Please see the special note at the bottom of this email.
Often lost in the massive shadow cast by Christmas, today marks the celebration of the demure, mindful, unassuming Boxing Day. It’s origins are murky and the number of explanations for the holiday roughly equals the number of Englishmen you ask about it!
My favorite Boxing Day activity is along walk with people I love. I first experienced this on the moors around Bradford, England, but now am happy to hoof it with the family on the gravel roads around our southern Colorado home.
You might not have breathtaking moors, but I hope you’ve had some classically great time with family this Christmas. I know it doesn’t happen every time for everyone, but family moves to the top of the list this time of year.
That family proximity, intensity and duration at Christmas is where family tends to normally be for many Muslim cultures. Perhaps you’ve been in the midst of it, hanging out with a bunch of folks. Every older woman is either Grandma or Auntie or both! Every older man, gramps or uncle. If a person is within 10 years of you, they’re a cousin, whether related by blood or not.
The strength of familial bonds can hinder individual Muslims following Jesus. Most of us can probably not imagine the depth of disappointment, nor the weight of shame a potential follower of Jesus anticipates from her family.
On the flip side, is it too much for us to ask God to use those familial bonds to bring whole households to Jesus? There’s precedent in Acts and around the world in our day. How I’d love to see a mom or dad, or maybe an influential uncle find Christ and lead their families to him.
You may have heard ministry friends refer to Muslims as “cousins.” I like the family connection language. But here’s what I’m hoping for in 2025, so many cousins become sisters and brothers that next Boxing Day finds us all walking, chatting, rejoicing together.
Special Note: Thank you for reading Muslim Connect. If God has blessed you this year and you’ve found value and maybe even some camaraderie in Muslim Connect, I’d like to ask you to make a year end gift (or even a monthly pledge to this work for 2025!). If you wish, you can give a gift here. (Click in the “Select Designation” window, find me and follow the prompts.) Thank you very much for considering this.