Let us celebrate Christmas responsibly

memory of the birth of Jesus Christ.
This year’s date of Christ’s birth, 25 December, falls on a Sunday, one of the traditional days of service for most Christians.
The other, Saturday, being the holy day for the Seventh Day Adventists, a denomination that decided to keep the Mosaic tradition of the Sabbath which predates Christ’s birth.
In Zimbabwe, since Sunday is treated as a holiday by most people, including the State, Christmas Day will obviously be moved to Monday which is, in any case, already a holiday – Boxing Day – that will in turn be shifted to Tuesday, resulting in a three-day long celebration.
Whatever the arrangement will be, the Christmas celebratory spirit is in the air, with gifts and goodwill cards changing hands.
The word “goodwill” simply means nothing less and nothing more than “kindly feeling” towards other people. Yes, it is that “kindly feeling” towards others that we should all generate and show during this festive season.
That is precisely what the founder of the most popular religion, Christianity, meant when he said: “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.” Some scholars say that this famous dictum was coined by some Hindu sage long before Jesus was born.
The origin of this instruction is not our concern in this article. What is important to us is its meaning and the fact that Christendom attributes it not to some nameless and faceless oriental social philosopher but to Jesus, the anointed Son of God.
The message mankind is expected to circulate during and after the Christmas season is all about fraternal feelings towards one another.
Many a time we have heard about people being murdered, raped, robbed, maimed and deprived of their property during the Christmas period.
Such anti-social acts are usually, if not always, attributed to irresponsible individuals acting under the influence of intoxicating beverages or hallucinatory drugs, especially dagga (mbanje).
That inhuman behaviour raises the question: is it in order at Christmas to get drunk or to consume intoxicants as a way of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ?
It sounds very much out of character to distort one’s mind deliberately, leading to criminal behaviour as a way of celebrating the birth or death of a holy person.
For one to generate goodwill towards other people, one must be sober; for one to show respect and honour due to a holy personality, one has got to be sober; and for one to be respectable and honourable, one must lead a life of sobriety.
This is, of course, a controversial matter to which many people, including some Christians, react subjectively rather than objectively, that is to say in a self-centred rather than in a public-spirited way.
Talking about being public-spirited brings us to road accidents that occur all over the Christian world during the Christmas season.
Although we do not have the statistics at hand, we are certainly not exaggerating to say they occur more than in any other period in any given year. Why?
The answer is simply that we celebrate the birth of the Son of God by behaving in the most ungodly manner on our roads.
Some motorists do not show any “friendly feelings” whatsoever to other public road users. They do not “do unto others” what they would want them to do unto “themselves”.
The Christmas festivals are meant to create joy and not misery. Undisciplined consumption of alcoholic beverages or illicit use of hallucinatory drugs leads to misery for both the consumer or user and his or her family, friends and the community at large.
Lest this opinion article is misunderstood to mean or imply that Christmas celebrants should avoid alcoholic drinks and hallucinatory drugs totally, the explanation is certainly in the positive for drugs unless they are taken as a medical therapy duly prescribed by a professionally certified medical practitioner.
As for alcoholic beverages, a little (and emphasis is on the word “little”) wine with one’s Christmas meal cannot do any adult person any harm.
But guzzling litres and litres of whatever alcoholic beverage the whole season long is undoubtedly irresponsible.
As for all Christians, it is most important for them to bear in mind that their “bodies are the temple of God,” a fundamental teaching of Jesus Christ.
That being the case, it would be both sinful and irresponsible to fill up those “temples of God” with intoxicants.
But a “little” wine with one’s meal once in a while helps not only the digestive system but also the heart. Medical experts advise us so.
Incidentally, some researchers say that Jesus and his disciples occasionally washed down their meals with a little wine, as was the custom and is still in the Middle East.
There is no record of the 13 or one of them ever becoming either tipsy or roaring drunk. Strict continence was most strictly practised by the group.
Talking about Christmas celebration brings to the mind the financial aspect of this virtually universal annual practice.
Every wage-earner is painfully aware of how miserably broke families, households and individuals become after reckless expenditure during the Christmas festivities.
That would not be the case if celebrants behaved responsibly financially. By cutting their jackets according to the available cloth and by consuming just enough, for enough is as good as a feast. May we all have a merry Christmas. Amen.