The Light Always Wins

In his message on Christmas Eve, my pastor shared that the light always wins.

However, I’ve honestly had a really hard time lately believing that the light always wins.   Over the past few weeks, darkness and evil have been more than evident in the tragedy of Newtown, in our world ravaged by poverty and disaster, and in our own community filled with homelessness and hunger.  I have struggled to see that it is possible for the light to overcome this immense darkness.  I’ve doubted that anything or anyone could possibly repair the brokenness in our world.

But Christmas Day offered me a chance to see that the darkness in our world will be overcome someday and even today it is being overcome.

This year Our Savior had the opportunity to open our doors to the homeless during the day on Christmas.  The Ministry Activity Center was open for the homeless to come enjoy a hot meal and snacks, watch movies, play board games, and just relax in a warm place. 

The guests came in from the cold carrying all their belongings and I was reminded just how broken our world is.  The guests weren’t the only ones who have recently experienced the brokenness of our world.  Many of the volunteers who helped on Christmas Day were also acutely aware of the darkness in the world.  There were people who were hurting, there were people who weren’t sure if they could make it through the day, there were people who were lonely and missing loved ones, there were people who have had a really bad year, and there were people who simply felt overwhelmed by life.   

But in the Ministry Activity Center on Christmas Day…

There was beautiful Christmas music.

There was laughter and joy.

We enjoyed delicious food cooked by really good cooks and bakers.

There was an incredible sense of community between all the volunteers and guests, many who had never met each other before Christmas Day yet quickly found friendship. 

I saw a remarkable outpouring of generosity.  People gave their time, resources, energy, and love without worrying about what they might lose.  

There was abundant gratitude and thankfulness.

I witnessed compassion and mercy.

And for a time, somehow the pain and the suffering and the evil in the world didn’t seem to have as strong of a hold.  I saw the darkness being wiped away.

And I saw the light in the darkness. 

The light always wins.

Wisdom and Virtue

On Friday afternoon I spent some time watching the news reports coming out of Newtown, Connecticut.  After a while of watching the coverage, I cried.  I didn’t cry the nice roll-down-your-cheek-controlled tears.  Rather I cried the really messy hysterical type of tears where it seems like a whole box of tissues might be required.  My heart ached.

I was really upset.  Upset that there are families mourning.  Upset that little children have to see and hear and experience such tragedy and violence.  Upset that bad things happen.  Upset that being completely innocent doesn’t protect first graders from violence.  I think many people around the country and around the world have been just as deeply upset as I have been.

My prayers have been filled with prayers for the grieving families.  I have been begging God to comfort the families of the victims, especially the mothers and fathers of those children.  I have asked God to have mercy on us, to have mercy on a country in which violence happens far too often.  I have implored God to give us all the wisdom to know what steps to take next.  These have been incredibly emotional prayers.  I’ve prayed harder and longer in the past couple of days than I have in a long time.

The only comfort I can find is to know that God mourns for those families in Connecticut. God feels the grief of the mothers and fathers of those children.  And God sees the pain of the whole world.  God sees the mother in Uganda who mourns the death of her toddler from malaria.  God hears the wails of the father in Iraq when his young daughter dies from a bomb in their neighborhood.  God knows the suffering a grandmother in Haiti feels when her grandson dies from starvation.  God is the only one who could possibly comfort all those who mourn.

We turn to prayer in this time of tragedy and great sadness, but we each know that something must be done.  We know that this is not the way the world is supposed to be.  It may not be clear at this point what exactly needs to be done to put an end to violence and the death of innocent children in our country and around the world.  There are certainly a lot of valid ideas out there.

David Starr Jordan said, "Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it."

In reality we need a little bit of a mix of wisdom and virtue today.  We need to start trying some of the ideas out there, evaluate what works and what doesn’t and then try something that may get us closer to a solution. 

The only way anything is going to change is if you and I demand that something change.  Children will continue dying from violence unless we continually make an intentional effort to change mindsets, to change hearts, and to change priorities.  Change does not come easy and there are no easy solutions to stop violence in our world.  Therefore, each of us must do something tomorrow and the next day and the day after that...  We cannot simply talk about how we need our lawmakers to do something, we must continually ask our lawmakers to do something while also doing whatever we can ourselves to change our families, our communities, our culture, our country, and ultimately our world.  The future of our children and our world depends on us.

May God grant us the wisdom to know what to do next and grant the virtue to do it.  And may God give us the hope to see beyond today, to see a day when violence and death have been overcome.

Let it be so.

My Christmas List

Last year for Christmas I got a llama, a sheep, ducks, water, a loan, meaningful work and dignity, and food.  None of this was really for me but rather these things helped give food, other basic necesities, and a chance for hope and a better future to people around the world. 

This year, all I want for Christmas is mosquito bed nets.  Lots of them, please.    

The stats and facts:

A child dies every 60 seconds from malaria.

Nearly 700,000 people die each year from malaria, most of them children and pregnant women.

These stats break my heart, but here’s the best fact of all: malaria is completely preventable and treatable! 

So for Christmas, rather than making up a list of things I want, I’m asking for my friends and family to give me mosquito bed nets by making a donation to the Lutheran Malaria Initiative.

As part of a worldwide effort, the Lutheran Malaria Initiative has this goal: to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015.  That’s a pretty audacious goal, but it’s a goal that is achievable. 

Here's some information from LMI’s website:

“The most effective methods currently being used to control malaria include proper diagnosis and prompt medical treatment, proper use of insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying. To be successful these strategies require education about malaria and how to prevent and treat it. The Lutheran Malaria Initiative works through local partners to educate families on malaria, increase access to treatment, and provide prevention tools such as bed nets.”

Education: LMI educates families on the causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of malaria.

Treatment: Increasing access to affordable medical care and resources for malaria prevention.

Prevention: LMI provides treated bed nets to families and trains them on their proper use.

"We work in communities where we already have strong relationships, such as those with our Lutheran partner churches and other local, community organizations. These long-standing partnerships make the ideal platform for introducing malaria programming. Already, the work of the Lutheran Malaria Initiative is making an impact. To date, LMI has reached 2.4 million people through malaria projects in Tanzania, Mali, Uganda, and Kenya. With increased funding, LMI will expand to Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Nigeria, Guinea, Niger and Ghana."

The Lutheran Malaria Initiative is doing some incredible work in preventing and treating malaria!  I invite you to be a part of this work- whether you want to give me a Christmas present of a bed net or maybe you want to add a bed net to your Christmas list.