The Christmas season can be many things:

a season of compassion and giving, or

a season of frenzied me-first materialism.

 

This year, as we strive to choose the former and eschew the latter,

let us pray for the people of Greece.

 

You may have seen the news reports.  The violence.  The tear-gas infused clouds of chaotic protest.

You may have heard the story of the youth who was killed by police.

If you have seen these things, then surely you have also heard the reports

that label protesters as hoodlums who will not show their faces.

 

What you probably haven’t seen is the following statement.

Circulated at his funeral, this litany was written by friends of the young one who was slain:

 

WE WANT A BETTER WORLD, HELP US

We are not terrorists, nor “hooded ones” nor “unknown-knowns”

WE ARE YOUR CHILDREN.
They are the “unknown-knowns”.

We have dreams. Don’t destroy them.
We are alive, don’t stop us

REMEMBER

You were also young once
Today you run after money, you only worry about
appearances, you’ve grown fat, you’re bald

YOU’VE FORGOTTEN

We hoped for your support
We hoped for your concern
so that it was us who made you feel proud, this time

BUT IT WAS IN VAIN.

Your lives are nothing more than lies, you’ve lowered your head,
You’ve dropped your pants and
you’re awaiting the day of your death

You lack imagination, you don’t love anything anymore, you don’t do
anything
creative
You only buy and sell

MATERIALISM ON ALL SIDES
LOVE ON NONE – THE TRUTH ON NONE

Where are our parents?
Where are the artists?
Why aren’t you in the streets?

HELP US
(signed) THE YOUTH

PS: Stop shooting tear gas. We’ve cried enough without your help!

———————————————-

 

Informed prayer changes us,

works its way past our preconceived notions

so that the peace we seek for the world

begins in our own hearts.

 

Having heard both “sides” of the story,

let us pray for the people of Greece.

And as we work this prayer within our hearts,

may God see fit to rework our lives

so that we may become

peacemakers

peaceseekers

peacesharers

 

May the peace of Christ be with you this Advent.

And as it is with you, so may it be throughout the world.