December 20, 2007

As I write this newsletter, the entire country of Indonesia is celebrating the feast of Abraham. It’s a Muslim holiday called Eidul Adha, which commemorates Abraham’s faithful willingness to sacrifice his son, when God intervened and provided a ram as a substitute. Muslims consider it a day to increase their devotion to God and their compassion towards other human beings. For the past few days, street vendors have been selling live goats and cows along the sidewalks of Jakarta. I was relieved to find out that people don’t do the actual sacrificing in their own homes. They purchase the animal then have it butchered professionally. After blessing it and presenting it as an offering to God, they share it with family, friends and co-workers. Christians here say that their Muslim friends are very generous in doling out various cuts of meat, since few people have refrigerators and these are not small cows or goats that shed their lives this day!

I noted that all of Indonesia shares in celebrating this feast because it is a national holiday and everybody is given the day off, even at the seminary where I teach. Next week the whole country will also have a break on December 25, because Indonesia recognizes six religions and grants official holidays for all of them: Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, Catholic, Protestant, and Confucian. This interesting selection of religions will be the subject of another newsletter. For now, let me just say that Indonesians get to take many days off during the course of a year, and no one seems to mind. I like the fact that, at the very least, everyone knows the name of each other’s holiest days.

So what is it like to celebrate Christmas in a country that is home to the largest Muslim population in the world? Lots of folks back home have asked that question. Here’s how it has been so far:

Fun!

Thomas Kakerissa, son of a seminary professor, poses in front of the tropical Advent "wreath," December 8, 2007, Jakarta.

As I mentioned in a previous newsletter on the Muslim observation of Ramadan, capitalism is alive and well in Indonesia, especially around the many holidays. Whenever I want to see Christmas decorations and hear carols, I just go shopping. Every store is brightly lit with twinkling lights and festive green and red ornaments. The employees wear Santa hats and greet shoppers with bright smiles. It is so much like home that every time I go out, even to the grocery store, I end up coming home with a Christmas carol stuck in my head, the kind that you can’t stop humming over and over. But I’m not complaining. I’m glad for the reminder of home and the holiday spirit, even at 95 degrees!

Christmas party at the Foundation for Disaster Response in Indonesia. From left to right, singers are Harun, Via, Marijke, Tia, May, Becca, Lusi, Jolly, and Jidon.

A church-based disaster agency that I’ve worked with since the tsunami has an office near here and kindly invited me to their Christmas party yesterday. We sang carols, had lots of good Indonesian food, and exchanged gag gifts. I joined in with one group who, for their contribution to the celebration, had chosen to sing “Silent Night” in German. We all wore Santa hats as we sang; some of the hats lit up. For me the most moving part of the performance was that three members of our impromptu choir were Muslims who have worked at the disaster agency for several years. I liked the thought that the particular verse we sang, which in English is translated, “Round yon virgin mother and child,” (in German: “Nur das traute heilige Paar”) is one that Muslims could easily sing, since Islam also recognizes the virgin birth of Jesus.

Jakarta Theological Seminary is the center of many Christmas celebrations, as a number of small local churches without big meeting rooms opt to have their holiday events in the seminary’s facilities. The seminary itself, however, chooses to stick to the Christian calendar and focus on Advent in this meaningful period at the end of the semester. The very first song we sang in chapel was one of my favorites, “O Come, O Come Immanuel,” the familiar tune with an Indonesian translation of the words.

We had the annual Advent celebration on December 8, and the entire student body, faculty, and staff gathered in our fellowship hall. The hall had been decorated with bananas and banana leaves. Clever students had rigged up the leaves to make a Christmas tree, an Advent wreath, and evergreen garlands, attaching a small banana every foot or so. The symbolism of the banana tree is that it produces fruit all year long, its leaves are multi-purpose, its stalk is used in construction, and its flowers are eaten—an Indonesian version of “The Giving Tree.”

How appropriate that in this time of preparation for the coming of the Prince of Peace we be reminded of how much Jesus offers us as he comes in the life of a tiny baby. May the peace that baby brings be something we celebrate and pass on to others not just in this holiday season but throughout the year. Following the creativity of the Jakarta seminary students, bananas trees can be a new Christmas symbol of all that Jesus means to us and to the world.

Selamat Hari Natal dan Tahun Baru!
Merry Christmas and happy New Year!