我們的聖誕節 作者：拿俄米︱英譯：楊光 (首刊於《真理報》加西版2008年12月號) 有人說，慶祝聖誕是西方的傳統。其實，這種說法並不準確。聖誕——顧名思義就是聖嬰的誕辰。這個孩子不是別人，正是我們的主耶穌。聖誕節既然是祂的生日，也就是全世界基督徒共同的節日，並不分國界，也無論種族。在2008年聖誕又將來臨之際，我採訪了幾位華人基督徒，想看看他們是怎麼歡慶曆年的聖誕的。 在他們之中，有一位名叫泡泡的女孩子，跟我聊起了那年在威斯勒（Whistler）的經歷。那是2004年的聖誕，當時她才剛認識主耶穌，還是第一次跟着教會去旅行。她們到了宿營地，才發現那是一幢兩層樓高的超級無敵小木屋。說它超級無敵是因為它“麻雀雖小，五臟俱全”，小木屋裡從壁爐、廚房，到桌上足球（foosball），應有盡有。 泡泡告訴我，三天的旅行，要數在山上滑雪的那天發生的事情最多。到集合的時間，突然發現有一個姐妹不見了。後來才知道，由於大家是自由活動，彼此都是分散的，那個姐妹等滑到山腳下的時候，發現自己下錯了山坡。事後她告訴大家，當聽說她所在的地方跟大家隔了整整一座山頭，她實在嚇得不輕。好在，當地有班車在各滑雪場之間穿梭，幾經輾轉，她終於有驚無險地回到了宿營地，實在要感謝主的保佑。 平安夜，泡泡是在跟大家坐在一起吃吃喝喝、做遊戲、唱聖歌中渡過的。遊戲的末尾，大家要通過抽?的方式交換各自準備好的聖誕禮物。泡泡說，她準備的是一支睫毛膏，最後被一個叫愛德華的弟兄拿走了。也不知道是愛德華的姐姐還是妹妹在禱告的時候跟神要過一支睫毛膏呢？ 泡泡還說，在她最喜歡的聖誕歌裡面,有一首就是《平安夜》。我一查，驚奇地發現這首歌詞曲作者都名不見經傳。然而，從1816年在奧地利的一個鄉村小教會誕生至今，這首歌已經被翻譯成133種語言，傳唱在世界各地的教會裡。網上甚至還有一個為這首歌開設的silentnight.web.za，上面搜集了包括德語原版在內的196個版本的《平安夜》。神使用了兩個默默無聞的普通人，為世人留下了這樣一首傳世名曲，這件事情本身也可以說就是一個神跡吧? 泡泡的故事講完了，神的故事還在繼續。讓我們跟祂一起把這個故事寫下去…… 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.