 In the lead-up to Christmas, the readings in our churches offer incredible images of promise. Swords turn into plowshares, lions lie down with lambs, and gardens spring up out of deserts. The language is so beautiful, so poetic, that we can be dazzled into thinking that the promises of well-being and peace and abundant life are for another world. A heavenly realm that is far beyond our reach. But the prophets were speaking into their time, a time of war and disaster and strife, and we hear them in hours. And if we listen carefully, we can come to understand that the prophetic message is for the now, their now and ours. The prophets' words may be a vision, but a vision of the possible. A vision that we can begin to approach if in active hope we walk the ways of Yahweh. They may be dreams, but they're not fantasies. More like the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., who in his I Have a Dream speech outlines a specific agenda for racial and economic justice in America. Some days I have trouble believing that peace is possible. In our work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or in Israel, Palestine, confidence in transformation can be easily tested. But I think about the people in those places, the people who don't give up, who can't give up, who take the prophetic message to heart, who believe that peace and well-being is possible and work hard and at great risk to their own lives to make it so. Those are the people who restore my hope. We work with Indigenous communities in Canada that are plagued by racism and constant setbacks and heartbreaking tragedies. They are trying to emerge from the bitter legacy of colonization, but they continue to believe in renewal and in right relations. We work with communities that are affected by Canadian extractive industries around the globe. They feel they have nowhere to turn when ecological harm and human rights violations occur in their communities. And yet they continue to work with us to believe that together we can achieve sustainability, accountability and justice. At Christmas, we welcome the child of peace who comes into this world to transform it. The Christ child, the boldest promise that inspires us and accompanies us as together we work to heal the world. I want to thank you, churches and communities, networks, donors, partners, for your commitment to ecological justice and human rights. I want to thank you for your efforts, for your support and for your act of hope in the promise of peace and justice. We welcome Christmas donations to support this shared work as well as your continued engagement in movements of hope. From all of us here at Kairos, thank you again and Merry Christmas.