This week’s reflection is a response to a request from The Lutheran for stories from rural communities and small towns.
• ELCA Rural Ministry
• ELCA Small Town and Rural (STaR) Minstry Alliance
Have you ever had one of those ideas that when you say it people look at you like you’re crazy?
A few years ago, I told the congregation’s church council: “I am planning a Christmas giveaway.”
I explained that people would choose gifts for each member of their family. The gifts would be new, and the church would provide wrapping materials, live music and refreshments. “And I think our target number should be about 1,000 people, which means we need between 3,000 and 5,000 gifts,” I added.
They looked at me like I was crazy.
And that is how a ministry begins.
We started to call in a variety of churches. In the end, several ELCA churches were involved: St. Paul in Ironton, All Saints in Worthington, Resurrection in Hilliard, Trinity in Marion, all in Ohio, as well as Irving Park in Chicago.
We were able to involve the business community by applying for, and receiving, a grant from the Hasbro toy company, which agreed to provide 250 toys.
Our focus was not to hand out gifts. Our goal was to instill a little dignity into people’s lives.
So we made some decisions. We decided not to require any proof of income from recipients. We decided that each person in the family could pick out gifts for every other person in the family. We decided that they would be able to wrap each gift so they wouldn’t just receive a box with an unknown present and a tag such as “male 3-5.”
But these decisions didn’t come without disagreements.
“How can we just give stuff away?”
“We need to place a limit.”
“There is no way this is going to work!”
These comments were from the faithful who were working on the project. The clergy began to discuss how the project would be possible. All began to state their objections.
The day before the giveaway, thousands of gifts took shape in piles sorted by age and gender. Hasbro toys from California arrived at a Gahanna dock. But we discovered we were short on gifts for older people. We had received cash donations and needed people to go out to spend it the night before the giveaway. Crisis became chaos.
And this is how ministry begins.
At 6:30 a.m. the next day, I looked out the window of the parsonage. With my first cup of coffee in hand, I noticed that a line had already formed in the freezing rain.
At 10 a.m., we gathered for a moment of devotion. We remembered that Hebrews 13 tells us that we will unknowingly entertain angels. We were reminded that where two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, he will be also.
By the end of the day, 675 people had gone home with 3,200 gifts. The 60 volunteers were tired.
But we had heard the comments about how wonderful it was to be treated with care and respect. We had heard the stories about how this year, Christmas will be a little different for families.
We had entertained angels. We had seen the risen Christ, face-to-face. The next year we gave away 5,000 gifts to 1,000 people.
If we can do this, what is the next level that will stretch our imagination? Are you crazy?
This week's front page features:
Andrena, 'set free': ELCA candidate for ordination lives with faith and HIV. (Photo at right.) |
| Andrena Ingram |
.jpg) |
| Josselyn Bennett |
Andrea Pohlmann blogs about presents for pets.
Advertisement:
Did you know: An individual subscription to The Lutheran magazine is only $15.95 a year and includes a Web Premium membership at no additional cost.
This is an Associated Church Press award-winning e-newsletter.
© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Comments
Print subscribers and supporting Web members may comment.
Log in or Subscribe to comment.