Christmas in Cambodia
CMS missionaries Maurice & Amanda Jacobson serve at Elim Bible School in Cambodia. In this article, Amanda reflects on how her understanding of Christmas in Cambodia has changed, and how she has seen God at work this Christmas season.
This article is part three of our Christmas series: ‘How do you celebrate Christmas?’
Article 1 is here. Article 2 is here. Article 4 will be posted on 19 December.
A strange kind of non-event
I have a six pack of Coles fruit-mince pies in my freezer, which I brought over from Australia on our last Home Assignment. They are waiting in there patiently until Christmas morning, when I can rescue them from their icy tomb and set them gently on my ‘best’ plate to enjoy with my morning coffee. As our children are all back in Australia, and we have no foreigners living within two hours of us, Christmas is a strange kind of non-event for us here.
Or at least that’s what I thought until recently, when we drove those two hours to our friend’s house.
As soon as I stepped inside, my Christmas senses were all heightened–I saw their Christmas tree strung with memorabilia stretching back decades, and heard the beautiful strains of choral Christmas music, and smelt gingerbread biscuits baking. At bedtime, it was hard to fight back the tears as their children all rushed at us with their favourite Christmas stories, jostling for the position next to me on the couch as I read. ‘The Grinch’ was an all-time favourite in our house and I could almost recite the whole script by heart, if it weren’t for the silly lump that was suddenly stuck in my throat.
Christmas is God building his church
When we returned to Elim, our students were excited to go on holidays. They told me of some of their Christmas traditions back in the village:
“We gather at church in the evening and make a big fire, then we throw lots of sweet potatoes into the coals and go in to celebrate and worship Jesus. Next, we sit silently and think about all the things we need God to forgive us for, then we can turn to the tree. There’s a big tree inside and hanging from every branch are paper leaves; they’re not really leaves, teacher, they’re scripture verses. Each page has its own verse, and at midnight, everyone takes a leaf from the tree and reads it silently. This is the Word of God for each of us, to lead us into the New Year. We’re all so happy and we go outside and collect the potatoes from the fire–it’s such a wonderful feast!”
Before the students went home this year, there was one last thing they were looking forward to: presenting their Nativity play at a nearby church. King Herod, with his moustache painted on using soot from the fire, and the little lamb’s faces, made woolly with cotton balls and glue, attracted a large crowd. But it was the face of an elderly father, sitting on stage after the play with his wife and son, that captivated me the most. On that day, this family decided to follow Jesus–the risen, living God.
This man’s face radiated an inner joy as he declared before heaven, “I know I have sinned, please God cleanse me and make me pure. Please be ruler of my life.”
And so now I must take back my original statement–Christmas isn’t a non-event here at all; it’s celebrating and feasting, reflecting and being thankful, it’s an inner joy and an outward declaration. It’s God building his church in Cambodia.
PRAY
Rejoice with Maurice and Amanda that God is building his church in Cambodia at Christmas. Pray that this new family of believers will celebrate with joy and thankfulness this Christmas season.
