Episcopal Relief & Development
Contact

(0) My Cart

Gifts for Life Donate Now
menu
search
  • What We Do
    • Priorities
      • Women
      • Children
      • Climate
    • Integrated Approach
      • Agriculture
      • Asset-Based Community Development
      • Clean Water
      • Disaster Resilience
      • Gender Equality & GBV
        • 16 Days of Activism Toolkit
        • Ending GBV in Liberia
      • Global Goals
      • Malaria – NetsforLife®
      • Maternal & Child Health
        • Early Childhood Development
      • Micro-finance
      • Sanitation & Hygiene
    • US Disaster Program
      • Emergency Responses
      • Long-term Recovery
      • The Episcopal Asset Map and Disasters
      • Resource Library
    • Ukraine Crisis Response
    • COVID-19 Pandemic Response
  • Where We Work
    • Africa
      • Angola
      • Burundi
      • Democratic Republic of Congo
      • Ghana
      • Kenya
      • Liberia
      • Malawi
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia
      • Myanmar [Burma]
      • The Philippines
      • Sri Lanka
      • Vanuatu
    • Latin America & the Caribbean
      • Brazil
      • Colombia
      • Cuba
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Haiti
      • Honduras
      • Nicaragua
    • The Middle East
    • United States
  • Who We Are
    • Mission and Mandate
    • History
    • Financials and Annual Reports
      • Financials Archive
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Board And Staff
      • Board of Directors
      • Staff
  • What You Can Do
    • ONE THOUSAND DAYS OF LOVE
    • Disaster Help
    • Give
      • Donate Now
      • Sustainers Circle
      • Planned Giving
        • Matthew 25 Legacy Society
      • Other Giving Opportunities
        • Corporate Matching
        • Honor and Memorial Gifts
        • Gifts of Stock or Securities
        • Combined Federal Campaign
        • IRA Charitable Rollover Gifts
      • Our Pledge to Donors
    • Stay Informed
      • Stories
      • Sign Up
      • Newsletters
        • Seek & Serve – Newsletter
        • US Disaster News
    • Volunteer
      • Become a Ministry Partner
      • Great Ideas to Help Make a Difference
    • Pray
    • Careers
  • Press & Resources
    • 2022 Press Releases
      • Ukraine Crisis Response
      • Responding in South Sudan
      • Matching Gift Campaign to Benefit Children
    • 2021 Press Releases
      • Responding to Tornadoes in the Central US
      • COVID-19 Pandemic Response
      • Haiti Earthquake Response
    • Stories
      • Resilience Through the Storm: The Impact of Relationships During the Aftermath of Disasters
      • Creating Lasting Change a Few Minutes at a Time
      • Whatever is True, Whatever is Just
    • Photo + Video
    • Online press kit
    • Media contact information
  • Church in Action
    • Lenten Meditations
    • Abundant Life Garden Project®
    • ONE THOUSAND DAYS OF LOVE
      • LEARN
      • SHARE
      • GIVE
      • MIL DÍAS DE AMOR
    • Church Resources
      • Worship Resources
      • Episcopal Relief & Development Sunday
      • Pray
      • Bulletin Inserts
        • Help Ukrainian Families
      • Materials
    • Christian Formation
      • Lectio Divina
      • Abundant Life Garden Project®
      • Coloring Book
Home | Stories | A Blessed Christmas

A Blessed Christmas

share

 

The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them light has shined.

                                      —Isaiah 9:2

By Abagail Nelson

This week we celebrate that Christ came among us and is among us, a gift from God to us: Pure Love. As the world offers us pale substitutes for Love often wrapped up in sentimentalism or consumerism, confusing miracles with magic, we as people of faith follow a prophetic litany of witnesses to a message that promises a profound transformation to reorder whole systems. God’s Love becomes a bright awesome thing that cracks the heavens with brilliant light, speaks with the thunder of angels, and demands of us that lifelong wrenching commitment to nurture, protect, and worship that we know in the presence of a small infant. God entrusts us quite simply with this baby’s own extraordinary vulnerability, and in so doing calls us into being as co-facilitators for His work among us. And we become disciples. 

I just returned this week from a visit to El Salvador where discipleship flows out and offers light to those soaked in violence and fear. In the very same places ravaged by legacies of poverty, injustice, civil war, earthquakes, hurricanes, drugs and gang violence, there also exists the legacy of faithful. People tenaciously work with the church in El Salvador, building strong houses and safe spaces. Providing healthful and life giving programs, they tell their stories, and honor their fallen.

I went to attend the wedding of Claudia and Eliseo in one such community supported by Episcopal Relief & Development: a health promoter who has helped her neighbors through many pregnancies and improved nutrition habits, and an agriculturalist who has physically replanted deforested lands and nurtured abundant fruit and hard woods for their community’s benefit. I went to be together with all who were there- and in Spirit, honor the many friends, church leaders, supporters, and volunteers who contributed to their union.

And the people who walked in darkness… become as light to one another.

May that light shine in all our hearts through this Season and beyond. Have a blessed Christmas. 

———-

Abagail Nelson is Sr. Vice President for Programs with Episcopal Relief & Development.

 

 

Photos: Top left,  Raphael ‘Study for the Painting ‘Madonna del Pesce”.  Middle, ‘Christmas wreath’- Observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, collected over the span of five weeks leading up to Christmas. Bottom, Women participants involved in integrated programs in El Salvador.

Sign up for News
Order Gifts for Life!

Read the Latest Stories

One Thousand Days of Love

Quick Links

Prayers for Those Affected by Disaster

The Episcopal Asset Map 

Resources & Learning

Click below to access our Resource Library and learn more about our efforts around the world.

Discover

BECOME A PRAYER PARTNER

ACCOMPANY US IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY AND DURING TIMES OF CELEBRATION

Join Today
Episcopal Relief & Development
QUICK LINKS
  • Who We Are
  • Sign Up
  • Stories
  • Contact Us
Connect With Us
  • 1.855.312.4325
  • info@episcopalrelief.org
© 2022 Episcopal Relief & Development
  • Privacy Statement
  • Sitemap

Sign up to receive the latest stories.

15987