Wishing You a Joyous Christmas & a 2021 Filled with Opportunity for Compassionate Change-making!
Greetings in the midst of a very different Advent with a very different Christmas looming on the horizon. It has been a strange and challenging year, but in the midst of the heartbreak, we have still found much to give thanks for and as I watched the first vaccine shots being given this week, I realized that it is also a Christmas filled with much hope.
We have never appreciated the joys of community more than we have this year. Tom and I have been well supported both by those who live in the Mustard Seed House and by our next door neighbours who have faithfully shopped for us each week.
We are also grateful for the ability to keep connected to friends and family via Zoom and for Christine, there has been much joy in launching my first online courses, something that has been a dream in my heart for many years. Lean Towards the Light in Advent & Christmas has been another blessing. We are all craving light this year, and this devotional obviously hit a chord that has ministered to many. The Gift of Wonder has also continued to bring joy and I have been told that it is in many ways a book for such a time as this, as it has helped to sustain peoples’ spirits through the challenging times.
2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change is a timely new book that Tom has just published with his good friend, Dwight Friesen, who teaches at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. Take a look and visit our webinar: 2021 R U Ready? on www.newchangemakers.com. Welcome your feedback.
Many of us that have been house-bound are looking forward to discovering what a new normal will look like. As Tom describes in 2020s Foresight, we need to remember that an alarming number of our neighbors don’t have enough food to feed their families as well as the growing possibility of the eviction of their families because of the COVID-19 Recession.
Above all, 2021 is an opportunity for us all to reach out locally and globally in Jesus’ name. We survived our last major global crisis, during WWII, by people in the US pulling together regardless of their political affiliation. To defeat this COVID-19 pandemic and recession as quickly as possible, we need to do the same.
We urge people of all political views to support President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris and their team in order to both defeat COVID-19 and turn our economy around. Christine and I join those wearing masks, social distancing, and receiving the vaccine when it becomes available. Perhaps our concern for protecting the lives of friends and neighbors will motivate us to defeat COVID-19 as one mutually supportive community!
Since Thanksgiving became such a serious spreader event, we also urge people to consider having a virtual Christmas gathering. We had a virtual thanksgiving with Christine’s nephew and niece in Australia by way of Zoom and we will be Zooming at Christmas, too. Give it a try.
Christine and I wish you and yours a joyous and blessed Christmas and pray that we all find ways to reach out to at-risk families not only during the holidays but in the new year as well.
God bless you as we all join together to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and care for neighbors in serious need.
Tom, Christine & Goldie