So its Christmas time. It’s kind of hard to believe. The only carols I hear are those whispering from my faulty computer speakers, and the icons of Christmas- Santa Clause, Reindeer, Drummer Boys and Snowmen - are only scarcely recognized, dispersed thinly throughout the city.
What I miss the most is the utter attack on the senses of Christmas. The bitter cold of “the Season”, the infusion of peppermint, gingerbread and pumpkin spices. N’Sync Christmas album looping in storehouses and malls.
But today we were invited to a different sort of Christmas program. The likes of which are not intended to flatter you, there are no programs to follow along to, no orchestra to choreograph the scenes that will inevitably play out or a musical serenade inviting us to sit, to be still and to listen.
Yet all are welcome and all are encourage to participate. There are no auditions or means of filtering the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ performers. That’s not why we are even here, and it’s not a part of the story. The intent was to Come and to Hear and See that Jesus, Lord, came for all and so we all participate in this thing called Christmas.
Our Katabon Learning Center asked us to join in their Christmas program, to join along in songs of the season. Sitting with legs crossed on a cement floor, we became a part of a community. As I said goodbye, a goodbye that is certain for this trip to India, my heart sank. We had become like family.
They are people with little, but little is all they need. They have given their lives for the lives of others. Educated and intelligent, those who once had privilege, now voluntarily sacrifice for the well being of others. They are changing the world, yet they live in one corner of a slum that was never intended to be their home. I want to sing their praises, make known their names, but all would be in vain, for their one response would be the touch of their heart and a pointing of their finger to the skies.
I have glorified humility, I have been in awe of it, but today I know it and it is defined by those who hold their hands out – available for the leading and open for the giving.
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