Anglican Bishop of Aguata Diocese, Rt. Revd. Dr Samuel Ezeofor, has warned Christians travelling for Christmas and New Year festivities to avoid extravagant expenses.
Ezeofor stated this, in a homily at Honeywell Hotel’s maiden Christmas festival of Nine lessons and Carol, held at Umuchu, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra state.
According to him, Christ should be the centre stage of the celebration not spending extravagantly.
“Christ coming brought salvation to mankind. The best celebration is for you to open your heart to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. It is appalling that some people steal, kidnap and commit other manner of atrocities just to shine in the Christmas.
“At the celebrations, some will drink foolishly. There are some sacked business apprentices returning with minted currencies. These might be their last savings yet they will throw it out as there are others remaining. Don’t allow that to deceive you. You can only find out that they are sent packing by their masters when they did not go back by January or February.”
The founder of the hotel, Mr Godwin Ezeemo, stated that the purpose of the event was to help rural dwellers to feel and believe in themselves rather to be running to cities.
“I decided to bring the event to the village as part of my think home policy. This is going to be an annual event. It is to encourage people living in the village to identify their potentials and utilise them for job creation and overall development of the rural communities. This will also help to decongest the cities where people often travel to enjoy live,” Ezeemo added.
Earlier, the Chairperson of the Planning Committee, Rotarian Joy Mbachi, said that Honeywell group intended to use the annual festival to thank God for His mercifulness and to evangelise for Christ.