As many of you know, I was away last year with a cancer diagnosis. It was Evangeline’s amazing Christmas basket and a card full of love that helped me through a difficult Christmas season. It made me feel loved, valued, and wanted. I felt so humbled and blessed in the middle of a scary diagnosis and a treatment plan outlined on Dec. 24, of all days!
But actually, there is a disease present in the world today, more awful than cancer. It is the disease of being unwanted.
During this holiday season,
as bright lights cheer the darker skies of snow and early sunsets,
as Christmas trees and shining decor enter our homes,
as we recall the God who loves by a total giving of Himself as a helpless baby, in an unwanted culture, poor, and forced to flee as a refugee…
As we gather to celebrate with family and friends, may I gently remind us –
carry in our hearts those who suffer from the deep, scarring disease of being unwanted: the old, the vulnerable, the dying, the addicted, the mental health sufferer, the refugee, the unhoused, the poor.
‘UNWANTED ‘ – a terrible disease, but one that we have a cure for!
Everyone IS wanted by God.
Everyone IS loved by God.
Everyone IS valuable to God.
May I bless each one of you with thanksgiving for your dedication to this work.
As you continue to welcome these ‘unwanted’ in whatever role you hold, you welcome through our doors those who pass under the ‘Red Shield’ of The Salvation Army.
A door open to all that says:
You ARE wanted.
You ARE seen.
You ARE loved.
You ARE welcome here.
And may you also know that as you do, you show the love of Jesus himself in our world in a transformative way. This is how we strive to be ‘the hand of God in the heart of the city.’
Love and Prayers,
Becca
Chaplaincy Coordination & Chaplain at Evangeline Residence
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