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Showing posts from 2019

Don’t ignore Christ in Christmas. It’s His Birthday! (A Reflection on Sumanto’s “White Christmas”)

We are celebrating a true Christmas only if Christ is not kept outside or still left in the manger Christmas is one of the greatest Christian festivals because it is held to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is the birthday of the Savior, who came to the world, lived with the sinful people, and redeemed their sins to restore their relationship with God. Since it is His birthday party, the essential reason for the celebration must be Christ. People are used to optimizing their resources so that their Christmas celebrations are held in a comfortable and bright room with beautiful decorations and sparkling lights. Dressed in fancy cloth, they enjoy abundant food and drinks, sing and dance accompanied by beautiful music, and laugh happily while sharing Christmas gifts or when Santa Claus distributes presents. Ironically, they forget one thing: the parties are held without Christ, the person whose birthday is supposed to be celebrating. Instead of being in the celebration comfortab

The Essence of Christmas in the Eyes of a Non-Christian Poet

Christmas moment should be used to integrate all people to transform the evil, desperate and chaotic world into a pure, hopeful, and peaceful one. Christmas is a yearly Christian festival held to celebrate the birth of Christ who comes to reconcile God and sinful people. The festival usually begins some days before 25 December and continues for around 1 to 2 weeks after that. During the festival, Christians attend Christmas service at the church, put a Christmas tree to their homes and decorate it with colorful balls, ribbons, and lights, enjoy a special meal, and exchange gifts. To attain the purpose of Christmas more effectively, different countries or regions add their local elements to these traditional customs and symbols. In some countries, parades and religious processions are also held. In many regions, the parades include Santa Claus and some other seasonal characters. Although it is originally a Christian festival, today's Christmas celebration has surpassed the cult

Welcoming Christmas with Three Kings of Russian Writers

Our willingness to help and take care of the less fortunate people and readiness to avoid the abuse of power are essential conditions for having joyful and miraculous Christmas. Working in a Christian organization grants me the privilege of having an early Christmas holiday. This year the holiday started on 18 December, and it provided me with an ample opportunity to do one of my favorite activities—reading. Eager to broaden my horizon about festivities, I thought reading literary works about Christmas would be great, and this brought me to engage with three short stories written by three greatest Russian writers: Leo Tolstoy’s “ Papa Panov’s Special Christmas ”, Anton Chekhov’s “ At Christmas Time ”, and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “ The Beggar Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree ”.    I took Tolstoy’s “Papa Panov’s Special Christmas” the first story to read because I remembered reading its Indonesian version in a children magazine when I was a kid. It tells about an old widower who lives a