Let Us Receive the Vulnerable Baby Jesus with Tender Care and Strong Love!

A Letter from Unzu Lee, serving as Regional Liaison for East Asia

December 2020

Dear friends,

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (Luke 2:6-7, NRSV).

Perhaps it is fair to say that vulnerability defines the human experience of the year 2020 no matter where one is found. The fear of COVID-19 is still very much with us. Ironically, the sense of vulnerability I feel due to the pandemic leads me to connect more viscerally to the vulnerability around the birth of the baby Jesus in this season of Christmas. It beckons us to receive him with more tenderness, strong arms to hold and protect, and a fierce commitment to nurture his growth as in his life is the seed of justice and peace for the world—God’s saving grace for God’s children.

Heavenly Light in the Manger. Photo by Burkay Canatar from Pexels

Since February this year, I have been serving as one of the three Regional Liaisons for East Asia. I have been liaising with partner entities in Hong Kong, National Council of Churches in Korea and Ecumenical Forum for Korea, but I am still in the United States and it is going to be mid-January 2021 when I relocate to Seoul, Korea. Wherever I may be working from, however, I know that I am not working alone. In addition to the cloud of witnesses, I know that you are on this journey with me, and that knowledge heartens me. I pray that we journey together to the baby Jesus as the magi who followed the star and receive the vulnerable baby Jesus with tender care and strong love to begin again the work of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Unzu Lee