Deepavali – an Indian Christian reflects
This post is written by my friend Philip Thomas. I met him in New York during the Connext 2007 conference. I was very excited to read his perspective on Deepavali and am curious to know your thoughts? Your comments are welcome:
In a couple of days, Hindus all over the world will celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights. Deepavali (or Diwali, as it is sometimes called) means an Array of Lamps, i.e. rows of diyas (Deep=Lamp, Vali=Array). The story of Deepavali is found in one of the epics of Indian Literature, Ramayana, written by the poet Valmiki. According to the Ramayana, Deepavali commemorates the return of Ram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and the eldest son of King Dasharath of Ayodhya, from his 14-year exile with Sita (his wife) and Lakshman (his brother) after killing Ravan, a demon king of Lanka (modern-day Sri Lanka). The people of Ayodhya illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and fireworks to celebrate the return of their king. It. is a festival of lights symbolizing the victory of righteousness and the lifting of spiritual darkness. It celebrates the victory of good over evil - and the glory of light.
Growing up in Calcutta, India, I always wanted to celebrate Deepavali with my Hindu friends. However, I was always discouraged from doing so by my parents who were rather orthodox in their interpretation of the doctrine of sanctification. I loved Deepavali. It was my favorite of all Indian festivals. On Deepavali, the sounds of firecrackers and the light of sparklers lit up the city horizon. Added to it were all the delicious Indian sweets that were given to us by neighbours and friends. As I grew older, several other elements, some quite undesirable, were incorporated into the festivities. Given all the allurements of the season, I can, in retrospect, understand why my parents did not want me to get too involved in celebrating Deepavali.
But now in the US, I miss Deepavali. I miss the idea of going out with my friends to the big field opposite the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta, and seeing the grand finale of the night as city residents would burst hundreds of thousands of rupees worth of fire crackers faster than a group of dotcoms burning through venture capital in the hey days of Silicon Valley (an irony considering that fact that less than a few miles away little children were dying of hunger). I miss the celebration and so I have been reflecting on Deepavali.
Deepavali celebrates the return of a king to his kingdom with his wife, who had been kidnapped an imprisoned by the evil demon. In honor of their return, the kingdom bursts into an orgy of illuminated celebration.
But wait! Doesn’t it sound like a party we will have in heaven when Jesus returns with his bride, the church? Would not the stars line up celestial streets in joyful welcome? Would not creation burst out in song? Would the meteors and spatial volcanoes not erupt to celebrate their Creator’s unification with his bride? I think they would. I think, that when we all walk in with Jesus, as He presents us to His Father as His bride, heaven will celebrate Deepavali – the festival of lights. With one difference — the author and source of light will be in the celebration.
I think of all the old European pagan festivals that we have adopted and spiritualized - to create the sacred Christian festival traditions of today? Easter was the celebration of Eastre, the pagan goddess of spring and offspring. How this pagan festival came to be supplanted by a solemn Christian holiday attests to the ingenuity of second century Christian missionaries. As these missionaries traveled among the Teutonic tribes north of Rome, whenever possible they transformed local pagan customs to harmonize with Christian doctrine. On a practical basis, this prevented local converts from being persecuted by the pagan traditionalists. Since the Easter festival to celebrate spring coincided with the time of the Christian observance of the resurrection of Christ, this crossover was achieved smoothly. And what about Christmas? It is a similar story of a pagan festival adapted by Christians to celebrate the birth of Christ.
So there is a certain historical tradition to adapting pagan festivals to celebrate an event in Christian history. Modern day Christians now have a celebration for the birth of Christ and another for the sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection of Christ.
What we do not have is one that celebrates, in advance, the final consummation of our relationship with Jesus – when He comes back for us; a celebration of the time when we, His bride, will return with him to heaven. When the angels and all creation will light up paradise and He who is light will preside over the ceremonies. I think we need to get prepared to go up to heaven, be received by God and party with Him. We need to celebrate the fact that Christ, who is God, has chosen us, imperfect and sinful as we are, to be His bride. And that He will present us spotless and pure before His father.
So celebrate Deepavali – with a twist. Invite your friends over for a party. Tell them that just as the town of Ayodhya in ancient India celebrated the return of its king and queen, you are celebrating, in readiness for the party that the angels and all creation will partake in to celebrate the wedding of God’s one and only begotten Son. And that you would like them to be in that party — and that you have a personal invitation for them from the bridegroom!
In the name of He who is light – Happy Deepavali!
Comments
Comment from Promila Rose
Date: November 9, 2007, 10:58 pm
I was reading your article, “Dipavli-an ancient christian reflects”.
I am really saddened to read that the writer had compared the Lord Jesus’s second coming with King Rama. The two events had no similarities at all. Jesus died on the cross and had to undergo lot of humiliation because of our wrong doing. He promised us to be with us through His holy spirit. His sacrifice was for the whole universe,not for one person.
