22nd December 1996

"Brothers, we are treading where the Saints have trod"

By the Rev. Shelton A. de Silva,

Methodist Church

When a Minister of the Church has to write on Christmas, he has to do two things. He has to make men feel good. This is not a difficult thing to do because when we say that God became man we can derive a few things from it.

Firstly, that this world is redeemable . When one looks at TV and sees all the horrors that are happening in Africa; all the violence in Ireland, and Israel, and Japan and even in our land you wonder if there is any hope for the world! You begin to think that mankind is so prone to violence that unredeemed man will always be violent one way or another. Most of the violence is caused by rich nations who sell weapons and drugs to the poor nations. Child prostitution, child abuse, rape and violence are things we read of every day. I am not enough of a sociologist to say that the world is a more wicked place today than it was a hundred years ago. All I know is that the traditional values of honesty, unselfishness, purity and love are severely threatened today.

O.B.A. Meeting

If you went to an old boys' meeting and the chief attraction was not a Guest Speaker but a cookery demonstration you might think that something is wrong with the attitude of the old boys to food. But if at this same meeting the key event was not a cookery demonstration but a shapely woman taking off her clothing piece by piece the old boys' meeting would be crowded and even old boys of other schools would come to see it! Is something wrong with our values?

Is evil increasing

Was there evil on this scale in our Lord's Day? We are told that Herod beheaded John the Baptist to please his step daughter; that thousands of Jewish babies were put to the sword at Herod's command; that Pontius Pilate thought that Jesus was innocent of the charge of subversion of Caesar's authority, but the High Priests were able to blackmail him into crucifying Jesus. Human life in those days was almost as cheap as it is today. The temptation to exploitation was even greater than it is today because of slavery. If you won a war you brought booty and the wives and children of the enemy you defeated as slaves. As a result of the fact that the master owned the body and soul of a slave, the family life of the Greek and Roman citizen was very corrupt. It was the accepted things that the menfolk and even the teenage boys could indulge their sexual appetites at the public baths without any social disapproval. If after 19 centuries slavery was effectively abolished in the British Empire, it is largely because of the religious ideas spread by Jesus of Nazereth.

Sermon on the mount

The second thing we can thank God for is that when God became man, He gave us certain values to live by. He told us that a man's happiness consisted not in the multitude of things that he possessed but in his trust in God. When Jesus said, "Happy are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven", he literally meant it. The rich desire to increase their wealth, because wealth is a sign of social acceptance. As Topel in the "Fiddler on the Roof" sang.

"When you are rich, they think you really know!"

You must be smart, or you cannot continue to be rich. When Jesus said, "Happy are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied," he said something wonderful. Our Lord himself hungered after righteousness, but he ended on a cross. That can be our fate too, but Jesus assured us that if a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it can bear much fruit. A good example of this is a missionary in my old school Richmond College, Galle. In 1936 was the Diamond Jubilee of Richmond. The Chief Guest was Mr. C.W.W. Kannangara, who opened his speech with these words: "I am very glad to be invited as Chief Guest today because" (and he turned to the photograph of Rev. Darrell and worshipped it) "because today I stand on holy ground, because a man called Darrell laboured here."

Kannangara was a Buddhist, but what made him say that Richmond had been made holy ground? Would not you think that such praise was excessive? In 1906 Galle was struck by a plague of typhoid. Now typhoid is a bowel disease and in those days there was no sewage system in Galle.

Many thousands lost their lives and schools were closed; but the Richmond Hostel had about eight boys who could not be sent home because they had already caught the disease. There was no one to look after these boys as the College servants were afraid of the disease. Darrell had either to abandon these children and allow them to die, or he had to nurse them himself.

He knew all about hygiene and the risk he was taking, but he looked after them, changed their clothes, washed their dirty linen and caught the disease and died.

"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abideth alone. But if it dies it bears much fruit." Part of the reason why people like me have tried to be obedient ministers of the Church, is because of people like Darrell who literally laid down his life for his friends and showed us that obedience to God was possible.

Now what can we do in our day and generation in thanks to God for what he has done for us and also through his servants? There is nothing better to give God in return for the gift of his son than our loyalty and our love. But I want to suggest just two ways of expressing our love that all of us can practise. We must look after the world that God has given us. In the last 20 years or so the production of the cheap polythene bag - the siri-siri bag - has become a great threat to our people. It blocks up drains and cannot be burnt without leaving an indestructible residue, and leaves behind a toxic gas, harmful to mankind. Now Keells has had the courage to sell cloth bags, and a rupee for every siri-siri bag you do not use is given to charity. We must support this and make and use cloth sling bags ourselves and sell them to our people and give the money to charity.

My second suggestion is this (and you can read all about in the papers of December 5th). The latest epidemic in our land is dengue fever, and it is produced by a mosquito that breeds in clean water, and attacks people during the day, so that using a mosquito net or coils at night is no help. We can practise love of the environment without striking big poses.

But if joining demonstrations for Peace and Human Rights and the environment is called for, then let us have the courage to do these things and, support those who do these things.

