39) Kodi karácsony

Az őszi félév november végén befejeződik iskolánkban, így decemberben mindenkinek szünet van, csak január elején találkozunk újra.
Azon túl, hogy erre a szünetre diáknak és tanárnak egyaránt szüksége van, az évvége alkalmat ad arra is, hogy a(z egyik) legnagyobb keresztyén ünnepet mégis megünnepeljük iskolai közösségben is.
Ha novemberben, hát novemberben. Így természtesen veszít a varázsából egy kicsit az egész, hiszen nem tudunk (és nem is akarunk) végigélni négy adventi hetet/vasárnapot, de évtizedek óta fontosnak tartják Kodiban, hogy a karácsonyi örömhír hirdetése nélkül senki ne utazzon haza téli szünetre.
Így bizony mi is tartottunk össziskolai karácsonyi ünnepséget, ahol a vasárnapi iskolások betlehemes játékot mutattak be,

én meg prédikáltam (lent elolvasható):

Utána meg ha már együtt voltunk, készítettünk egy össziskolai fotót:

Az utolsó közös szombaton pedig csodálatos karácsonyi vacsorára gyűltünk össze, ahol valóban ünnepi hangulatban kórusokkal, közös énekléssel, beszélgetéssel, közösségben megélhettük azt, hogy milyen csodára is várunk karácsonykor.
Itt még több kép található az alkalomról, ami nem láttatja ugyan a készülés folyamatát, hiszen mégis egy (ill. kettő) kopár kosárlabdapályából kellett igényes termet varázsolni. Szerintünk sikerült:

 Fantasztikus vacsora volt, O-nek a sütőtökös édeskrumpli meg a csirke ízlett legjobban, Balázsnak pedig a Waldorf-saláta ;)

 A kivetítőt egy Joe Castillo-videóhoz, ill. a közös énekléshez szereltük fel:

A kórusok is felléptek, minden korosztály kitett magáért, különösen a legnagyobbak Halleluja-kórusa tetszett Handel Messiásából.

 A vacsora és az egész este jó volt találkozásokra, ünneplésre, a közösség megélésére. Itt A. kisovisával, Evanikával:

 

Aztán nemcsak mindenféle (szakrális és kommersz) karácsonyi énekeket énekeltünk a színpadról, hanem a Csendes éjjel fejeztük be több különböző nyelven: angol, német, tamil, hindi, koreai, magyar és malayalam... jó volt, hogy a diákok is beszálltak!

 Itt valószínűleg a magyar versszak szól 😉

Ha már együtt voltunk, végre egy összmagyar fotóra is összeálltunk, így él most Kodiban három család is - nagy örömünkre:

Az utolsó együtt töltött vasárnapon aztán több amerikai (és természetesen más nációjú) kollégával pedig az igazgató házában egy jó hangulatú Thanksgiving-alkalmon vehettünk részt, mielőtt elköszöntünk egymástól a téli szünidőre.
Itt éppen a vacsorához csatlakozó főzőverseny eredményhirdetését hallgatjuk,

itt pedig az egyik győztes Szigeti-család a díjátadó igazgatóval: pork paellát készítettek, nagyon finom volt, és a legjobb húsos étel díját kapták meg.

 Szintén a karácsonyi ünnepkörhöz tartozik, hogy az utolsó alkalommal a gimnazista ifiseket elvittük ebédelni, mögöttem a két fiú között vezetőtársam, Sangeetha látható. Nagyon szeretem ezt a kis állandó csapatot!

A tanévzáró után pedig, amikor a diákok elutaztak, mindig egy kedves alkalom, hogy az iskola techinkai dolgozóit és családjaikat megvendégeli az intézmény karácsonyi ajándékként, és ekkor az ún. professional staff (azaz tanárok, stb.) szolgálnak fel nekik, hogy értékeljük és megköszönjük egész éves munkájukat. Örültünk, hogy az idén ebben gyerekeink is részt vehettek, pl. Boró örömmel osztotta Barbival dobozból a papadamot.

Ezután pedig mindenki útra kelt, hogy ünnepeljünk családi körben, utazzunk és január elejéig kipihenjük magunkat, feltöltődjünk.

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Christmas Assembly – KIS, 2018

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

First thanks a lot to Ms. Anita, Ms. Zita, Ms. Sunitha, Ms. Felicia, Ms. Sarah, Ms. Ruth, Mr. Edwin, Mr. Victor and to the Sunday School children for this beautiful and meaningful nativity play.

Dear KIS Community!

I believe most of you are sitting here with anger that we could not have a late start today.

Most of you are also sitting here with the overwhelming thoughts of your exams.

