Christmas greetings from Malawi, "the warm heart of Africa"!

Dear Friends,

"It happens!" Recently, I have become aware that there is a common expression here in Malawi. In fact, in Malawi these days, these words are all too common.

It happens…

A young woman, 18 years of age, tells me that her father has died. I express my condolence to her. She replies, "It happens."

A lorry filled to overflowing with family and friends going to a funeral of a young mother who has left behind several young children. The lorry overturns due to faulty brakes—several people from the same family are killed. "It happens."

A child dies. Another child dies. Another child dies—from malaria, malnutrition, cholera, meningitis. "It happens."

One family member after another dying of HIV/AIDS. Their children, orphans, will hopefully be taken care of by extended family. Many of these children are on the streets. There is no money in these extended families to pay for school fees for these orphaned children. Their future is bleak. "It happens."

The cost of a 50 kilogram bag of maize, the staple food of Malawi, rises from Malawi Kwacha (MK) 250 to MK 850. The cost continues to rise and is predicted to reach MK 1,200, due to scarcity of maize from floods the previous year. People are hungry. People are dying. "It happens."

"It happens" means "it happens daily." It is a common expression for a common occurrence, a way of life. People are resigned to the fact that this is just the way life is for people in Malawi. A Malawian friend told me that the expression has been popularized by a radio broadcaster who uses it to cool down the people, to extinguish the flames of discontent.

"It happens, " a fatalistic response to suffering and death, a feeling of powerlessness to change the circumstances of their lives. Many devout Christians, people of great faith, have come to accept that this life on earth is without hope, and so they place all their hope in the eternal life to come.

"It happens." But should it be happening?! Let us not forget the message of this Christmas season: It is a message of glad tidings! Let us not forget the words the angel spoke to the shepherds in the field:

I bring you good news of great joy for all the people:
To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is the Messiah, the Lord.(Luke 2:10-11).

Good news of great joy for all the people! A messiah, A savior for all the people, has come to this earth to bring redeeming life: new life, abundant life, for all people here on earth!

As the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, began his earthly ministry, he read to the people in the synagogue Isaiah 61: 1-2 (Luke 4:18-19): The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

After reading this passage Jesus proclaimed, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Today, good news for the poor!

A Great Deliver has been born for all the people—a Great Deliver who works miracles, through whom all things are possible. We are the disciples, the followers, the apostles, the ones sent to carry on the work, the ministry of this Great Deliver.

You and I are the hands and feet of Christ here on earth, commissioned by Christ to "bring good news of great joy," to the people of Malawi, so that when they say, "it happens," it will have become an expression of hope fulfilled: because we will have given to them abundant new life here on earth, as promised, for all the people, through the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord!

A Blessed Christmas and a New Year of Hope Fulfilled,

Debbie Chase

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 41