St. Luke’s Anglican Church is putting Christ back into Christmas and reaching out to children.
“There are an awful lot of people that don’t have contact with church, so when Christmas comes around it’s only Santa and gifts,” says Jennifer Camfield, a member of St. Luke’s congregation for 13 years and former Sunday school teacher. “Children don’t get the real Christmas story.”
Camfield created a program that offers children in the community a chance to hear and learn the nativity story and create a play to be performed at the church Dec. 21.
“I think it’s sad to see Christmas become nothing other than an opportunity to shop and accumulate,” says Camfield. “Not to say that gift giving and Christmas trees aren’t lovely, but we’re trying to reclaim for children what the meaning of Christmas really is.”
“We’re reaching out to kids who may have never heard the story yet,” she says. “Either because families are so busy these days, or that they’ve turned off church for some reason.”
Over her 13 years at the church the number of families and children attending services has declined says Camfield.
Children may not be familiar with the nativity story since it is no longer taught in schools.
“In the school you have no mention of Christmas because it’s politically incorrect,” says St. Luke's minister, Barbara Maynard,
“But that is understandable; we are a multicultural society and we respect different faith groups.”
Last year’s national outrage over Ottawa’s Elmdale Public School changing the words of Silver Bells to “it’s festive time in the city” from “Christmastime” exemplifies the struggle with political correctness at Christmas time.
Public institutions and businesses must decide between Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and whether to put up a Christmas tree or not.
“One of the major benefits of multiculturalism is that you can join others in their celebrations,” says Abdul Rashid, president of Capital Region Interfaith Council and co-chair of Interfaith Ottawa.
“I’m not Christian but celebrating Christmas doesn’t make me change my beliefs or make me change my religion.”
The Capital Region Interfaith Council is made up of 18 faith communities, ranging from Christian, to Sikh, to Zoroastrian.
“The fact is that every group, whether religious, political or ethnic, have their identifiable occasions, which they celebrate or commemorate,” says Rashid.
“In a multicultural society it is an educational opportunity for those that don’t belong to that group to learn about it.”
The desire to learn is something Camfield and Maynard are hoping to tap into. “It will be interesting to see if this is something children want to come out to,” says Camfield. “To learn the story of Jesus’s birth and create something from it.”