we are getting back out and about, back on our feet, and everyone is feeling much better. But we still have to be able to make Christmas traditions anew in the face of our new cultural living situation. There are things that we just won't be able to do, like any sort of Christmas light house hunting via car, or eggnog, or ugly Christmas sweaters(we could but we would dehydrate very quickly)!
But we have to, in my mind, do two things with regards to Christmas: the first is make sure that the reason we are wanting to celebrate is more than just cultural or familial tradition and the second is that we need to be able to adapt to what we can do and make family traditions of our own that are not necessarily rooted in all of the American cultural Christmas trappings.
If we are only wanting to celebrate Christmas is because that's what we have done in the past, a tradition, like the Fourth of July, then we have a problem. If it is because we are wanting to praise God for the gift of His Son who came to earth so that He could die for us, then that is something different all together right?
And the traditions that go along with the holiday are important too. Is what we are doing merely an American holiday tradition? Or is it something that is rooted in the biblical story of redemption and the Gospel?
This past week we had a time of worship and fellowship with some other missionaries here and Hollie led a discussion about the theology of the song 'O Come O Come Emanuel' and how it really points to the reality of Christ and the Incarnation and how through Him alone we have the hope that defeats the tyranny of Satan and his dominion of death and hell. Something we need to do as Christians is take our own holiday stuff and check it against the Bible, to see if what we are doing is merely culturally Christian or if it is rooted in the Gospel. If it's not, do we really need it to be an essential part of our Christmas celebration (nice addition maybe but that's about it right?)?
Anyway, Hollie talking about this song reminded me that even an amazing song like that need to be grounded in the biblical story and point us to our hope in Christ.
Isn't that the real reason for the season?
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