By Elizabeth Ameh
Christians have been called upon to use the period of Christmas to celebrate, pray, share gifts and reconcile with God and one another.
The call was made by the Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN)Borno State Chapter, Most Reverend Dr. John Bogna Bakeni, the Auxillary Bishop of Maiduguri at a press conference in Maiduguri.
According to him, the yuletide season is always a joyous moment, where christians commemorate the Birth of Jesus Christ.
“…25th of December.is always a joyous moment, this is always a moment of celebration when we remember and commemorate the birth. of our Lord Jesus Christ and so as Christians it is a very important feast for us, rort just in Borno or in Nigeria but all over the world and this the first time I am speaking as CAN Chairman we are elected in June and so have taken over and so my message to Christians and people of good will is to take advantage of this season and this period of grace to celebrate with your friends families, and relatives but above all itt is also a moment of reflection and pray not just just for individuals or families or even for the Christian community…”
The CAN Chairman also called on Christians not to allow the present hardship affect their celebration, of Christmas but should use the little they have to celebrate, focusing on the spiritual benefits of the season..”
I think despite the little they have you know they can still celebrate I think what is even more important is the spiritual preparations and the disposition of the hearts. Joy and happiness do not come from how much you have, you know, but how much gratitude you have even for the small so it’s depends on what they mean by celebration the entire feast itself is a celebration of hope fulfilment of Prophesy and hope of God to us as human being, so that should be the focus and that should be the bedrock of our joy you know of our celebration, rice, eating meat, and other things yeah they are good they give colour to the whole thing, wearing new clothe, new shoes especially for the kids and children you know, but you know you cannot do more than you have and your strength and so as leaders too may be our religious leaders in our homilies and sermons we need to emphasize this aspect, the material preparations is as important, but it should not supercede the spiritual one .”
Bishop Bogna thank God as peace is gradually returning to Borno State and commended the efforts of the gallant men and women who are working round the clock to restore permanent peace to the State.
“…And we thank God in this part of the Country, especially Borno State giving our antecedents of the challenges that we ‘ve been found through but we have we have also seen gradual improvement and restoration of peace in the state and the region and with this we also give thanks to God and thanks to our men and women who are working round the clock to see that peace is restored.
And so my message, the core of it is to invite all Christians to use this moment of Grace to celebrate to pray to share gifts to reconcile with God and with one another so that the graces and blessings set aside for this great sacred season at least, will abide with each and every one of us…”
