I received this email from a store in India where I bought some jewelry for my family. Happy reading:

My dear Friend

Merry Christmas and happy New Year

I will join with you to your festival. I am sure we are speaking different name of the God but the God is only one in all over the world.

All people of the world are preying to the God in different name.

I wish to you and your family a wonderful new year full of joy, peace, energy and lot off love. I hope you fell funny and enjoy in Christmas holidays.

My beast wishes for happiness and good luck for the 2008 for you and your family from India.

I am glad to see you are in touch.

Many thanks and kind regards.

Yours sincerely,

This is Sewa-Ashram, an organization that our church is beginning to support. And reading this description of a day there, among the poor and the dying, makes my life seem suddenly overwhelmingly selfish and trivial.

We sang Bach's, "Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light and usher in the morning..." last Sunday. Sometimes, the darkness of this world, with all its suffering, becomes too much to carry. Too hopeless. All I can do is beg God to break forth in light, and surrender myself again to be part of the breaking, part of the redeeming.