This has been a wonderful and very special year for me.
This is the year when I have been allowed to serve as your Assistant Director of Native American Affairs. It has been a year of meeting very special people who work in Native American ministry. I pray for you every day that our Incarnate God, born to us at Christmas, become a guide and a hope for you and all of your work.

In this year of gifts, both giving and receiving, I have thought about how this year has been a very important gift to me. This year I have visited Native American ministries among others, in Duluth, Minnesota, Gallup, New Mexico and the San Francisco Bay area in California. In my visits and presentations, I have learned a lot about how faith is celebrated and cherished in Native American Nations. Also, throughout the year, I have learned what makes the Native American community such a gift to our Church. I have witnessed an intense spirituality inherent in ritual, compassion and family. We have also worked together on social justice projects especially the development of restorative justice- which is one of the more important gifts to not only the Church but also to the Country.

As Christ gave to us - not a onetime event during Christmas, also our mission and ministry is not a onetime gift to the Church. Our hard work reveals itself in the grace filled relationships that is the foundation of our faith filled communities. It is in this way that I wish you a very blessed Christmas and New Year.

Your Brother in Christ,

Rev. Michael Carson