Advent – almost there!

Tom Sutherland writes:

Over the years during the time of advent I would be asked to speak at a church or a function and as I dreaded speaking publicly in Malayalam such talks were always the same short memorised message. Here it is, slightly changed

Isaiah 9 :6 ‘ for unto us a child is born’.

When nations want to change things they plan and organise, they spend trillions, they send ships and bombs and troops. When God wants to change things He sends a baby — a baby named Gandhi to liberate India, a baby named Mandella to end apartheid, a baby named Ron to start Health Help International and babies like the rest of us to work for The Kingdom. And God, at the first Christmas, being confronted with the misery of His children, sent himself as a baby — helpless, powerless, vulnerable — to overcome the power of cruelty and greed and injustice with the power of suffering love.

I’m sending Mother Teresa’s prayer as I feel it sums up what HHI is all about.
O God, we pray for all those in our world who are suffering from injustice.
For those who are discriminated against because of their race, colour or religion;
For those imprisoned for working for the relief of oppression;
For those who are hounded for speaking the inconvenient truth;
For those tempted to violence as a cry against overwhelming hardship;
For those deprived of reasonable health and education;
For those suffering from hunger and famine;
For those too weak to help themselves and those who have no one else to help them
For the unemployed who cry out for work but do not find it.
We pray for anyone of our acquaintance who is personally affected by injustice.
Forgive us, Lord, if we unwittingly share in the conditions or in a system that perpetuates injustice.
Show us how we can serve your children and make your love practical by washing their feet.