Today is Christmas, the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a day for sober reflection on the virtues of Jesus Christ, the virtues of sacrifice, love, peace, humility, compassion, and forgiveness.
The kind of celebration God desires for the season, and the type that would edify Nigeria, therefore, is a sober assessment of the country’s situation by all and sundry, and a deliberate decision to, “Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.
Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.” Isaiah 58: 6-7, Good News Translation (Today’s English Version).
Happily, the month of Christmas is also the time when Muslims mark the festival of Eid-El-Maulud, to celebrate the birth of Prophet Mohammed. The celebration of this year’s Eid-El-Maulud about two weeks before Christmas is something that should teach Nigerians an important lesson on the unity of the faiths.
Both Christ and Mohammed preached love, peace, and sacrifice. If Christians and Muslims remain faithful to the import of those messages, Nigeria will certainly be a better place for all to live.
– Vincent Obia
