Christmas is just around the corner and all across Barbados people of all ages, colours and creeds are preparing to celebrate the birthday of the Son of God.
It has started to bring a sigh of relief to store owners and sidewalk vendors alike in the slowly dying City of Bridgetown with the very visible spike in numbers of people doing traditional shopping for gifts, furnishings and decorations and clothing along with the ham, turkey and other Christmas specific foods and drinks that will be found in the kitchens and on the dining tables of the opulent and ghetto folk alike.
When that very special day dawns, thousands will don their best threads to visit churches near and far, old and new, palatial and modest in order to listen to the guardians of the gospel expounding on that glorifying New Testament verse of John 3:16, which will remind until the end of days: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
Many will also season their sermons with other passages from both the Old and New Testaments that extol this most revered moment in the religious history of modern man, including Isaiah’s 9:6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
It’s in times like this that that I find myself reflecting on the nature of God and asking several perhaps answerable questions, especially in relation to those who shout His name the loudest and beat their chests the hardest.
Sometimes, when I observe the state of the world and Barbados, in particular, I find myself wondering, not if God is dead as some contend, but if we are victims of an Old Testament lament: “Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.” It also says something about God being seriously concerned about prophets who lead his people astray.
My reason is the disappointment He obviously feels when He witnesses the behaviour of many of those who have clothed themselves in the robe of his favourite Son, whose birth they are excitedly preparing to celebrate.
I am especially intrigued about the fact that although we learn so much from those ancient writers about the great love God has for all people, the scriptures are, nevertheless, also replete with references to his wrath, as in the New Testament: “The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who know not God, and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.
If this is so, I am fearful about what will be the reaction when He is invited into our churches and into our homes this Christmas season only to discover that He will also have to enter uninvited into our law courts to see how some of the anointed are behaving.
Didn’t He command the 12 whom he sent forth to go barefoot?
Al Gilkes heads a public relations firm. Email algilkes@gmail.com
