Christians in Kaduna State have invoked God’s blessings upon them in this Christmas season, to have no reason to cry over any loss during the Yuletide.
” The love of God has been poured on us, he shall shield us. He who neither sleeps no slumber will keep watch over us. May the peace of love dwell in our heart this season,” they prayed.
The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Kaduna state, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, in a statement on Friday, said they have already had too much to deal with.
The statement reads in parts:
“The season is here again when we are called to lead a life serving the world as salt to give her taste and light to give her sight. Today’s celebration is the birth of a fully evolved man in whom the glory of God and the value for humanity is priorities above e everything else. In the light of this season of celebration I bring you greetings in the name of our Lord and redeemer Jesus Christ whose birth and life we celebrate today.”
“Christmas is for everyone, it is a time for the old to learn from the young just like Jesus and the elders in the temple, it is a time for the weak to carry the strong just as Christ bore the burden of all of us, a time for the rich to be fed by the poor like Christ will feed multitude out of little. Christmas is an extraordinary feast wherein lay lessons for every single soul under the Sun. It is a season of selfless love.
We thank God for the gift of life and provision, we thank God that we are alive again to witness another Christmas, he granted us this grace out of nothing at a time when many have perished by accidents of all kinds, illnesses especially the pandemic, disasters, and the evil of terrorism that have enveloped our society under the watch of a government that appear seemingly comfortable with the events of the day.
Clearly today our society is in want of leaders with a sincere love for humanity, a kind of leaders who see service to humanity as a vocation not a business venture. What our state and nation needs today is a leadership that will learn from Jesus Christ who today remains ever high and celebrated worldwide not because He accumulated wealth but because he gave his all in service to humanity.
My dear people we cannot have such a great king, Lord and Saviour and still wallow in this challenges, no, at his time evil shall bow, when he says it is over it will be over, when he declares victory, no matter the forces and powers that have gathered, his will shall prevail. So as we celebrate, let us celebrate as a people of hope, a people with faith, a people with a Saviour.
One great command that Christ gave us is to “watch and pray”. In Christian theology every single word and its placement is not accidental but deliberate. So if Christ said “watch and pray he means watch and pray, Get it right brethren, he did not just said pray, he said WATCH and then pray. We cannot have eyes ears, nurse and mouth then the evil one will still walk into our communities kill and go unchallenged, if such is happening it is simply that we do not keep watch. We must guard our lives and properties, it is a duty and we must fulfill that. No one need be told that the government will not protect us, sure government can, but we all know government will not protect us so we must protect ourselves.
“We already have too much to deal with, we have earlier issued a directive to church leaders to observe these festivities bearing in mind the security situation in the state, I take this opportunity to appreciate all who have key into that directive. I will take this time too to call on Christians and all the citizens of Kaduna State to use this season and pray fervently for God’s intervention over the challenges that we are facing. The COVID-19 is still very much around with us and still evolving, I call on Christians in Kaduna state to observe all protocols given to deal with this pandemic. Also to reassure Christ’s faithful that we have consulted with Christian health experts on the COVID-19 vaccine and we realized that we have nothing to be afraid of hence, we call on all Christians and citizens of Kaduna state to avail themselves for the ongoing vaccination exercise.”