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2005 HLCS Christmas Appeal
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Dear Friends:
Christmas for so many of us is a time of beautiful memories, the warmth and security of family, a season in which the light of Christ dispels-at least for a moment-the daily reality of a world that is so far from understanding the power and peace message of Jesus.
We at the Holy Land Christians Society are coming to you again this year in our annual Christmas appeal to ask your support for the Christians in the Holy Land who ironically, though they live in the very place where Jesus was born, lived and revealed the mysteries of God, find themselves in desperate lives because of their faith in the same Christ who has blessed us with so many benefits, human and divine. The Christians in the Holy Land, by a strange twist of history and inhuman circumstance, are the forgotten ones.
Once a vibrant presence in their land, they have experienced such a decline due to impossible living conditions and danger that emigration has reduced the Christian population to less than 2%. Those who remain are holding on without jobs or what we would consider the basic necessities of life.
The Holy Land Christians Society does not pretend to have the solutions to what is a global struggle over this holy place claimed by three major world religions. But we do work in small ways to do our part to make a difference. Christianity is the voice of peace which provides hope in the balance of extreme religious ideals. Christian schools are a key influence in continuing to spread the vital message of peace in forming the lives of youth who are surrounded by messages of violence, hatred and inhumanity. Our faith tells us that humanity finds its fulfillment in the divine life to which it is united in Christ Jesus.
We are asking you to consider a gift which could support a child in Bethlehem, enabling him or her to pay their school tuition. Your gift to the people of Bethlehem is for Christ-centered education. Also, The Holy Land Christians Society is unique in that 100% of the donations we receive are transferred directly to the purpose for which they are given. Our non-profit tax-exempt 501 c(3) organization pays no salaries or board fees to those who volunteer their time for this ministry.
Our group also has been very active in the past year in meetings in the highest levels of American government-the National Security Council, State Department and White House Administration-in the effort to educate and make the message of the Christians in the Holy Land known.
One of the members of our Board of Directors, Fr. Amjad Sabbara, Pastor of Saint Catherine's Latin Parish at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, writes this beautiful message in his Christmas letter for this year:
On the occasion of this Holy Christmas, I ask you: do not forget the name of Bethlehem, carry it with you! And all of us Christians from here will feel recognized in this name.
Pray so that this name is remembered, and I invite you to think over the story: to track down in the ways of daily events, the life of so many people, the infinite ways of being born, growing, living, loving, and dying.
If a man entrusts his name to another, he entrusts to him the essence of his person, he asks of him recognition and relation, exchange and protection . . . He asks of not being abandoned, of not being canceled out by the ingratitude of forgetfulness. He asks that others can know, share, and receive. He asks that there is memory, so that that which happens does not have to repeat itself, because hope triumphs. Hope, in fact, permits one to proceed, to go forward in life: to be in despair is like cutting off one's feet and not being able to move forward!
Christmas is not for you, nor for us, simply a date in the calendar, nor is it one of the many annual feasts to celebrate, but "an event to live" through love and the charity that gave us "the Baby of Bethlehem ".
On behalf of the many children who represent the future of a Christian Society in the land where Jesus began his world-changing work of mercy, please consider a gift of any amount. Sponsorship of a child's is $400.00 for annual tuition and many families have no way to pay it because they have lost their lands, their jobs and their hope. Allow us to be stewards of your generosity, to make sure that your donation reaches the place where it is so needed.
May every blessing be yours, and may the love of Christ this Christmas reach all people.
Most gratefully,
Feras B. Qumseya
President
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