This title is in the context of Nigeria. Yes, the earth itself is a system in need of redemption, but that is too vast for a small mind like mine to worry too much about, let other expert take care of that. But the world around me even needs redemption far more urgently than the world at large, and this task, I cannot delegate to someone else. It is a task that all of us must embrace. We don’t even need prophet to tell us what will happen if we fail to act. All of us know that collapse is imminent, and suffering will be abundant. We need new sets of truth teller to rouse us to action.

In the biblical story of David and Jonathan. David must surely know he messed us, but he regaled himself as king and delight in his vices. Nathan the prophet knew of this sordid tale of idolatry, greed, avarice, and murder but he wondered how to confront the evil until he found a story. Yes, a story became the bearer of the message that brought David to reckoning and contrite of heart.  We need new storytellers; we need storyteller who would lay bare for us the truth of our existence as a people. Truth teller who would lay the truth before us and dare us not to act and face the consequences. For now, the vacancies are yet to be filled.

A long time ago, when Adam and Eve messed up in the garden, the consequences were laid out before them, but humanity continued to sin. Cane killed his brother, the world became toxic, and needed a purge and then the flood came with only a few spared to start afresh.  No sooner had the flood receded than human beings began to do as they please.

The prophets challenged them and only sometimes were they successful. When the Son of man came, it was to redeem the system, the world system that had become alienated from her creator. Even after two thousand years, we need to hear again of the too-good-story-to believe - of God’s love for humanity. This story needs to be told again, so that we can hear it anew and be confronted with the reality of sin and the hope of glory that is yet to be tapped.

Nigeria is in a mess and after many trial runs, we know that one great messiah is not going to descend to transform us overnight. We are our own messiahs and if we do not live up to this expectation, redeeming the system will remain a mirage. There is no one person who is capable of changing the whole two hundred million plus of us in Nigeria until we all decide that we want to change.  We need to confront the story of life afresh. We need to look life in the face and tell ourselves, we deserve a better life. We need to shake of our fear of death and confront evil with courage and hope. Many of us have become too comfortable with resignation, hoping that someone else will do it for us, but no one is big enough to carry the burden for the lots of Nigerians. We must carry it for ourselves, each, and every one of us.

Whenever we get to this point, we shall know it, because evil and crime will no longer feel comfortable in our midst. For now, they thrive among us and sometimes, we are the ones incubating them. When we are ready to live by the truth and for the Truth, and if need be, die for the truth, we would have arrived at the moment of grace, our saving moment. The truth must make us feel uncomfortable in a situation like ours, it must challenge us to act for the common good.

What then must we do?  Be good, from the depth of your heart be different. Live by the truth and not the truth you have fabricated for yourself, but the Truth of God. Be fair to all, and all means everyone, not just because someone is related to you or has been good to you before or because you hope to get something from the person in the future. That isn’t goodness or fairness, it is plotting and selfish interest. 

The other name for this way of living is called love. Hence, Christians must show the world how to love and live by love. This is the message of Christmas. When the world lay in ruins with no help in sight, God sent his son, his only begotten Son, who sacrificed Himself for the salvation of the world. He died for a sinful world and gave us new life. That story began long before Christmas in the eternal plan of God, and in the hidden life of the maiden. 

So, in our own private life, let us embrace the goodness of God and live like the one in whose image we have been created. If we mean it, this seed of goodness will germinate and bear fruits that will fill the world. Imagine each person becoming a good and fruitful seed planted and bearing fruits of righteousness in season and out of season. It may be difficult, but it is possible. Let us begin now.

Merry Christmas to you all.