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Written by Stephen Munga
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Tuesday, 25 December 2007 19:21 |
The people walking in darkness have seen a Great Light;
On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Merry Christmas and Blessed Happy New Year 2008!
I find it well fitting to greet you with a Word I used in 2005 from Isaiah
which says:
The people walking in darkness have seen a Great Light; On those living
in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2)
|  | Indeed God has again let his face shine upon us and blessed us with joy of Christmas and Happy New Year 2008.
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| It is worth saying so as children of God who have survived the ups and downs of the year 2007. The year 2007 has indeed been a year of many blessings as well as many challenges. The above verse from Isaiah is an appropriate message for this year’s Christmas greetings. The year 2007 has had it's dark moments that we have walked through. We are all familiar with the darkness of HIV/AIDS problem which still claims the lives of many. We are familiar with the tightening chains of poverty and its effects in poor social services to the people. We are familiar with the evils of big financial institutions as the World Bank and IMF whose policies oppress the poor countries - Tanzania is among the countries affected and still being affected by the policies of those gigantic financial institutions. To be honest the list of events that speak of the darkness we have gone through and are still going through is long. | | Despite all those dark sides, given a chance to count the blessings as against our different failures most of us are in a position of confessing that God has indeed blessed us. | | For us here in the NED we confess from the bottom of our hearts that God has indeed blessed us so much. For the first time in more than six years we finished this year without many financial shocks. It does not mean only that our economy has improved but also that we have strengthened our financial controls. Let me also say that we have been blessed with various training programs that have enriched our perfomance and increased both our efficiency and competence. In addition I want to mention that by employing young competent people and by returning back from studies of some of our workers have put new life in our office. Indeed we have seen new light and we feel as if the Lord has shined his light upon us. We thank all our partners who are helping us with training programs. | | This message will not sound complete if I will not mention the strongest light the Lord has shined upon us through the SEBASTIAN KOLOWA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (SEKUCo. The opening of SEKUCo is a big blessing to our diocese and our partners. Through the training which is going on at the college at the moment together with what we expect to do in the future signals us of a brighter future for our church and society at large. Through the vision of SEKUCo we have the possibility of confessing that the Lord God has sent his light to shine in our darkness. We thank again all our partners who has made this project possible. | | For this year’s Christmas message the emphasis however, should not be on darkness as our predetermined situation. The intension of the prophecy is to proclaim the acts of God Who has sent us Great Light. This is a message of hope that the Promises of God have created possibilities for a better existence beyond the chains of darkness. By giving us Christ for our Salvation God has given ‘Great light’ that conquers darkness. By sharing life in Christ Who is born to us we are ‘light of the World’. Dear Brothers and Sisters, as I have said above, even the Church of God in the NED has experienced the delivery Power of God throughout this year. There were days and occasions in which we walked in darkness. These are days and occasions that our faith was put to test because of the challenges we sometimes face. The SEKUCo project was a good example of this. There were days of darkness that were as dark as the shadow of death. Those were days and occasions that as human beings we are tempted to believe that there is no hope of seeing even little light. | | However, from day to day, upon calling the Name of the Lord, we see Him sending great light to light our way forward. During this Christmas Season again the Lord through the Prophet Isaiah proclaims the message of hope in the midst of dark situations of the world saying: The people walking in darkness have seen a Great Light; On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. | I wish you a Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year 2008!
Dr. Stephen Munga, Bishop |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 March 2008 23:45 )
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