Christmas & New Year's Greetings  to IAPCHE members in 68 countries around the world!

Kilimishi i doo Feliz Navidad Heri Njema ya Krisimasi God Jul och Gott Nytt A Kala Christougenna! Aaseervaathamana Christmas  Merry Christmas Froehliche Weihnachten Shubho borodin Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar Shub Naya Baras Zalig Kerstfeast Joyeux Noel Keresemose o monate le masego a ngwaga o montsha Feliz Natal Sretan Bozic Melkam Yelidet Beaal Hyvaa joulua Afishapa Jwaye Nowel Kung His Hsin Nien bing ChuShen Tan Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket Selamat Hari Natal Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo Shinnen omedeto ºKrismas Njema Na Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº Linksmu Kaledu Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun Selamat Ari Krismas enggau Taun Baru Kotobian Tadau Do Krimas om Toun Vagu Selamat Hari Natal dan Tahun Baru I’D Miilad Said ous Sana Saida Pyaw Shwin Thaw Christmas Par! Kreesmasko shubhkaamnaa Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! barka dà Kirsìmatì Ekelere m gi maka Keresimesi na ubochi izizi afo ozo E ku odun, e ku iye'dun Jabbama be salla Kirismati Naya Saal Mubarak Ho Nave sal di mubaraka De Christmas akhtar de bakhtawar au newai kal de mubarak sha Meri Krismas & Hepi Nu Yia Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu Maligayang Pasko Craciun fericit si un An Nou fericit! Bachtalo krecunu Thaj Bachtalo Nevo Bers Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok Geseende Kerfees en ‘n gelukkige nuwe jaar Sinifesela Ukhisimusi Omuhle Nonyaka Omusha Onempumelelo Siniqwenelela Ikrisimesi EmnandI Nonyaka Omtsha Ozele Iintsikelelo Namathamsanqa Sung Tan Chuk Ha Wilujeng Natal Sareng Warsa Enggal Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn! Suksan Wan Christmas lae Sawadee Pee Mai Seku Kulu Veseloho Vam Rizdva i Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku! Nadolig LLawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda Nollaig chridheil huibh Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth Nollaig Shona Dhuit Kilisimasi Fiefia & Ta’u fo’ou monu ia Muve ne Kisimusi Izilokotho Ezihle Zamaholdeni Winshuyu sa Svyatkami i z Novym godam!

by Jose Alcantara Mejia, IAPCHE Chair

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 

The Word, the one who was from the beginning with God, the one that shaped filled a formless and empty earth, and that flooded darkness with light, to give sense and meaning to Creation, became flesh. The Word that became Wisdom and Logos, the one that guided a disoriented people in the middle of the desert, and gave knowledge to all cultures, becoming  the source of science and art, and reveal the them the true meaning of God, his compassion and justice, so that they could give rise to civilization, became flesh. Became one of us and dwell among us, in order to make his final earthy dwelling in us, in our own flesh, in our mind, in our own spirit.

John gives a fresh view of the Christmas story. He skips the circumstances of Jesus birth, not only because by then they are already well known, but because he wants to amplify the Good News for an adult church in an adult world.

Today, the Christmas Story is perceived as a children's story by adults, and particularly by educated adults--the ones that have been entrusted to IAPCHE.

Thus, it is important to come back to the other Christmas Story, the one that John crafted for us, so that even today, in an age of skepticism, injustice an lacking of compassion, in an age of confusion in which meaning and sense seem to have been lost, the world may come to know the Truth. 

For as John says at the end of his Gospel, “these words have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

***

Pictured below: Anne Maatman, Director of Operations; J. Dinakarlal, Asia/Oceania Director; Isaac Mutua, Africa Director, Nicholas Lantinga, Executive Director