Christmas is a time for Giving

Humm.  Even before I read today's UCC Daily Devotion I was thinking about the process of giving to a not for profit at Christmas time.  We have already had our Alternate Gift program at Christ Church where the members could chose a not for profit agency to donate to in the name of a friend and give a notice of the gift to the friend. But there are other ways we can give of ourselves and gifts to other agencies at this time of year or even all year long.

I receive the local Hillsborough New Jersey newspaper which is printed by the Princeton Packet.  There was a magazine attached which listed agencies in the Princeton area to which gifts could be given.  I just did a Google search and found a list of charitable organizations in Union County NJ. http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/PubApps/geoShowOrgs.php?code=c34039&v=cf

If your mail is like mine, you are probably getting letters and phone calls from the organizations to whom you sent donations to last year.  This also includes Christ Church and I hope you have made your annual pledge.  I am about to start my campaign for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society because I did not do it earlier.

The point of this is that you should not only give presents to people you love and know, but to people whom you do not know but whom will benefit from your gift.

Also  remember that there are people who may be hungry.  You have been donating food to be given to the Food Book.  This week Mayor Cory Booker of Newark is trying to live on Food Stamps.  The story is on the front page of today's (Wednesday December 6, 2012) Star Ledger of New Jersey. http://www.nj.com/starledger/pdf/wednesday.pdf  It gives the statistics about the people who live on Food Stamps and how little food they can purchase with Food Stamps.  Food Stamps were meant to only supplement people's income, but some people use that as the only source of funds for food.  Something to think about as you eat your Christmas dinner.

Jeannette Brown

Christ Church Summit UCC Representative.

561 Springfield Ave

Summit, NJ

Services 9:30 AM and 11:15 AM Sunday

All Are Welcome

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Alternative Gift Giving

Acts 20:35
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus himself, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson
Heads up - tomorrow, December 6 - is St. Nicholas Day. The 4th century saint, Nicholas, is the patron saint of quite a line-up: sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children and students (by the way, who decides these things?). He is also a pre-cursor to Santa Claus, a.k.a. "Old St. Nick."

So gift-giving is associated with St. Nicholas, but gift-giving with a difference.

Nicholas had a thing about giving gifts secretly. He would slip a few coins into people's shoes while they slept - with no indication of who the gift came from.

One year our family decided to "keep St. Nicholas Day" on December 6. We were living in an apartment building then and decided to buy a Christmas wreath of greens to decorate the lobby. (This was not the kind of building where management decorated.) So we all went to the Public Market and picked out a most beautiful, large wreath. Later, as my sons kept watch, I hung the wreath in the building's small and spare lobby.

Subsequently, we had the treat of listening to people notice the wreath and comment. "Isn't that pretty," "I wonder where it came from?" and "What a beautiful wreath!" It was a sly joy to listen in. And it was also a challenge not to claim credit.

This experience brought home to me how often the gifts we give come wrapped, not just in bright paper, but in lots of other stuff: our needs for acknowledgment and affirmation, along with who knows what other "strings attached." It's all this extra wrapping that can make gift-giving such a fraught and complex matter this time of year.

So this year, consider an experiment. Keep St. Nicholas Day and give a gift secretly. Try it tomorrow or on December 25. Taking ourselves out of the equation, even just a bit, may allow for a renewed sense of the mystery and gifted nature of life itself.

Prayer

O God, giver of every good and perfect gift, thank you for holiday traditions new and old. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Called to Lead: Paul's Letters to Timothy for a New Day, and he is also the author of the just-published Book of Exodus: A God is still speaking Bible Study. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com by clicking on Weekly Reading.

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