One thing I am learning is that Santa is very popular in Middle Eastern culture, from Santa to gifts and the magic, the secular Christmas experience is quiet popular. This was pressed home to me when we attended an event hosted by an Arabic speaking church in the Detroit area recently. Many Middle Eastern families attended this event, as the event provided singing, dancing, crafts, Santa (and Mrs. Clause) and gifts. More importantly, they shared the real reason for Christmas, Jesus’ first coming and used different colored jugs of water, they illustrated how Jesus alone takes away our sin. Though it was loud and, well, not your typical western Christmas party, it was a party and was a way to reach into their community the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus not Santa.
And speaking of Santa, we were blessed to recently go with a family up to Dearborn to eat together and then visited the Henry Ford Museum. However, since we got there late, with about 35 minutes to walk through the museum, we also got tickets to the 3D movie, The Polar Express.
Yet, having arrived a little late, we were split up into 3 different seating sections and had to wait until the end to see what they thought about it. Actually, it had been a while since I had seen it too, but as I was watching, I was thinking about what ways we could share the Gospel and bring conversations back to Jesus. Then the movie came to a close and we all gathered back out in the lobby. They enjoyed it, found it beautiful and for some of them, this was their first movie to watch at the theater in the US. There were smiles and laughter as we talked about it.
Through it, we were able to have Gospel conversations, to talk about the true meaning of Christmas, to talk about the origin of Santa and how the two ended up mixing and then about Jesus and the differences between what they have learned of Jesus and what the Bible says. It was delightful. We were able to even give them a book in their language that tells the “bird’s eye view” of the Bible from a Middle Eastern perspective. We were able to laugh and learn and share the love of Jesus.
As we celebrate, I encourage you to remember that Christmas is about Jesus and to make use of this reality by taking Christmas conversations back to Jesus with your friends and family during this time.
Turners at WFI 