I believe some of you are sitting here with the thoughts of your last assignments that might have been due two weeks ago…

And some of you are sitting here with the grief over your homes and/or your dorm/classroom or compound as Cyclone Gaja did not have mercy on property and belongings.

For all of you, this is my message today about Christmas:

GODISNOWHERE

I wonder how you read it? Look at it for a couple of seconds and just shout it out: …

GOD IS NOWHERE: Yes, God is nowhere. This is how I read it. Not only this morning, but always. God is just a manmade phenomenon, I don’t think God is here at all, or anywhere. God is nowhere. God is nowhere…

-          when we encounter cyclones

-          when we lose loved ones

-          when we are overloaded with work

-          when our relationships are broken

GOD IS NOWHERE – this is what society also tells us. Don’t focus on your spiritual development, deal only with your economic improvements and let yourself flow with everyday worries, but never stop to find the supernatural.

I have actually a different reading for you, and I wonder how many of you read it like this for the first time: GOD IS NOW HERE.

If you look carefully, you realize that it’s not you who would find the supernatural. God would come and find you. With his hope, joy, peace and love. This is what God is doing at Christmas. God comes to us in a form nobody had expected him to come. He takes up human form and comes to us as close as he can.

God is now here. That’s what Christians celebrate all around the world in a couple of weeks and here in Kodai, we celebrate it in our last full week. Because the good news is that God is now here. Here with you, here with me, here with us,

-          when we encounter cyclones – by protecting our lives

-          when we lose loved ones – by showing that he understands what suffering is

-          when we are overloaded with work – by giving us the strength to keep up with it

-          when our relationships are broken – by allowing us to see which of our relationships are real and which ones are not

God is now here – right there in the manger. In this child whose name is Jesus. At Christmas this is what we celebrate. Not only a cute baby in a manger, but God’s incarnate. God becoming human. One of us. Let me illustrate this with a story by Paul Harvey:

He tells the story about a family on Christmas Eve. This family had a tradition where the Mother and children would go to the Christmas Eve service, and the Father would stay home and read the paper. When the family returns home from church, they would all gather to open up their presents.

The Father was not an evil man, but he just couldn’t believe in the childhood stories anymore of God coming as a baby in a manger. As the family left for church, he opened up the evening paper and began to read by the fireplace.

Suddenly, he heard tapping on the window. It was a bird flying against the glass of his window trying to get out of the snow into the warmth of his home. The man had compassion on the bird, and he went outside, hoping to bring it in.

As he approached the bird, the bird just flew against the window even harder. Pretty soon, the bird flew into the bushes below the window, half frozen, yet too afraid to be caught by this huge man. The more the man tried to reach for the bird, the more the bird flew frantically into the snow and thorns of the bushes.

After a few minutes in the cold and seeing the bird continue to injure itself, the man yelled out in frustration, “Stupid bird, can’t you understand that I’m trying to help?” The man paused and thought, “If only you understood you wouldn’t fly away … if only … if only I could become a bird, and get you to understand.”

Just then, the church bells rang, as they always have on the hour. But when the man heard the bells this time, he fell to his knees and began to cry, saying, “Oh, God, I didn’t understand. Oh, God, I didn’t understand.”

This is the story, and I can just repeat what this man realized at the end: “if only I could become a bird, and get you to understand that I’m trying to help you…” God’s Son came in human form that we might understand from where we have come, for what reason we were separated and how we could be restored to God.

That is why Jesus has come to the world. That is why we can all say this Christmas that GOD IS NOW HERE, and I can emphasize all words at the end as a summary:

-          GOD – not somebody else, not somebody who just makes promises and never fulfils them… He is the one who is here now!

-          IS – this is happening now. In present tense. When we listen to God’s Word, when we come together a community and uphold each other as we have shown so often (as we have heard from Principal Corey at the beginning). IS. Not will be, definitely not was, but IS.

-          NOW – now. Not only in a couple of weeks, not only on 25^th Dec. It’s just a date anyway they came up with only in the 3^rd century to mark a pagan Son-worship (Sol-in-Victus) festival, because they realized that this is exactly what Christ is doing to people’s lives: brings light to them. Now. When we are gathered here in his name. Now – you can bring this message home with you.

-          HERE – not there, not anywhere else, not far from us, but right here. Not with somebody else whose life is always easier than mine. Here. With me. That is the good news of Christmas: God is now here!

That Christ is here for you, and for you, and for you… and for me. That’s the only reason I can actually stand here and talk to you. Because Christ has come for me. Christ was born for me. God has become human for me. And for you. And for all of us.

Amen. Let us pray: …