እንኳን ለጌታችን የልደት በዓል በሰላም አደረሰን — Merry Ethiopian Christmas

“እነሆ ድንግል ትፀንሳለች ልጅም ትወልዳለች ስሙንም አማኑኤል ትለዋለች” ማቴ.1፥23

የዛሬ ሁለት ሺ ዓመት ገደማ ነው፡፡ በኢየሩሳሌም ሀገር ንጉሡ ሄሮድስ ሕዝቡን ሁሉ ቤተልሄም ወደምትባል ከተማ ጠራቸው፡፡ እመቤታችንም በዚያ ጊዜ የአሥራ አምስት/15/ ዓመት ልጅ ሆኖ በሚጠብቃት በአረጋዊው /በሽማግሌው/ ዮሴፍ ቤት ትኖር ነበር፡፡ እመቤታችን ድንግል ማርያም ሕፃኑን ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን ፀንሳ ልትወልድ ደርሳ ሳለ ወደ ቤተልሄም ከተማ ከአረጋዊው ጠባቂዋ ዮሴፍና ከቅድስት ሰሎሜ ጋር ሄደች፡፡

በዚያ ሲደርሱ ምን ሆነ መሰላችሁ? እናታችን ማርያም ቅድስት ሰሎሜና አረጋዊው ዮሴፍ ማደሪያ ፈልገው በየቤቱ እየሄዱ “የእግዚአብሔር እንግዶች ነን ማደሪያ ስጡን፣ እባካችሁ አሳድሩን…” ብለው ቢጠይቋቸው ሁሉም “ቦታ የለንም፣ አናሳድርም፣ አናስገባም ሂዱ፡፡” እያሉ መለሷቸው፡፡ በጣም መሽቶ ስለነበረ ጨለማው ያስፈራ ነበረ፣ ብርዱ ደግሞ በጣም ከባድ ነበረ፡፡ ማደሪያ አጥተው የት እንሂድ እያሉ ሲያስቡ በድንገት አረጋዊ ዮሴፍ “ኑ ተከተሉኝ” ብሎ በመንደሩ ውስጥ ወዳለ አንድ የከብቶች ማደሪያ ቤት ወሰዳቸው፡፡

ከከብቶቹ ቤት ሲደርሱ በዚያ አህዮች፣ በሬዎች፣ በጎች፣…. ብዙ እንስሳት ተኝተው አገኙዋቸው፡፡ የበረቱ ሽታ በጣም ያስቸግር ነበረ፡፡ ነገር ግን ማደሪያ ስላልነበረ በዚያ ሊያድሩ ተስማሙ፡፡

ወደ በረቱ ሲገቡ እንስሶቹ ከተኙበት ተነሥተው በደስታ እየዘለሉ ተቀበሏቸው፡፡ በዚያም እመቤታችን ቅድስት ድንግል ማርያም ሕፃኑን ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን ወለደችው፡፡ ይህም ታላቅ ሕፃን የሁላችንም አምላክ ነው፡፡ ወዲያውኑ የከብቶቹ ቤት በታላቅ ብርሃን ተሞላ፡፡ ቅዱሳን መላእክት ተገለጡ፤ በእመቤታችንም ፊት ሆነው በደስታ ከበሮ እየመቱ፣ እያጨበጨቡ መዘመር ጀመሩ፡፡ መዝሙሩም እንዲህ የሚል ነበር፡–

“ለእግዚአብሔር ክብርና ምስጋና በሰማያት ይሁን፣ በምድርም ሰላም ለሰውም በጎ ፈቃድ”

ምንጭ

Do Children in Materially Rich Countries Know It’s Christmas?

No, they don’t! How could they? Little Abby and little Billy don’t know it’s Christmas because their parents, their kindergartens and schools don’t have enough time to teach them about God, and they are not happy because of it. The parents and teachers discipline their children their way, instead of God’s way, and they are sad. They are sad, because their parents and teachers have fallen so far away from God’s teachings that they deny their children God, drive away the Angels who could give them inner warmth, comfort and happiness. Little Abby and Billy are sad, disturbed and unsafe because their parents and teachers are to busy collecting the guns, the knives, the grass…and, yes! Little Abby cries, because they took away from her the images of Jesus, The Virgin Mary, and The Angels to replace them with the images of Barbie Dolls, Bart Simpson and Barack Obama.

So, dear Ethiopians, this Christmas – children of Ethiopia know it takes place on the 7^th of January – don’t forget to pray for the materially rich children of the West who have nothing else but to play with man-made dolls that are just like them — pray for them that The Lord could fill them with his compassion, give them His eyes to see, give their parents and teachers boldness and selflessness and wisdom, so that they too might cry out for justice and feed the spiritually hungry, so that His light might shine throughout the earth — life them up because they are in a very terrible state of spiritual poverty, often marginalized, finding themselves in challenging circumstances they did not choose and helpless without our prayers to change. So, let’s all pray for them:

It’s Christmas time, and there’s no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy
Throw our prayers around the world at Christmas time

And there won’t be Frankincense in Europe and America this Christmas time
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life
Where there is no joy, no light or Angels appear
Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?

So, let’s pray for the Children of the West
At Christmas time, it’s hard, but when you’re celebrating
There’s a world outside our window
And it’s a world of fear and sadness
Where the only unholy-water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Well, tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you

Here’s to you, raise a glass for everyone
Here’s to them underneath that cold winter
Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?

Let’s free the world from bondage of materialism
Free the world

Free the world, let them know it’s Christmas time
And free the world
let them know it’s Christmas time
And free the world
let them know it’s Christmas time
And free the world
let them know it’s Christmas time…

“It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” [Luke 17:2]

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” [Hosea 4:6]

“For these are rebellious people, deceitful children; children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right!Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.”[Isaiah 30:9-10]

Materialism Breeds Unhappiness

My note: Worldwide surveys have consistently ranked the Scandinavian countries — with their generous family-leave policies, low crime, free health care, rich economies and, yes, high income taxes — as the happiest places on earth. But this happiness has always been accompanied by a paradox: the “happiest” countries also seem to have the highest suicide rates.

Is it the long, dark winters facing Norway, Sweden Finland and Denmark that cause the problem? Or some kind of Nordic depression gene? Or is it because those nations become more and more atheists by turning their backs on The Almighty God, Yahweh? (Suicide Rate 2011)

It is, perhaps, a simple fact of life in the West: we expect to be happy. The right to pursue happiness is part of America’s Declaration of Independence, after all. The feeling has been heightened by the booming field of “happiness studies”, which has produced a flow of news stories and books about what will and will not make us happy, about the happiest places to live, and about how to structure our lives so we can be happy almost all the time.

Some important findings have emerged. Too many choices lead to dissatisfaction. Chronic pain has a more negative impact than a single accident. We habituate quickly to our acquisitions. A good marriage is worth about $100,000 a year in terms of how happy it makes us.

But this headlong rush towards happiness might backfire. Could our constant worrying about why we are not happy be making us more miserable than if we simply accepted some occasional unhappiness as part of life? In viewing unhappiness as a problem to be solved, might we not miss what a little sadness has to offer us? Are we trading long-term satisfaction for feeling good now? Buying our present-day enjoyment at the cost of future meaning?

Source

So, what’s better, to be materially wealthy and unhappy or materially poor, but spiritually rich and happy?

Follow My Photoblog here and judge for yourselves: