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Whenever I travel, I am always interested to read signs that have been translated into English. This can cause some potentially interesting misunderstandings, as follows.

Sign in Tanzania: ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

Sign outside Malaysian restaurant: SEAFOOD BROUGHT IN BY CUSTOMERS WILL NOT BE ENTERTAINED!

Sign outside toilet in India: PLEASE DO NOT DROP BUTT IN TOILET BOWL

Sometimes when it comes to translating our Christian faith into values, attitudes and behaviour, we often fall short of conveying the good news that Jesus came to bring. Sometimes this is a result of our negligence or ignorance. At other times, it’s because our lens on the practice of Christian faith is distorted by the narrow self-interest of our culture, and its hostility to compassionate Christian values. This might lead us unwittingly into something of a bunker mentality, rather than choosing to actively engage with causes that promote the common good and serve the wider community.

When the disciples became embroiled in an argument over which of them would receive the highest positions in the kingdom of God, Jesus responded by saying: You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20: 25-28).

The qualities highlighted here by Jesus – service, humility and selflessness - are sorely needed in our world at present. If we take the time to display these, it may be that we can provide an effective translation of our faith.

Rev’d Philip

Painted by the artist Andrew Gadd, Bus Stop Nativity (2008)* depicts the Holy Family huddled together at night in a bus shelter, trying to stay warm. Some passersby look on with curiosity and two even kneel on the snow; others go about their business with total indifference. The image is a reminder that - unlike the softly lit nativity scenes on Christmas cards with smiling shepherds and cute stable animals - the context of Jesus coming into the world was on the poor, unrespectable margins of society. He entered a harsh, unjust world which failed to care for the most vulnerable. Not much has changed today. This painting is being widely shared in view of the current populist campaign targeting immigrants and asylum seekers. Outside one church in Chicago, a prominent sign has been placed (in place of the usual nativity scene) which reads ‘Holy family removed by ICE’ (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

 When we, individually or collectively, fail to care for the most vulnerable in our midst, we also fail to recognise the reality of Christ’s presence in our midst. In the remarkable first chapter of John, the writer says “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” We do well to recall that Joseph and Mary were homeless for a time and sought refuge from political persecution. The infant Christ would have been killed by the government of the day (under the paranoid King Herod) had his parents not made the decision to flee their own land. It is my hope that our Christmastide prayers for the poor, homeless and vulnerable would result in a more compassionate approach in our world today.

Source: https://artandtheology.org/2022/12/18/advent-day-22-bus-stop-nativity/