The Nativity, by The Children of Hot Springs

Everyone says...

สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส!

"Sooksan wan Christmas!"

Merry Christmas!

With joy we send greetings to celebrate the wondrous story of the Incarnation.  

God with us!

I write these words following yet another round of tragic news globally.  Another religiously targeted attack, this time on a beach in Australia.  Another school shooting in the US.  Resurging border skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia.  And wars with no end as fragile ceasefires seem unable to hold back the hate. 

 

Puts me in mind of the carol set to words written by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Johnny Reid)   In the third verse there is a similar lament that is perhaps on the hearts of many this season.

And in despair I bowed my head

"There is no peace on earth," I said

For hate is strong, and mocks the song of

Peace on Earth, good will to men."

And if we stopped there, we'd have to agree.  We might shrink back and lower our gaze to the mess.  But I like what television personality and outspoken Catholic Christian Steven Colbert has to say about this.  "Everyone has the obligation to push back on the temptation to despair"  (emphasis added).

Longfellow likewise.  He ends the poem-turned-carol with words that lift us up and out to focus on a hope bigger than ourselves.

Then peeled the bells more loud and deep

"God is not dead nor doth He sleep

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on Earth, good will to men!"

The irony is not lost on me.  The very fact that each of you, in some way, have participated in bringing the peace of God to bear against the despair of poverty- vulnerable children is indeed an enormous part of putting these words into measurable action.  The wrong is indeed failing in the lives of our kids who now have a chance to rise above what would otherwise have mocked their possibilities.  

And for this we earnestly pray for God's prevailing blessing on your own lives, whatever it is that may be tempting you to despair right now.  May you experience a Christmas season full of kindness, grace, redemption, and peace, and a New Year that rings out loud and deep with hope.

Gratefully, and always, glad to partner with you.

Ruth Anne

Click here for a full video of the Hot Springs Christmas Pageant.

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

New Family Foundation

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca