tin-roofed sanctuary. The gifts of grain and other offerings were taken to the front o f the church. The presents for the Lord would soon overflow the table and spread across the front of the room. Dur ing the long service, an offering would be taken from those who did not have farm produce. They would give their gifts of cash or clothes, shoes and other things. However, times have changed. Now they no longer bring the products from their farms. Yet they are still giving. Now they sell their produce and bring the money as their Christmas gift to the One who gave His “Unspeak able Gift” long ago. After all their money has been given, they give their h igh ly - t rea su r ed wrist- watches or the shoes that have taken months of hard work for which to pay. Is this too much for a God who has done so much for them? At one of these thanksgiving services, one little eight-year-old African girl came in very late. She managed to squeeze herself into a very narrow place, next to the aisle, on an overcrowded, hard wooden bench. The offering was being taken. Everyone was giving gladly and generously. As the usher came nearer and nearer to the girl, she became more and more agitated. Tears stood in her eyes as she realized she had noth ing to give. Hers was a very poor family as her ragged clothes in dicated. She watched the basket being passed down the row of people towards her. Suddenly her face lit up with anticipated joy. She could hardly wait to snatch the offering basket from the per son next to her. She took the basket, quickly putting it on the floor in the aisle. Stepping into it, she stood silent for a few minutes. She lifted her face to the sur prised usher and with a smile said, “ I have nothing to give to the Lord for Christmas, so I give myself.” In Africa, Christmas is for giving. k b
about God. He knew Jesus was a prophet of God. Jesus did mira cles! He raised people from the dead: he had God’s power in his life. But why should he care when or on what day this prophet, Je sus, was born? Mohammed was the true prophet of God, so why should a man concern hjmself about a lesser one, this Jesus? You say He came to take our sins away, to bring us peace and eter nal life? Why did not our fathers teach us this if it is true? Why does not our Holy Koran state this in its teachings? Why is not this included in our traditions? Christmas? Jesus? NO! “Allah ilalla” (God is an only God, He has no Son). This man is only one o f the five hundred million Mus lims on earth who do not know the meaning of Christmas. What meaning can there be in Christ mas if they do not believe Jesus to be the Son of God? Christmas is perhaps the hap piest day o f the year for the peo ple in the area surrounding a cer tain Nigerian church in the cen tral part o f that country. To these believers, Christmas is a time for giving, and this makes them glad. To many believers in this area Christmas is a day on which to get up early. They wake up before dawn and start walking the 15 or 16 miles to the central church in their district. They do not go empty-handed. It used to be they went to take as a gift for the King of kings, great bundles of com, large head loads of millet, heavy calabash gourds filled with beans, cotton or other farm produce. Others would bring a goat, a sheep, or several chickens or ducks with the feet securely tied. Why take all this to church? These people had been taught that Christmas was for giving gifts, not to each other, but to their Lord. This was their annual thank-offering f o r the bounty they had received from their Lord, an expression of grati tude for the average income of about $100.00 a year. The chick ens, ducks, goats and sheep would be left outside the mud-walled,
CHRISTMAS IS FOR GIVING
by John Wiebe O n a hot C hristmas D ay , a man dressed in rags stopped me on the street of a large Northern Nigerian City. “ I am the Christmas spirit,” he said. He was a short man, wearing a tall mask which not only covered his face, but extended about two feet above his head. The structure was square, completely surround ing his head. Various-colored inks — blue, green, red and black — had been used for decorations. Bright pieces of foil pasted here and there made him glitter in the Christmas Day sun. After I talked to him about Christmas, he asked me if I were not going to give him a “Merry Christmas.” I did, then, he said, “Do you not know that is for giving things to each other? I have given you a chance to see me. Now you must give me a fine gifts—ten shillings, maybe?” He said that going about and asking for gifts was the way they were taught to celebrate Christmas in his southeastern Nigerian village. He had been baptized as a child: he had heard about Jesus all of his life, but had never known Christ had come for the purpose o f bringing peace and forgiveness to the heart of an African. The tall, white-robed Muslim teacher, sitting on a dried cow hide in the shadow of the high wall surrounding his compound, knew nothing about Christmas either. While he was letting his prayer beads slowly run between his fingers, he spoke to me about the prophets. He knew God had sent 40,000 prophets to teach men
Dr. John Wiebe is a representative for the Sudan Interior Mission.
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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