Christmas in Spain

As most of you know the Spanish have created what they call a modern, secular society. It means that practically no one believes in God, or if they do, they believe more in a positive energy. There are also a lot of Muslims around with their beliefs and their culture. A young exchange student from Brazil who is attending our church said, ¨When I told the other students I was a christian they looked at me with pity like I was some poor miserable thing and they said ...You don´t have to be that way, you don´t have to believe that, you can just be normal like us!. The Spanish high school kids looked at her like she had never used a telephone or seen a television before. They wanted to help her to come around to their non-believing ways. They wanted to un-evangelize her! I had a conversation with a young neighbor named Jesus, he said he thought his namesake was just a good man who helped people and then a lot of myths and stories built up around him. He said he preferred the Buddhist philosophies.

So what about Christmas? Surprisingly it´s a pretty big deal here, probably fueled by the retailers. Lots of decorations and music. The city even had a special tent set up at the Puerto Marina and invited flamenco schools and kids´ choirs, and even our Church Christmas choir to come and sing. That was fun.

As a church we celebrate Christmas for a number of reasons. Even though the Bible doesn´t tell us Jesus was born on December 25th, and even though the Wise Men probably didn´t show up on the same night as his birth, that birth, His birth is worth celebrating. What could be more worth celebrating? Also in this land where evangelism is particularly challenging we have found that neighbors and friends who are usually uninterested in God and the church may well come to a Christmas program where someone they know will be singing or acting. That one small attendance can break the ice and become the start of something big in their lives.

At our Christmas party for the youth a couple of new faces showed up. Actually there were several. Some young women and two young men. The youth have been studying Proverbs for the whole year and they each began to share their favorite proverb, one by one. Well that was too much for the new girls, they made like they were going to the bathroom and just kept on going right out the door! The two guys stayed, listened, ate, and stayed through the games and all the way to the end. They were both self proclaimed atheists. The next day was Sunday and there they were taking it all in. One has made a profession of faith, the other is still hanging around, still listening. It´s not spectacular, but this stuff really works!