Albany Times Union Let's live story of Christmas
>
>
> By REV. DEARTHRICE DeWITT
> First published: Saturday, December 23, 2006
>
> I am a native son of Albany with great affection for my hometown. I am
> blessed to have a large extended family, which includes the DeWitts, Howards
> and Fergusons, whose connections to the Capital Region run deep.
> Out of these roots I was exposed to the National Baptist, African Methodist
> Episcopal Zion and Church of God in Christ denominations. Experiencing the
> diverse contours of Christianity continued for me at the Doane Stuart
> School, which is renowned for its merger of Roman Catholic and Episcopalian
> traditions. The school's weekly chapel services and campus ministry
> indelibly shaped my own calling to ministry.
>
> At Colgate University, I found the intellectual pursuit of religion as
> stimulating as my involvement in the ecumenical Protestant community,
> University Church. I became committed to Christian faith and assumed
> religious leadership. Those four years were a time of personal growth,
> culminating with my decision to enter Princeton Theological Seminary.
>
> Seminary is a time when assumptions about faith are brought into question. I
> remember in my Old Testament Bible class, studying the section about Jericho
> where Joshua blew his horn and toppled the walls. But when I learned the
> irrefutable historical evidence from archaeological study that no walls ever
> surrounded the city, I had to discard my literal understanding of the story
> for a new interpretation that its truth comes when people of faith perceive
> God's role in their lives.
>
> Events along my journey and the evolution of my beliefs led me away from the
> AME Zion tradition to the United Church of Christ. I was becoming
> increasingly progressive and longed to be part of a denomination that
> practices the radical hospitality it preaches. I discovered other pilgrims
> along the way and that I was acceptable as I am.
>
> Now as a pastor, when I ponder the meaning of Christmas, I realize how it
> distinguishes my religion from other faith traditions with which God has
> graced our world. Christmas is about God loving us and identifying with our
> suffering so much that God becomes us.
>
> This was an important truth for my ancestors who were enslaved. They looked
> at their lot and determined that the contradictions of their lives were not
> final. Somewhere deep within they asked, Who is this God? They discovered
> that God was with them in the belly of the slave ship, at the spilled blood
> of the whipping post and in the cries of families sold off and torn apart to
> kick-start our nation's economy. If God did not show humanity a way out of
> slavery, there would have been no hope.
>
> The gospel message of God With Us is also a powerful political truth.
>
> At college, some people viewed intellectual life to be at odds with a life
> of faith. Whether it was by professors or students, that dimension was under
> attack. To this day, I am not afraid to stand up for what I believe, even if
> it costs me. We whitewash the political dimensions of faith in Christ at our
> own peril. If some liberal folks don't want to talk about their faith
> because they fear being identified with the fundamentalists, Christianity
> always looks like the religious right rather than its true form, which is
> far more diverse and complex.
>
> In the Christmas story, we see our own struggles -- human lust for power,
> illusions of peace through the threat of war, families left without adequate
> housing. There is hope, too. Hope for God to deliver us from the worst
> humanity can perpetrate. Ignoring this risks no longer taking the Christmas
> story seriously enough in the face of evil or injustice.
>
> If we believe God came among the oppressed to bring hope, whom do we see in
> our communities needing this good news? How will we nourish people's
> spiritual hunger and also speak prophetically to the powers and
> principalities of our cities? For me, it is not enough to tell the Christmas
> story. We must claim and live the story to fully grasp its truth. I feel
> this awesome task before me every day, but thanks be to God, I am not alone.
>
> Dearthrice DeWitt is the pastor of First Congregational Church in
> Poughkeepsie.
>
>

excelente página!!!!!

al entrar a esta página recorde los momentos que pasé en el colegio sagrado corazón de chile!!
se extraña montones y a las hermanas que nos hicieron pasar momentos inolvidables!!!

saludos

We are delighted to appear in this Page.

un saludo para todas las hnas que realizan una linda labor con el cristo que sufre . en especial a las hnas que trabajan en chile y para ser mas exacta a la hna Olinka que esta aqui en antofagasta un gran saludo a todas uds y unidas a ntro señor me despido de uds que Dios las bendiga

solo quiero mandar saludos a todas las religiosas del sagrado corazon en mexico pues tengo un muy bonito recuerdo de mi estancia en el colegio de san luis en especial de la madre maria elena, la madre tere de la peza, la madre garibay a las cuales siempre llevo en mi corazon dios las bendiga