我们的圣诞节 作者：拿俄米︱英译：杨光 (首刊于《真理报》加西版2008年12月号) 有人说，庆祝圣诞是西方的传统。其实，这种说法并不准确。圣诞——顾名思义就是圣婴的诞辰。这个孩子不是别人，正是我们的主耶稣。圣诞节既然是祂的生日，也就是全世界基督徒共同的节日，并不分国界，也无论种族。在2008年圣诞又将来临之际，我采访了几位华人基督徒，想看看他们是怎么欢庆历年的圣诞的。 在他们之中，有一位名叫泡泡的女孩子，跟我聊起了那年在威斯勒（Whistler）的经历。那是2004年的圣诞，当时她才刚认识主耶稣，还是第一次跟着教会去旅行。她们到了宿营地，才发现那是一幢两层楼高的超级无敌小木屋。说它超级无敌是因为它“麻雀虽小，五脏俱全”，小木屋里从壁炉、厨房，到桌上足球（foosball），应有尽有。 泡泡告诉我，三天的旅行，要数在山上滑雪的那天发生的事情最多。到集合的时间，突然发现有一个姐妹不见了。后来才知道，由于大家是自由活动，彼此都是分散的，那个姐妹等滑到山脚下的时候，发现自己下错了山坡。事后她告诉大家，当听说她所在的地方跟大家隔了整整一座山头，她实在吓得不轻。好在，当地有班车在各滑雪场之间穿梭，几经辗转，她终于有惊无险地回到了宿营地，实在要感谢主的保佑。 平安夜，泡泡是在跟大家坐在一起吃吃喝喝、做游戏、唱圣歌中渡过的。游戏的末尾，大家要通过抽?的方式交换各自准备好的圣诞礼物。泡泡说，她准备的是一支睫毛膏，最后被一个叫爱德华的弟兄拿走了。也不知道是爱德华的姐姐还是妹妹在祷告的时候跟神要过一支睫毛膏呢？ 泡泡还说，在她最喜欢的圣诞歌里面,有一首就是《平安夜》。我一查，惊奇地发现这首歌词曲作者都名不见经传。然而，从1816年在奥地利的一个乡村小教会诞生至今，这首歌已经被翻译成133种语言，传唱在世界各地的教会里。网上甚至还有一个为这首歌开设的silentnight.web.za，上面搜集了包括德语原版在内的196个版本的《平安夜》。神使用了两个默默无闻的普通人，为世人留下了这样一首传世名曲，这件事情本身也可以说就是一个神迹吧? 泡泡的故事讲完了，神的故事还在继续。让我们跟祂一起把这个故事写下去…… Our Christmas By: Naomi | English translation: Linda Yang Some people say that celebrating Christmas is a Western tradition. That, however, is not entirely accurate. The word Christmas means the birth of the Holy Child, and this Child is none other than our Lord Jesus. Since Christmas is His birthday, it is a holiday that is celebrated by Christians all over the world, regardless of borders or ethnicity. As Christmas 2008 approaches, I interviewed several Chinese Christians to ask them how they celebrate Christmas. Among them, there is a girl named Bubbles, who started telling me about her experience one year in Whistler. It was Christmas 2004, and at the time, she had just accepted Jesus as Lord. It was also her first time taking a trip with her church friends. When they got to their camp, they found that they were staying in an unbeatable little two-storey cabin. Why unbeatable? Because its looks can be deceiving—though small on the outside, inside it was complete with a fireplace, fully supplied kitchen, and even a foosball table! Bubbles told me that during the three-day ski trip, many things had happened on the slopes. Once, when it was time to meet up, one of the girls was missing. They found out afterwards that because it was free time, everyone had split up to ski. When she had gotten to the bottom, she found that she has skied down the wrong slope. She was scared out of her wits when she found out that she was separated from the group by an entire mountainside. Fortunately, there were buses that shuttled skiers between each slope, and she returned to the cabin unharmed. Praise God for his protection! Bubbles spent Christmas Eve with her friends, eating, playing games, and singing carols. At the end, there was a gift exchange in which each person drew a name out of a hat to give them a Christmas present. Bubbles said she had prepared a tube of mascara as a gift, and it ended up being given to a brother named Edward. Maybe Edward’s sister had prayed for a tube of mascara? Bubbles also said that her favourite Christmas hymn is “Silent Night”. I researched the song and was surprised to find that the names of the composer and lyricist were not to be found. However, ever since the song was sung in a small village church in Austria in 1816, this song has been translated into 133 different languages, and sung in churches all over the world. There is a site on the Internet (silentnight.web.za) that has collected over 196 versions of “Silent Night”, including the original in German. God used two ordinary unnamed individuals and gave the world this extraordinary timeless hymn. That is a miracle in itself. Bubbles’ story has been told, but God’s story goes on. Let us keeping writing this story together with Him.