Rev. Dr. Sarah Erickson
Partnership Work Group Lead
_____
As we prepare to celebrate anew the birth of Christ, close the door on 2024 and ring in 2025, the POAMN officers and work group leaders give thanks for the participation and support of our members and friends during this year.
Much has changed – our leader team and structure – but our vision and purpose remain at the center: nurturing the faith community, equipping leadership, and resourcing congregations and other organizations that minister to, for, and with older adults, and encouraging ministries that affirm the dignity and value of the multiple generations of aging adults with a focus on spirituality, wellness, care, and social involvement.
This work continues and is informed by the traditional Advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love. With Christmas and Epiphany on the horizon, the work continues to be illuminated by our desire to share the love of God, the faith of Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with children of God of all ages. This work of Christ, the work of Christmas, is never finished.
Howard Thurman, a 20th century Christian theological and mystic published his poem, “The Work of Christmas,” in his 1973 volume The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations. On behalf of the leader team, I offer it to you as a message of encouragement and hope, inviting us all to continue this work, day in and day out.
The Work of Christmas
When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.
This poem is featured in a stirring anthem by Dan Forrest. Listen to it here, as performed by the Bangalore Conservatory. Dr. Thurman spent time in India beginning in the mid-1930s and the experiences there profoundly affected his future work in nonviolence and spirituality, and informed the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement in the United States.