You’ve felt it, haven’t you? Jolly ol’ St. Nick, promising you peace and happiness and all you’ve got to do is buy something: A Coke, a coat, a car with a big, red bow on it. You know the drill.
I’m as prone as most to the lure of that lie, and the ancillary untruths that accompany it: “She’s gonna like me more when she opens the present I got her!” And, “They value me. They got me this thing!”
For people like us, there’s an additional issue with this deceit: A country who celebrates “Christ”-mas, could easily be assumed to be a “Christ”-ian country. Ergo, “This is what the people of Jesus think and do.” Bummer.
Arguably more Muslims are living under Santa’s watchful eye this year than ever before; many in the U.S. for only their first or second Christmas. What will they see? Feel? Experience and think?
Maybe for some, they’ll get caught off guard with an empty fridge like I did in the early days of living in religious-holiday laden Holland! Maybe they’ll wonder how to be nice to their kids while being true to Islam. Maybe they’ll think about Jesus a little more than normal.
Given we lack the marketing budget of Lexus and Lego, what can we do?
If you get a chance, give a little gift to a Muslim family. Add an offer to pray and an invitation to a low key Christmas gathering. I prefer this description of Christians, “We give gifts, we pray and we throw parties!”
“Father, may this Christmas somehow spark many Muslims to think and wonder about Jesus more and in more biblical ways. And for those fresh to the whole Christmas frenzy, please help them navigate.”