100 Days of HopeSample

Welcoming The Marginalized

Last Christmas, staff from the Word Made Flesh children’s home in Chennai, India, found two children living and working on a trash heap. Referred to as “rag-pickers” – a derogatory term that identifies these children with what they do rather than who they are – the children were digging through garbage looking for something to eat. Around the world – in every country – some version of this dehumanizing way of survival mars the dignity of women and men, girls and boys, all who bear the divine imprint of God in their humanity.

After their father abandoned the family, their young mother began scavenging through dumps and trash heaps looking for what could be salvaged and recycled. She would sell the scraps that she found but it wasn’t enough to provide for her family. Shortly before we met, a fire broke out in the slum where the family was living. Everything was lost. The children were found living on a train platform, begging, neglected and slowly starving to death. They were so malnourished that even the introduction of regular meals made them sick.

The irony of the collision of our lives and the lives of these little ones during the Christmas season is tucked into the significance of their names. The six year-old boy’s name is Joseph, and his four-year-old sister’s name is Mary. A mere two weeks before Christmas, the arrival of our young Mary and Joseph presented us with an opportunity to practice hospitality—the kind of hospitality that seeks to recognize the disguise of Christ in those who are poor and marginalized.

Prayer: Lord, give us eyes to see the marginalized around us and hearts to welcome them into the family of God.