This is my first Christmas in Kenya. In fact, I’m pretty sure this is the first Christmas I’ve spent away from “home” in my entire life. I’ve spent every Christmas up to this point with my family – my mom and dad, when they were living, along my brothers and sister. When I went to college in NY, I travelled home for Christmas. When I first started working for IBM in NY, I went home for Christmas. For the many years I lived in the Boston area, I went home for Christmas. It feels strange not being “home” for Christmas, but Kenya is my home at this point in my life. However, it also feels different because Christmas is different in Kenya. There are, with a few minor exceptions, no indications that it is Christmas Eve (as I write this blog post). There are no Christmas decorations to be seen, no Christmas trees, no Santa Claus, no wreaths or candles. There are no Christmas songs playing, no holiday parties, no Christmas television specials.
In my one year of living in Kenya, I’ve found it to be much more overtly religious than the United States. There are churches or mosques everywhere. There is religious music or calls to prayer blasting from them at all hours. There are apparently no noise ordinances here, or at least not for religious entities. Everyone prays before meals. There are religious quotes and mentions of God everywhere. The ubiquitous matatus (commuter vans) prominently feature religious slogans. Storefronts often bear the name of Jesus or God. The churches are generally packed and people actively participate through prayer responses as well as singing and dancing. Government schools have religious names.
Religion is truly everywhere in Kenya, yet no sign of Christmas – not even in church. Not only is the church not decorated at all, but the music at Mass is exactly the same as it is the rest of the year. I’m not sure how to process it. I guess you could blame it on the fact that people don’t have money to put food on the table, so Christmas decorations take a back seat. However, I’m not sure that’s totally it. People decorate in simple, inexpensive ways in general, so not sure why Christmas would be any different. I still don’t have a good answer.
Although no external signs of Christmas is a little disorienting for me, the good news is that there is a complete lack of commercialization of Christmas here. Although I have seen the terms Black Friday and Cyber Monday used, they are by far the rare exception rather than the rule. This has allowed me this Advent season to focus more fully on what Christmas means to me and my relationship with God, as I didn’t have to concern myself with the external distractions that usually surround Christmas.
As Catholics, we talk about the three ways that Christ comes to us at Christmas. The first is Jesus’s coming among us in history as an infant two millennia ago in the Incarnation. God became man to dwell among us. The second is Christ coming to us today – through creation, in our encounters with one another, in his holy Word, and through the Church – especially in the Eucharist. The third is a look with hope to Christ coming again in final glory – the definitive triumph of good over evil. In this final respect, Christmas is the celebration of our final union with God – the ultimate end for which God created us.
I would like to focus on the second of these and our role in making Christ present in the here and now. Meister Eckhart was a thirteenth century German theologian and philosopher. He was also a Dominican preacher and mystic, who said
We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture? This, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of Man is begotten in us.
Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
This is what I meditated on this Advent season. Think about it. We are all meant to be mothers of God. We are all called to make Christ present in our lives, present to those around us, and present in our world which is so badly in need of Christ’s presence. Obviously, the Virgin Mother is the ultimate example of how to do this. She did not just give birth to Jesus, but she gave her entire life to God. In her “yes”, she gave herself entirely over to God – physically, intellectually, and spiritually. Her ascent to God is the model of what our response to God should be. Unfortunately, speaking for myself, I was not immaculately conceived as Mary was and so my response is always somewhat imperfect. However, I accept my imperfections and continue to push forward following Mary’s lead and trusting that she always leads me to Jesus.
What an obligation Meister Eckhart presents to us. He is telling us that the Incarnation is not just a historical event worked through the cooperation of Mary, but rather, that God asks each of us to be bearers of the incarnate word in our own lives, in this sense, mothers of God. This bringing forth of Christ, which is an ongoing process, must take place within each of us. We are all called to bring forth Jesus now, in the present time and probably most frighteningly, within our culture – a culture which at best relegates Jesus to a secluded corner and at worst denies and aggressively tries to eradicate him.
But, like Mary, we are given a choice. In the measure that we say yes as Mary did and acquiesce to God’s desire to push concretely into creation at all times and places, we participate in the Incarnation. To me, this is the true meaning of Christmas. As Meister Eckhart says, “This, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of Man is begotten in us.” This is our call, not only at Christmas, but at all times. Not easy, but what God asks of us.
In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul says,
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church”.
Colossians 1:24
I struggled with this passage earlier in my life. I knew that it certainly did not imply that Jesus’s atoning death on the cross was incomplete or somehow defective. So, what does it mean? What I have come to realize is that this passage from St. Paul is telling us the same things that Meister Eckhart is telling us. We are called to continually bring forth Christ in our lives. We are called to make Christ concretely present to others. Jesus suffering and death are not incomplete or imperfect, but God wills that we participate in this bringing forth of His son at all times and in all places.
God is love and true love gives without limit. God manifests his love in creation and in you and me. We “fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ”, when we participate in the manifestation of this love. We contribute to the glory of Christ when we allow him to manifest himself in us. We glorify Christ when we make Christ present in our lives and when we make Christ present to others. We give glory to God when Jesus is begotten in us. We make the Incarnation a present reality in the measure that we cooperate with God to continually push Christ into creation and into our world.
God wills that we be active participants in Jesus’s eternal birth. God calls us to continually say yes as Mary did. What more could we ask for as this is ultimately a call to share in His divine life. This is Christmas. This is the manifestation of the depth of God’s love for each and every one of us.
Merry Christmas/Krismasi Njema