Remember that just as God has done great things for you, it is good for you to do some little things for God that expresses your loyalty and love.

Are you feeling good? I donÕt know whether you are, but you ought to be. Jesus Christ entered human life and raised it to a heavenly level. We may not all reach those heights, but if we fall he will pull us up.

"Brothers we are treading where the Saints have trod".

And therefore be merrie, set sorrow aside,

Christ Jesus our Saviour was born on this tide.

Tiruvempavai in Jaffna

By Yajnavalkya

'You fellows come here and move freely whereas we cannot even think of going to Jaffna.'

My reply to them has been invariably:

'You talk as if you fellows ever wanted to go to Jaffna, as if you fellows ever thought of Jaffna as a part of your country.' The greeting phase of the encounter usually ends with an unearthly silence.

Be that as it may, if my Sinhala friends ever wish to visit Jaffna - which is very unlikely-the best time for them would be either May-August, the period of the year when festivals are held in the innumerable temples there, when the distant Nadasvaram music mixed with the sensuous fragrance of jasmine is wafted by the soft and sometimes not so soft winds of the south-west monsoon or October/December, the period the people of the place call Marikkalam . The whole period is like a long night, wet, cold and often of sickness.

It is also a period of continuous penance beginning with Navaratri through Deepavali, Skanda Sasti, Venayaka Viratam and finally in December, immediately after Vinayaka Sasti, in the last stages of Daksinayana heralding as it were the Uttaraayana the Tiruvempavai.

This year Tiruvempavai commenced last Monday and concludes on Wednesday , on the 25 with Tirvatirai, a day very dear to Siva. Although these ten days of ritual worship belong to Siva in a general way, they are linked in a special sort of way to Siva as Natarajah and thus have a deep connection with Chidambaram. It should also be noted that Chidambaram temple has had a close link with Sri Lanka's Royalty, according to a Tamil tradition.

Thiruvasakam is a religious literary classic of rare beauty and depth. For poetic expression of the joy of God-experience, the anguish of being separated from God, this work of Manivasakar is incomparable. The Thiruvempavai ritual worship had its origin in and is based on the Poem in Thiruvasakam entitled Thiruvempavai, which itself is based on the Pavai-nonpu of the so-called Sangam age, wherein unmarried girls perhaps wishing for happy marriage do penance, with a pavai (a doll?) as an object of veneration.

The poem is in dramatic form, wherein the village maidens go from house to house awakening their friends to God and His glories, proceed in numbers to the village lotus pond, frolic in its waters and then in the presence of God express their deepest aspirations and praise Him.

For ten days people of Jaffna, young and old, boys and girls men and women, long before dawn, almost at midnight, on hearing the regal sound of the conches and the mellow sounds of the gongs wake up and in the icy cold that bites into your bones bathe in the equally icy cold water of their well. Fresh and pure they then go to the temple where after the usual pujas, the poem from Thiruvasakam-all the twenty songs are sung in ragas suitable for the time of the day.-I translate the last two verses.

'In our anxiety to renew an ancient adage, O our Lord we shall this day declare here and now:

Let not our beautiful breasts belong to anybody but your true devotees;

Let not our hands act except in your service;

Let our eyes not see anything that is not thee. If only these our wishes are fulfilled, what do we care if the sun rises in the east or the west.(19)

Hail, thy sacred flower fresh feet, the origin of all that is.

Hail, thy sacred feet the end of all that is,

Hail, thy sacred golden feet, the source of beings

Hail, thy sacred beautiful feet, all experience to all;

Hail, thy sacred feet end and refuge for all beings.

Hail, thy lotus feet, unknowable even by Vishnu and Brahma.

Hail, thy sacred beautiful feet, saving us all with infinite love.

Hail, this Markali festival of watery sports. (20)

Thiruvempavai culminates on the tenth day, on Thiruvatirai with an Abhishekam to Nataraja Murti - in the grandest scale possible manner, with cart loads of young coconuts, cans and cans of milk and curd, honey and what not, with all the good things of the land. To be there for this Abhishekam to participate in this wet, fragrant, abundant, ritual is a total experience.

Placing Christ's birth in history

By Leonard R. Mahaarachchi

Christmas, the birth of God as man on Earth, is witnessed on Christmas day, with revelry and little religion, that for skeptics this holy event is just another bash on a religious issue, and nothing historical. But is Christmas historical in a real sense? It is, as we shall see.

The event of Jesus' birth has separated history in two parts in time as B.C. and A.D., i. e., before Christ and Anno Domini, which means the year of the Lord. To quote just two contemporary incidents in our own ancient Isle, coinciding with the birth of Jesus in far away Palestine, history chronicles that, when Jesus was born in Palestine in B.C. 4 our own ruling monarch was Bhathiya or Bhathikabhaya, also known as Choranaga.

The Mahawansa says that it was during his rule that the pilgrimage to Sri Pada started, while another legend says that when Ruwanweliseya was renovated, the same king reigned which means, that while our Buddhists were wrapped in awe with two significant religious events, the first century Jewry in Palestine were witnessing an event of religious significance.

