CHRISTMAS ON TIBERIAS chapter 5

CHRISTMAS ON TIBERIAS chapter 5

Away from home at Christmas time! And even away from Earth??? This would certainly be a new experience for all of us. We are a group of ten from Tennessee in Usono, Earth, visiting Tiberias Cylinder, a city of half a million out in space.
I rode the lift down to the hotel lobby and walked out on the street. Music from a great many Christmas traditions hit my ears. Some I could recognize. Much was foreign to me. Decorations of red, silver and gold were mixed in with the ever present green foliage. I had looked in some of the shops along the street. I was amazed at the variety of items for sale. People from the many nations of Earth were all intermingled into the Canister City that was Tiberias. They brought along the cultures that were close to them.

As I stood looking around, I saw Rod coming through the crowds.

"Rod! Saluton! What an exciting new experience this all is! Christmas time and out here in space!"

"Kayor, Carl! Christmas is a happy time here on Tiberias. We honor Christ Jesus in many ways and traditions. Today I want you to go with the McWhorters and see something of how we celebrate Christmas. I am sure God uses the excitement of Christmas and also Easter to bring Jesus to the attention of people. After all, God is Boss of the Universe. His will & purpose is being carried out."

"I do want to see everything that I can, Rod. Sound like fun and perhaps I can pick up something new. But all these crowds! I still can't get used to so many people! Doesn't this ever bother you?"

"I'm used to it. Did you ever see a video of life on a submarine? Talk about being crowded!"

A wave of motion in the crowd caught my eye. A man and woman were working their way toward us.

"Here they are." Rod reached out to touch the hand of the man.

"Carl, this is Doug and Mina. They are both librarians. If you want to know it, they can tell it to you or help you find it."

They both gave me a hug.

"Kayor, brother! We're your hosts for the next few days. I'm sure you were cramped up in that hotel cubicle! We'll show you some hospitality."

We all hugged Rod. Doug led the way across the street. We got on a floater, rode a while, then got off at an intersection.

"This is 'Cubic City,'" Doug said. "We live just down here." I followed Doug and Mina to a door leading into a solid wall. No windows at all.

Mina punched a code into the lock and the door slid open.

"Welcome to our home," she said.

I stepped through the doorway into a large room. It still looked much like the tiny cubicle in the hotel. As I looked around I could see this was much larger.

The furniture had the look of aged wood, but I knew it was plastic. Wood was much too expensive, being shipped in from Earth. It all looked much as the log cabins in the videos. I could see the walls were decorated with streamers of red and green. Line drawings of the Nativity scene were scattered here and there. It all seemed "right," somehow.

Doug touched a keypad near the door. The walls changed to show a tropical scene with lots of sand, palm trees and tropical birds. It seemed so real!

Then they changed again to show snow high in the mountains. Brrr. I cold feel the chill.

"Cubic City?" I said.

"Think about it," said Doug. "Cleveland back on Earth is made up of many little villages. It's a location pattern. Cleveland: Mayfield; Stedley Drive; 911; Apartment 2-C. We do the same thing on Tiberias. It's a convenient way to identify a location. There are 150 such 'cities' which make up Tiberias Cylinder."

"Can you believe it," said Mina. "Christmas is just days away."

"Christmas takes me back to my childhood," I said. "But how do you celebrate with no snow? I see lots of green everywhere on Tiberias, but I see that in summer in Usono. What about a winter scene? How do you put up a tree?"

"Carl," said Doug. "The southern half of Earth celebrates Christmas in the middle of their summer. Usono is not the only culture on Earth. Only a few of them put up a tree."

"And," said Mina, "Earth has an endless variety of customs."

She touched the keypad to show Christmas being celebrated with firecrackers and mariachi musicians.

"This is a fiesta in Mexico," she said.

The people surrounded something like a clay pot hanging from the ceiling. They kept hitting at with a stick. It broke and all sorts of colorful gifts and favors fell out.

"That's a piñata they hit," said Doug.

I recognized the name.

Next the walls showed a nativity scene in mountains. I could recognize this as being near my home in West Virginia, Usono.

Then a scene from Australia, in the desert in the midst of a blazing sun.

"Wow! You surely are hi-tech!"

"Things change more rapidly than we have language to express it. We have thousands of TV channels with much more from the Library Computer. Millions of videos: movies, travel, scenic areas, you name it. We can even show your house back on Earth. You can buy anything you want or need through the Internet and have it delivered direct to your cubicle."

Let's see the news," said Doug. The walls showed a meeting of the UN on Earth. They were trying to deal with problems in the middle eastern part of Earth, Bosnia, and the Island of Crete. The Arab nations were protesting vehemently.

Doug touched the keypad and the red and green streamers were back. And the line drawings of the Nativity.

"You know," I said, "back on Earth Christmas is so commercialized. People just go wild buying things. The whole economy depends upon the Christmas season."

"Tiberias is not all that different," said Doug. "We are like Manhattan in New York City back on Earth. We could not live without the business function to create jobs. We have an intense import-export trade, with ships docking at all times. For example we can manufacture pharmaceuticals here that would be impossible on Earth,. And electronics and other things. We have a very controlled environment. But we need so many things which must be imported from Earth."

"Yes," said Mina. "We cannot grow air and water. It must be brought in from somewhere. We do our best."

"But," she continued, "Christ is still the center of things. Listen to the Carols. 'Born the King of Israel.' Everyone is very much aware of Christ at Christmas and Easter. These are important holidays here. In church, of course, we honor Jesus continually. Especially, as you know, in the Holy Meal, the Lord's Supper."

"Bread and wine," I said, "and the One Spiritual Body of Christ."

"That's it," Doug said. "We take very seriously our relationship to every other Christian believer in the Universe. Didn't someone say, 'the more things change, the more they stay the same'? People are people wherever they live. Christianity is about people and God, and about people problems and human needs and especially hope! We experience and we learn. Earth, Tiberias, wherever."

"Communication," Mina said. "We need lines of communication between each of us. We're so happy you came from Earth. We want to know all that is happening there."

"And I am here to learn from you," I said.

"But how do you do things when you are cramped up in little cubicles? How do you get together in groups to celebrate?"

"In two ways," said Mina. "We get together in small groups in the solariums. And we get together through networking."

"Networking? I thought that had to do with computers."

"Watch that wall." She touched a control.

"Yes? Rod here."

"Viewing?" Mina asked.

"You got it." Rod appeared on the wall screen.

"We're just showing our guest how we network. We wanted him to see one of the ways we get together at times."

On the screen we could see Rod touch a control. People began appearing on the wall screens around the room. Soon we had a crowd gathered, but only we were actually in the cubicle.

"Kayor!" said Rod. "Let's show Carl some good old-fashioned koinonia! Carl, koinonia is the kind of close fellowship they had in Bible times. It is a close, loving relationship. Reba and her children (they waved) are back on Earth. The others are here on Tiberias. Yet we are 'here' in this network."

"Carl," said Doug, "this is a convenient way to get together. Families, especially children, can meet anytime on the network. Even though we are not actually present in the same cubicle, we are together is a very special way."

"I can see that," I said. "Reminds me of the book, 'Caves of Steel' Asimov wrote in the 20th century. But he envisioned some being so radical they couldn't bear to actually be present with another person."

"We'll see that never happens!" said Rod. "We insure that there is much face to face interaction between all of us. We really love each other as family."

Some children began playing games in a corner. None of them were actually there. They were networked in virtual reality.