A letter from Rebecca Young in Indonesia
December 2010
Christmas Newsletter
Dear Friends in Christ,
Happy Advent! This letter comes to you as I wind my way across the United States, visiting congregations from Florida to Minnesota and lots of points in between. As I travel for these three months (September to December), I remember my friends and colleagues back in Indonesia and try to imagine what they are doing in anticipation of the coming of Christmas.
The Jakarta Seminary Advent service includes distribution of gifts for long-term staff, both Muslim and Christian. Here Rev. Ongirwalu distributes gifts to staff members Udin, Satrio, Judi, Iyah, Agus and Erin. Jakarta, Dec 8, 2009.
Indonesian Christians — all 30 million of them — are busy observing Advent in much the same way that we do here in the United States, with worship services and candle-lighting. The president of Jakarta Theological Seminary, Dr. Jan Aritonang, insists that our campus not jump too quickly into Christmas celebrations. Thus our pre-Christmas activities with students, staff and faculty are geared toward preparing ourselves for welcoming the Christ Child. Because the students leave for home around Dec 10, we don’t have an official Christmas celebration with them. We have a lovely campuswide Advent service in early December, trusting that there will be plenty of time and opportunity for them to celebrate Christmas in their home congregations. Our seminary president believes we must remind them and each other how Advent is important in its own right and not to rush into December 25 too soon. Being in the United States and seeing how Christmas decorations start appearing around Halloween, I think our culture could learn a bit from Dr. Aritonang.
Another lesson that I think we can learn from the Indonesians is in our style of gift receiving. Yes, that’s right, I said receiving — not giving. In this time of Advent, we can look to the Indonesians to reflect on how we prepare ourselves to receive the amazing gift of the Christ Child on Christmas morning, along with all the other goodies we get from our loved ones.
As Christians we’re taught that it is more blessed to give than to receive. We are happy to be able to give to others, but I have noticed than many of us (myself included!) find it hard to receive things. Receiving implies some sort of weakness on our part. We are supposed to be self-sufficient. To show that we aren’t needy, we immediately start thinking of how we can pay the giver back. Was my gift to them as good as this one? Did I spend as much as they did? We find ourselves hard pressed simply to accept the gifts and be thankful.
Observing Advent in Jakarta means the Advent candles are in bamboo and surrounded with banana leaves and bananas. Jakarta Seminary, Dec 7, 2008.
Gift exchange in Indonesia can teach us a little about the meaning of being good accepters of gifts. When an Indonesian gift-giver hands someone a wrapped gift, something happens that may seem a bit weird to us. The recipient doesn’t open the gift, but puts it aside while it’s still in its wrapping and proceeds to thank the giver profusely. It looks as if the recipient doesn’t care about what the giver has taken the time to carefully select and purchase. In one way our instinct is right: the recipient doesn’t care what the item is, precisely because the issue is the graciousness of the gift not its content or value. Indonesians thank one another for the act of giving rather than focusing on what’s inside the package. An Indonesian observing our gift exchange might be inclined to view us as selfish, ripping into the package immediately and implying that we value the gift over the giver.
I don’t want to suggest that we as Americans are selfish. When we take the time to open the gift in the presence of the giver, we honor the time that person took to select an item specifically for us. But I still believe that we can learn from the Indonesian style of gift receiving. What if during our Advent reflections, we spent time thinking of ways in which we, as accepters, can learn to switch our attention from the gift itself to the act of giving, even as we open the gift? What if, as we receive each package on Christmas morning, we pause for a moment before we open it, look at the giver and say, “Thank you for thinking of me,” before we know what the gift is? Then we can tear away at the wrapping with our usual abandon. Maybe in this way we can become more mindful and appreciative of the meaning behind the gift. We will remember that through the gift someone wants to express affection for us and show us they are glad to be in a relationship with us.
One seminary Advent activity was cake decorating; students Mario, Tina, and Alen placed a manger scene on their cake. Jakarta Seminary, Dec 4, 2009.
As we reflect on these issues, we also should remember that the same thing applies to the gifts we receive from God. When we remember that God has given us the gift of life, we should resist the temptation to tear open the wrapping right away and begin assessing whether or not it fits us and if we like it or not. When we think about the life we have been given, do we rate it in terms of what we think we deserve, secretly hoping that God kept the receipt so that we can exchange it for a better model? Or do we celebrate the meaning behind the divine gift of life?
God graciously gives us the gift of life because God wants to express love and affection for us. God has a passionate and never-ending desire to be in close relationship with us, and is constantly giving us gifts to enhance that relationship. Nowhere is that expressed more clearly than in God’s coming to us as the gift of a baby in a manger. Our task in this Advent period of reflection is to look at the amazing message behind the gift, and to take time and stop to thank the Giver before we open the gift.
Merry Christmas! And may we all be good receivers of the amazing gift of Christ on Christmas morning.
Becca
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 132
