Why must I sing a Good-Friday Song

On this Christmas Day?

Can we sing Christmas Carols

Sitting on cold ashes piling up

In the burnt-down Churches in Orissa?

So long as the raped Nun does not

Get justice and her dignity restored

Can we really enjoy eating Christmas Cake?

So long as people uprooted

In the name of Religion & God

Do not get back their land, water and forest

Can we really wear new clothes and make merry?

So long as the homeless Christian families

Huddled in Relief Camps,

Shivering in fear and biting cold,

Do not return to their land

Can we greet them with Shalom?

If the answer to these questions is a big NO,

Then,

Let us join together

In singing Good-Friday songs

On this Christmas Day!

Walk the way of the Cross,

Wipe away the tears from each eye,

Spreading the Gospel of New Life!

Let us work for the Right to Life,

Restoring the means of livelihood,

Not only to the victims of Orissa,

But to all the suffering people of the world!

Let us transcend boundaries,

Cross the confines of Carols, Cakes and Clothes,

Join the suffering humanity,

Spread the Gospel of Hope and Peace,

Freedom from Fear and Terror

In the name of Religion & God!

So that we must sing Christmas Carols

On the coming Good Friday!