All the peoples

The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. Psalm 97:6

In my work – international news – it often seems like we are always writing about the same countries and the same people: another bomb in a crowded Baghdad market, another EU summit fails, another US firm goes bust, another charity announces another humanitarian disaster.

We focus our attention, quite rightly, on the big stories with the most impact. That’s what news is, after all. And if time permits, we go a bit smaller: the arrest of a Chinese dissident, the discovery of a previously unknown species, a land protest in South America.

We see stories all the time that we don’t have the time and space to cover. They’re not important enough they don’t matter to enough people.

On those occasions, I have to remind myself, they matter to God. God is there, God knows, God cares, intimately, whether the people involved know him or not. And for all those people, Christ came.

For the remote Andean tribe, the poor mining town in Eastern Russia, the unremarkable Eritrean village, the lonely rich child in Boston, the elderly widow in New Zealand, the struggling Bangladeshi farmer, the pious Cambodian monk, the hardworking nomadic Arctic community.

Christ came for every single person, ever created,  whether they matter to us or not.

Today, use the link below to find an online newspaper in a part of the world you know little about. Pick a local story and pray for those people involved. And pray also that they may know something of the promise Christ brings at Christmas and always.

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/

[Anna Jones]