We are now heading into the final week of Advent, a time for many holiday parties, but also a time to begin thinking seriously about Christmas, now just over a week away. This week’s theme has been joy, but as we think about joy, we also remember times of terrible sadness. And we tremble for the people of Ukraine, under the winter weather and snow as well as for the people of Somalia who face famine. How do we have joy?
One way is to share what we have with others. Today our educational foundation at Casa de Esperzanza will have a holiday party for children and their families. We’ll have fun but also we’ll be giving the families, many of whom don’t rent apartments – they rent rooms – items they need and want in this season.
The children will get gifts, have a visit from “Papa Noel,” and the adults will have the opportunity to have some fun as well. We’re teaching them how to decorate wreaths.
We will be giving the families winter coats, hats, and gloves, and food to eat and take home. In the midst of all the sadness around us, we will have an island of joy.
Prayer for the Day
Holy God, Architect of grace, help us come together in community
To reflect your promise of justice given us through the One;
Eternal God, Framer of our existence, we come together in joy,
For you have given us each other to love and for whom to care.
Bring us to this place, Holy Sustainer of the weary,
So that we may be your instruments rather than of the world.
In the name of him who is your instrument of justice and mercy,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist (1850-1894)
It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.
- Mother Teresa, saint of the poor (1910-1997)
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- Jesus, in Matthew 6: 19-21