King Ram had to save his wife,because it would have reflected very badly on his manlihood to return to his kingdom without his wife. I am not sure if this battle he fought for her queen was out love or kingly compulsions. Whether King Rama fought with Ravana, purlybecause he loved his wife,is doubtful ,otherwise, why did he kicked her out later on . Just because some one said a bad thing about her character. Should’nt he be taking a bold stand to defend his wife instead of kicking her out. His love for his wife was conditional and he completly failed to fulfill his duties as a husband.
Jesus never did to His loved ones like this. He loves us,provides us,guides us,defends us against every odd. Who can love like Him to his beloved bride. He promised never to leave us nor to forsake us, are never changing,no matter what.
So for God’s sake do not compare Jesus and His love with anything and that too with very ordinary events.
Thanks.
Promila Rose
Comment from Ben Lall
Date: November 14, 2007, 12:07 am
Hi sister Promila,
Thank You so much for your comment. Thank You for reading as well as your honest feedback, it is much appreciated.
I want you to know that the purpose of this article is not to compare Rama to the Lord Jesus Christ. Simply put - there is no comparison. So we are on the same team.
The question is not who,what or why did Rama do what he did - after all its all a myth. I don’t really care. The point of the article is - let us use deepavali to look forward to and celebrate the return of our Saviour.
Imagine going up to your Hindu neighbour with sweets. They would say ‘But you’re a christian’ and you would reply’Yes, I am celebrating the return of the Lord Jesus Christ who has promised that he will return for His bride’.
This is an encouragement to imagine using an existing festival and possibly using it as a tool for evangelism.
I hope you can see the real point of the article, it is a radical concept I agree.
Blessings
Ben
Comment from Promila Rose
Date: November 20, 2007, 7:45 pm
Thanks Brother Ben,
Of course i agree on the point that there is no comparison for Jesus. I take this moment to congratulate you about your website Masivandana.com. This is awesome and very beautiful,especially the music. I could not find the hindi christian music in Canada. It gave me so much peace and joy to hear that favorite songs,punjabi Zaboors sang by Brother Austin . Though they are not complete. I will appreciate if someone could provide the source to buy the CD. Also album” Prabu tera pyar’ sang by Brother Virender. I lost that CD in an unfortunate incident and never find it again.
Thanks and God bless you too.
Promila Rose
Comment from Ben Lall
Date: November 20, 2007, 8:53 pm
Thank You dear sister for your kind words.
I am trying to put the CD’s on the website so that you will be able to buy them online. This way we can help the artists by giving them some money back rather than just downloading for free.
Please keep visiting the site and I will let you know.
In the meantime - please continue to pray that the Lord will keep us accountable to HIM.
Blessings
Ben
Comment from Clement Garrett
Date: November 23, 2007, 8:35 pm
Is it possible for a Christian to deny the real Hindu purpose of celebrating Diwali and coin the purpose to be a celebration of an anticipated coming of Christ? To me it seems to be a forced justification of celebrating Diwali by Christians. We celebrate a victory not an anticipation of a victory. What will the Hindu’s say? Has He come yet? If not, then why the celebrations. They will not comprehend the celebration of a Promise.
You talk about exchange of sweets. Will you accept the sweets given to you by your Hindu neighbours; they celebrate it for a Hindu purpose? What about crackers? Can Christians burst crackers as well for, the same purpose? I know the pastors, preachers and evangelists will say yes, but I would like to see a laymen’s point of view on this topic.
I will say do not celebrate Diwali at all. But if you are surrounded by Hindu neighbours eat sweets for the sake of sweets and burst crackers for pure fun as a good gesture towards your neighbours and make it a point to share your Christmas and Easter celebrations with your Hindu friends and neighbours. That will be the right time for evangelism.
Comment from Soni Raj
Date: February 6, 2008, 5:07 am
Praise the lord all,
i stumbled upon this website by chance during my search of gospel music online here in Middle-east.
I was amazed to see this thread as in november I too wrote an article covering the same issue in a dubai-based magazine called The International Indian - “what diwali means to me ” - from a christian perspective.
as regards the sweets issue, initially, the apostles ruled that Christians should “abstain from meats offered to idols.” (Acts 15:29) Paul, however, seems to take the position that as long as one doesn’t ask whether it was offered to an idol, then it doesn’t matter. Even if you learn that it was offered, then it is up to your own conscience and those with whom you are eating whether it is wrong or not. See 1 Corinthians 8:4-13 and Romans 14:13-23.
Paul’s conclusion is that all food is acceptable if received with thanksgiving, as long as someone else, who doesn’t accept that, is not forced to violate their conscience. Then it would be a sin to eat it.
AS far as comprehending the celebration of a promise is concerned, our purpose is not to make anyone understand our belief. the word makes it clear, it will be done through the holy spirit.
i feel easter and for that matter each day of our lives is a celebration of lord’s eternal promise. no unbeliever can comprehend it……christian perspective is a difficult things to understand , yet we have to live our life in a way to allow for the lords light to shine through and open thier understanding.
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