foreigners

Tonight we got invited to a special “foreigners night” in Bursa. An evening of entertainment and speeches put on by the local council with the aim of making foreigners feel at home in Bursa. “Foreigner” is the literal translation of the Turkish word “Yabancı’. Depending on the context can mean “stranger”, “foreigner”, “unfamiliar” or “strange”. Of course, the “foreigners” are not the guys doing the strange looking Turkish folk dance in the blip, but the strange English guy taking the photo…

Actually, the word “foreigner” does not feel to me a very pleasant word and in a UK context would carry the idea that someone does not really belong. Yet the Christmas Story is full of “foreigners”, “strangers” and those who don’t belong; the shepherds, who were social outcasts, the magi who came from the East to give gifts to Jesus the King worthy of worship, and also Jesus himself with his father and mother who had to flee into Egypt becoming refugees for a number of years.

All this reminds us that Christmas story is for everyone, whatever nationality, background or class you are from. Jesus came so that people from every nation might be rescued from the guilt of their sin and brought into a close relationship with God…