Desmond Tutu Christmas Message to FOSNA

A Message from our Patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu

TREE of LIFE
The Healing of the Nations

Dear Friends of Sabeel,

Greetings from our home in Cape Town, South Africa, and our blessing to all of you as you begin your celebrations for Advent and Christmas.

This is the season of the Prince of Peace whom we call our Savior and Healer. Our message, as we end the 15th year of faithful ministry of Friends of Sabeel-North America, is The Healing of the Nations, and we enclose as our Christmas gift to you an original design of the Tree of Life from Revelation 22:2, whose leaves hold medicine for the healing of the nations. This painting, donated by artist Linda Dalal Sawaya, depicts the native olive tree of the Holy Land as an integral part of its beautiful landscape and of Palestinian heritage, as well as the source of livelihood for Palestinian farmers.

For those of us in the worldwide movement for justice and peace, the healing of the nations will come out of a long struggle for justice and an enduring quest for peace through truth and reconciliation--made visible in the political and economic life of nations. We are witnesses to the Palestinian quest for justice, for a free and viable state of their own in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. We have heard the eloquent statement of President Mahmoud Abbas before the general assembly of the United Nations and await the historic decision on the recognition of Palestine as a nation among nations.

You, as a supporter of Friends of Sabeel, are a leaf on the Tree of Life, "and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." (Rev 22:2). It is your local work, your educational events, your letters to lawmakers, your donations, your prayers, your voice raised up! Your faithfulness and generosity help the tree grow higher, wider, its roots grow deeper and stronger.

We are grateful for your witness, for the work you are doing in your communities, and we encourage your continued faithful endurance in the quest for justice and peace. Be assured we will continue this struggle, even in the face of the ongoing crisis of injustice which prolongs the suffering of the Palestinian people. May the enclosed Tree of Life poster serve as a daily reminder of your "rootedness" in a contemporary international Christian movement based in the Gospel of the Prince of Peace and his promise of the peaceful future to come.  Please send your generous Christmas donation to Friends of Sabeel in the envelope provided.

Wishing you a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year,

+Desmond M. Tutu Archbishop Emeritus

Your Christmas Donation
If you are a Friends of Sabeel member you will be receiving the above letter from Archbishop Tutu and an enclosed gift poster (11" x 14") by regular mail. If you are not on our membership mailing list and would like a poster mailed to you, please donate online and provide your mailing address, along with a note requesting the poster. MERRY CHRISTMAS! AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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