The Jewish hope of a Messiah was a long standing one, told and retold by their Prophets. Bhathiya's contemporary in Rome was Augustus Caesar, and Palestine was one of his dominions. It was the year 747 from the founding of Rome. The idea of a Saviour was a world concept in fact, and not one particular to the Jew.

The thought is even found in Buddhist philosophy, according to Alexander Hislop's The two Babylons. The occurrence of a celestial phenomenon in the sky, that of a strange star can also be quoted as historical proof of Jesus' birth.

This incident narrated in the holy writ, is not without its identity in primitive Chinese history again. Ancient records there said of a Jupiter, Saturn meeting in the sign of as Pisces around 3 B.C. This meeting is said to occur every 794 years.

The fact that Jupiter is the star identified with the world, and Saturn the star of Palestine, adds credence to the rendezvous. Was it a sign of a global event happening in Palestine? This star has been foretold in the Holy Bible too (Num. 24/17).

Even among Easterners, the idea of a Saviour was prevalent as shown in historical works of Tacitus and Suetonius. Non-Jews like those in East may have got this idea from Prophet Daniel who says a legend lived among them.

The historicity of the event of Jesus' birth, cannot be overlooked, simply because Jesus did not come to this world on a December 25th, whereas this day is universally accepted as the date of His birth. Even the reference in the gospels, to a census as decreed by Augustus Caesar (Lake2/1) is not of any help, since history records as many as three censuses in 28 B.C., 14 B.C. and 8 B.C., none of them anywhere close to the year of Jesus' birth.

Besides, there is confusion that the census in 8 B.C. was under governor Quirinius' reign, whereas the governor mentioned by Luke (2/2) is Syrenius. But this is resolved by the fact that the full name of the governor, Quirinius Publius Syrinus. (see Daniel RopÕs Jesus and His times) Vol. I.

There is also the difficulty in arriving at the month of the Jesus' birth. It cannot be December as shepherds do not keep watch over sheep in the cold. Suffice to say that on December 25, pagan Rome worshipped the Sun-God, in the winter solstice. Later in the 3rd century His Holiness Pope Gregory, ordered the baptism of that pagan feast and replaced it with the Jesus' birth.

In the 4th century, Clement of Alexandria suggested April 19 to be the real date, while March 28 and May 29 too were reckoned as the true dates that Jesus came to earth (ibid). The Eastern church celebrated Christmas on January 6 for a long spell, which is today's feast of the Epiphany.

Josephus, the historian, refers to Jesus in his Antiquities, Bk 18. A passage there reads: ÒAt this time appeared Jesus, a wise man (if he can be called a man) and performed marvellous things, and became the master of those who joyfully received the truth, and many of the Jews, also the Greeks followed him. This was the Christ, being denounced by the priests of our nation to Pilate, he was condemned to die on the cross...' (ibid).

Suetonius, a contemporary of Tacitus, in his "Lives of Caesars" writing about Tiberius, mentions the Neronian persecution saying, "Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome because under the influence of one Jesus they had become a permanent source of disorder..." Tacitus too in his history of year 116, refers to Jesus in his report on the fire of Rome in 64 A.D.

To quote history again to authenticate the life of Jesus of Christmas Pliny who had been Procurator, i.e., Chief Roman Magistrate, in a detailed report to Trojan on the followers of Jesus in the first century had this to say:

It seems that these Christians met together, sang hymns to Jesus and pledged themselves to avoid lying, stealing and adultery. There seemed to be nothing wrong in this, but the priests of the Gods, complained that, their temples were being deserted, while traders complained that there was no sale of animals for sacrifice.

Emperor Hadrian's letter addressed to Fundamus, a proconsul in Asia in 125 A.D., confirms the earlier writings. Justyn Martyr in his apology to Antonius Pius, and his son Marcus Aurelius refers to Jesus in A.D. 150 in some "Records of Pilate" which in turn is confirmed by Tertullian, the great apologist of the 3rd century who also says that Jesus' death was reported by Pilate to Tiberius, who had him reprimanded, for failing to get Tiberius's permission to crucify Jesus.

Not only documents, but even places connected with the Jesus birth, have reference in history. The inn St. Luke mentions at 2/7, "which had no room for Joseph and Mary" - was at the entrance to Bethlehem, and had been built by Gileadite, the son of a pal of David, who built it for his flocks ten centuries before the Christian era. Certain cities identified with the life of Jesus, like the pool of Siloam (Jn 5/2), the scene of Jesus trial (19/13) can be located today, after two millenia.

So Jesus is of world history, like Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln or any other.

Just because He founded a religion, does not mean He did not exist or was even born. Christians should make the Christmas event, a religious event rather than make it an excuse to engage in a bout of eating, drinking and meaningless revelry, that is tantamount to a counter witnessing of that God even, when Time touched Eternity. Spread the gospel of Jesus of Christmas to the whole world, now that His imminent Second coming, is sooner than expected during 20 centuries.

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