Christmas meditations from the Graces

Christmas meditations from the Graces
December 2005

"...The hopes and fears of all the years are born in Thee tonight..."

The hopes and fears of all the years...
of our first year in Kenya...

The painful sight of Turkana children with sandy-colored hair due to vitamin deficiency.

The hope of a widow, chosen by her fellow widows to study theology in order to become a pastor to widows.

The persistence of a young woman, abandoned by parents and raised as an unpaid household servant, who was determined to get an education despite every obstacle and who now stands as a promising leader and pastor, a hope for the future of Friends.

The joy of hundreds of people who were touched in the name of Jesus Christ when a large group of Kenyans traveled in mission to Uganda, building a school and church, and showing the love of God in word and deed.

The struggle of Young Adult Friends from all continents to understand each other across great differences of belief and practice, finally discovering that judgment belongs only to God, and that our work is love alone.

The anger, frustration and sorrow that so many Kenyans, especially women and youth, were denied visas to attend the FUM Triennial in Iowa.

The moving and beautiful Ceremony of Light in which the oldest women in the church are dressed like brides, radiant in garlands and veils, and honored for a lifetime of faithful ministry.

The shocking reality that funerals have become so frequent that even family members are no longer expected to attend them all.

The quiet, hopeful reality of women working together, little by little, two steps forward and one step back, pulling themselves and their children out of poverty.

The trauma, the pain, the horror, and the hope of Burundian Friends, all sounding on the powerful drums that have been the voice of that culture for generations.

The contrite hearts and new commitment of many Yearly Meeting leaders after a leadership workshop with our colleague John Muhanji.

The many thousands of orphans being cared for in homes and villages, quietly, without NGOs or outside funding, but only with the loving persistence of a community that has not forgotten its obligations to those in need.


"...The hopes and fears of all the years are born in Thee tonight..."

The hopes and fears of all the years, of all the ages, of the children whose parents have died, of the youth who are struggling to get an education, of the mothers who dig in the earth to feed their children, of the fathers who fight temptation to remain faithful in their marriages, of the old women who are raising their children's children, of the old men who can't manage to hand leadership over to the next generation -- of all generations, places, peoples, cultures and countries. The hopes and fears of all human experience are met in Thee tonight, in the baby who is the hope of the world, born this night and every night in which we turn our hearts from despair to hope, from fear to joy.


"...The hopes and fears of all the years are born in Thee tonight..."

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted.
But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

-- Isaiah 40:28-31

We are not weary. We place all our hopes and fears in His hands.

Lord Jesus, be born in us today.

Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a New Year full of peace, justice and new hope.
Eden, James, Isaiah and Jesse Grace