Let's call them their names-The Christmas of the "forgotten angels"

The Christmas of the “Forgotten Angels”!

On January 6, the day the church celebrated the epiphany of the Lord, we had a rare privilege to be part of a very special Christmas celebration. The celebration was arranged by HOPE (Heavens Own Precious Eyes) a ministry of the Immanuel Mar Thoma Church, Houston to serve the people, who live with severe mental and physical disabilities. Christopher

and Chandler (brothers), Nishant, Justin, Mathew, and Samuel were the heroes of the celebration. They sang songs, danced to the tune of Jingle bells, read from the Bible both in English and Malayalam versions and continuously made noises that expressed their joy and feeling of jubilation. The feeling of accomplishment that reflected on their faces after each item was a real joy to watch. They had to take many folds of earnest efforts than ours to make that evening possible. The endurance of the parents in taking care of these youth, whose needs are often met with laborious sacrificial efforts, worth special mention here. One of the parents, Rev Roy of the Anglican Church prayed at the start of the service with these words; “God Almighty, our hearts are filled with thanksgiving and praise for choosing us to parent these your special children”.

The prayer reflected the bold faith that help those parents to relentlessly love their children. Christmas is all about God’s initiatives in reducing the distance between heaven and the earth. God the creator and sustainer taking the form of a human baby and lying in the

manger in a stable shows the wonder of God’s love drawing near to the world that God created. And I think the events like the “HOPE Christmas” reduces the church’s distance from people living with disabilities. It was a joy to see the church incarnating to embrace the often “forgotten angels” in our midst. The Immanuel MTC has a special “Sunday School” for them. There are people who volunteer to take care of these youth on their “Sunday School” days. This may be the only “Sunday School” that happens on other than a Sunday. So long, the church had been churching or pastoring the strong and the meritorious in our community. Keeping the people with

disabilities in asylums and special homes. We often tend to neglect these angels by calling them names like “demented”, “handicapped”, “dumb” etc. It is good to see the church growing in its sensitivity to be dare to bring them into the sanctuary to worship with them, sing praises with them. Each and every sound that they made were not nuisance to the carol service, but adding special charm to it. Let us stop calling them cold names that stigmatize them, but instead call them lovingly CHRISTOPHER, CHANDLER, NISHANT, JUSTIN, MATHEW, and SAMUEL.

May the almighty God enable our church to grow in this ministry!

Photograph courtesy: Johnson of Immanuel MTC, Houston