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ZIMBABWE will soon be celebrating christendom’s festive season, a tradition usually observed annually by both practising as well as non-practising Christian adherents.
Non-practising Christians tend to take the Christmas season relatively seriously and enjoy themselves by mainly drinking and feasting as much as their tummies can carry on one any one given occasion.

It is a kind of social behaviour that tends to generate and propagate communal social togetherness, love and goodwill towards all, a gregarious behaviour comparable to the biblical Canna wedding where young Jesus turned drums of water into semi-sweet wine.
We should emphasise that the Christmas period represents a spirit of natural happiness, giving and taking and certainly not fighting for or over whatever or settling old grudges.

Jesus Christ was a Messiah whose core message is peace and love among mankind. Those who rejected his messaihood had expected a religio-military leader in the mould of Islam’s Mohammed who emerged several centuries later among the Arabs in Arabia to lead Islam.
But Jesus was clear on the question of militarily confronting the Roman Empire: Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and unto God what is God’s.  It is on this, among other principles, that most Jews turned their back to God’s son.

As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we should remember that our hero is a spiritual rather than a military one.  He advises us to turn the other cheek after having been smitten on one. He orders us to forgive our enemies seven times seven times seven.

That simply means generating and maintaining happiness to the maximum. It means tolerating provocation all the time. Many Christians try indeed to live such a godly life. They follow Christ’s footsteps in word, thought and deed.

However, there are those who do not believe in the godly birth of Christ. Others just do not believe in the very existence of God. Those who deny Christ’s godliness are anti-Christ; those who deny the Almighty’s existence are known as atheists.

Both groups, however, take part in the Christmas festivities that reflect Satan’s excesses. It is among these people that we find Satanists, that category of people who have chosen to do evil for its own sake.

Describing how Lucifer rebelled against God, the great English philosopher and poet John Milton, says in his immortal book Paradise Lost . . . that Lucifer “chose to rule in Hell rather than to serve in heaven . . .”

If this is not an absolutely fascinating comparison, I am at sea as to what we can so describe. Hell represents everything that is evil, is bad, that is miserable, that is mean, immoral, dishonest, poor, abominable, beastly, inhuman, intolerable and, above all, utterly unacceptable. Its wickedness is comparable to only its weakness.

The primitive Romans called Hell the underworld its god was Pluto whose guard dog was the seven-headed Ceberus, he had as many heads as the days of the week most probably because each head looked after the goings-on of each day.

That is where Lucifer chose to go and rule rather than serve in Heaven where he would have to obey the orders of the Prince of Peace, and obey his heavenly duties including the presentation and not destruction of soul.

That brings us to the basic responsibility of every Christian; preservation of human life. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we must not get involved in quarrels and fights that may lead to loss of life. That would be unchristian.

The actual core of our celebrations and jollifications should be our thanks to God for the birth and not death of Jesus Christ.
That Jesus was God’s son is beyond any doubt. The miraculous power to feed thousands of His followers with only a few fish and loaves of bread; His ability to pacify the sea as He walked on it towards His disciples: his ability to raise Lazarus from the dead; His ability to change water into wine; His ability to communicate with the dead (the highly celebrated Transfiguration) and His resurrection from the dead; all these are evidence of his Godly and very super-natural powers.  To show their thanks practically, Christians can either team up or work as individuals help less fortunate people. In the rural areas there are some elderly people who cannot fetch drinking water or firewood for themselves.

There are cases where able-bodied young people have literally given their backs to their parents or grand-parents, leaving them to fend for themselves against massive odds.

Christians can nip in and do what little they can in various ways either by mending a hedge or dropping in with a loaf of bread, a packet of sugar and a few other odds and ends to make life more livable for the elderly or the disadvantaged.

It is also advisable to find out if elderly neighbours would like to be given a lift once in a while or regularly to church services. If that is not too much of an inconvenience, young Christian couples can work an acceptable way by which the elderly can be kept spiritually active throughout their lives.

Old clothing can be cleaned and then given to elderly neighbours or need younger people (orphans) as hand-me-downs. Able-bodied Christians can easily organize themselves into either neighbourhood-cleaning brigades or merely sweeping couples for deserving elderly destitute families.

Laundry is yet another responsibility a young couple can carry out to help destitute followers of Jesus. This is the season when these Christian projects can be initiated. You may name it: Christian Aid to Christians.

Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a Bulawayo-based retired journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734328136 or through [email protected].