By Dr Charles Leyman Kachitsa
Understanding the story of Christmas, each group of people have their own mental pictures just like individuals have different creativity to synthesizing, making sense of what we listen to. It makes the nativity story an interesting one, especially if you imagine people from different parts of the world put together, were read to and told to relate their understanding. Their deduction of the context would believably be varying.
The Christian history states that in its journey, the faith has gone through different periods some so good and inspiring, others so questions raising as to how they could even relate to the story or teachings in the Holy Book. For instance at one time the Christmas story was only for the privileged rich people as poor folks were not allowed anywhere near the Bible. That’s in the Western world, it was a reality. Yet one can not imagine how a story of Jesus who is depicted as having born in a poor family, in a manger which was the lowest of the low places for one to be born. How when the rich folks were reading a story of a poor family they could relate to that, it begs wonderment.
In the modern world today, context is as important as it was for those people that lived before and during the period of Jesus’ life on earth. With advances in technology, easing of doing things including communication the interpretation is more than screwed up. A generation ‘Z’ would have more questions than answers on the nativity story’s line where it says that Jesus’ parents did not find a room to lounge for the night. They would wonder why Jesus’ parents did not use google to search and book a place for accommodation on their journey to Bethlehem. One thing making this story amazing, is that it has impacted the whole world and humanity globally, has brought people of different dimensions to becoming one in understanding of knowing there is oneness in celebrations.
The quotes this week are a continuation extraction from the book which when read in full, reminds people of their one source. I am sure the selected quotations below from this book will enlighten you to one or two life lessons and philosophies. Read and enjoy:
PRACTICES FOR THE REFOUNDING OF GOD’S PEOPLE – The Missional Challenge of the West by Alan J. Roxburgh and Martin Robinson
“Rieff’s Second World culture is sourced by the great monotheisms of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. At its center is a self-revealed Creator from whom every living creature derives its being and identity. Truth about the world and how to act in the world are grounded in revelation. Truth is creedal in character, as, for example, one can still observe in the recitation of the Nicene Creed or the Lord’s Prayer within Christian liturgies. Faith, rather than fate, is the dominant cultural motif. It is a faith that God is active in history. God’s order undergrids all social life and human beings are not left to a lurking fate. Ascent in the vertical is possible through trust and obedience in the guidance of teaching authorities. Some of the key words in the Second World culture are truth, authority and faith.”
“Voluntarists presume that human actions change the world. Transformation comes from movements of people who act together to effect some change. Their conviction can be recognized in the myriad of calls to action based on the view that within every individual are the sources for world transformation. This can be as crass as the advice or actions of self-growth gurus, or as elevated as the vision of Obama’s ‘Yes we can!’ For voluntarism, when we truly act out of our inner selves, world transformation occurs. It is captured in the slogan: You are the solution'”
“Stable Cultural Consensus. Societies create stories about themselves to explain how they were founded, the values and commitments that make them who they are, and the means of being successful within a culture. These stories provide people with the means of identifying with each other, knowing how to operate in the world, and distinguishing themselves from others. These can be family, ethnic, racial, national, and religious stories or, more likely, a combination of such stories. ——- Early Christians, for example, figured out how to thrive in the relatively hostile environment of the Roman Empire during their first four hundred years by framing a story of their origins and creating practices for living together within the Empire. A group thrives when its stories, liturgies, and practices assist members to make sense of and navigate their world. In America, for example, the ‘American Dream’ once provided people with a story about themselves. For a good part of the modern period, the story of modernity’s wager gave identity and purpose to citizens of Western liberal democracies.”
“Diaspora does describe immigration communities coming into the west. As such, it connotes an experience of dispossession, dispersion, and scattering. These are not the characteristics of the Euro-tribal churches. Diaspora is increasingly connected with globalization in much religious and nonreligious literature around issues of development. It describes the very real current upheavals of people that are creating unprecedented global diasporas of political and economic refugees. This is the context in which the language of diaspora needs used, rather than being applied to the Euro-tribal churches.”