Isaac Mwase is currently a cancer-prevention fellow with the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. Previously he taught at Tuskegee University and Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. A native of Zimbabwe, Mwase was a pastor and editor there before coming to the United States. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C., and master’s and doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He returned to his homeland as a visiting instructor at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe in the summer of 1992.
Zimbabwe’s society is just as diverse as other societies. For Christians, Christmas was a time when I was reminded — and as a young preacher, I participated in the reminding of others — to put Christ back into Christmas.
I remember gathering at a church or at the Baptist conference center to celebrate Christ’s coming into the world as our Lord and Savior. We prayed a lot. We were part of all-night prayer meetings. Other Christmases and for many outside the church, it was a time to get a new set of clothing and shoes, a time to eat the bird for special occasions — free-range chicken. The cold Fantas, sparkling lemon, ginger beer and Coca-Cola sodas pleasured our palates to no end.
It just occurred to me that I have not been in Zimbabwe for Christmas since 1983. Back then, we spent Christmases at the Baptist camp in Gweru — the young people, that is.
In Dotson/Nyathi Hall, named after the first Southern Baptist missionary and the first national Baptist pastor, we would seek to draw closer to God through energetic choruses and fire-and-brimstone preaching. Sometimes we would spend the whole night in prayers.
The abundance of food and cold sodas in just about every home, even those known to be populated by the working poor and the willingness to share these simple pleasures of life with whoever showed up. Christmas allowed us to experience an abundant life of sorts. The sharing and caring was heavenly.
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