Source: Beyond, December 7, 2022
One of the great joys in Joel and Becky’s work has been to see “Tazig” believers celebrate Christmas and remember God incarnate in their own culturally relevant ways.
Last year one of their teammates’ sisters returned to visit her Himalayan family. Priscilla’s sister has lived in the United States for the past ten years and has become an American citizen.
As Priscilla and the other Tazig believers were making plans for their Christmas celebration, her sister, Amrita, asked, “Oh, you are going to celebrate the English New Year?”
Priscilla replied, “No, we are making plans to celebrate Christmas when the Creator God came to the earth and lived as a human.”
Amrita never understood Christmas. For 10 years she had heard people in the United States say, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” Since her people celebrate the Tibetan New Year over multiple days, she thought Christmas was just the start of our New Year’s celebrations. Amrita had never heard the Christmas story.
Thankfully, Priscilla told her about God sending his Son to the earth and all about Christmas. A few days later, Amrita joined the Tazig Christmas celebration, knowing for the first time what it was all about.
Read the full story and ask yourself if there might be someone in your life who doesn’t know the reason we celebrate Christmas.