Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…..” You get the picture.
Wren MacCormack put it in preacher daddy’s face when he used it in the movie Footloose to try to get the church to allow them to have a dance. Sometimes preachers throw it right back at funerals. Maybe Reverend Shaw was planning Wren’s funeral…don’t know.
It’s a great Old Testament passage. I think about it every year when the holidays roll around – not sure why. I guess – ‘tis the season for reflection. I start to think about all that God has given me personally throughout the year. I think about all actionchurch has tried to do – yet it just always seems like there is more need than we could ever possibly meet. The Salvation Army dusts off their kettles, the food banks are running low, cold kids need coats (cause Cold Kids Suck….it was a looong time ago and you had to be there!), presents to wrap, bills to pay, the oil man cometh! You get the picture.
There is never a year (or a season) when we don’t ask you to give at actionchurch. This year for the Christmas season we asked you to give $10 gift cards. Our little church is growing and bursting at the seams. With that great blessing comes great need. Some people in our own church community have had a very rough year. We hear of needs every Sunday. There are many that are living week to week and just barely holding on. So we thought that it would be a great idea to stuff our donation boxes with $10 gift cards so that we could make the season bright for some great families, and thank the employees of Frank Theaters for serving us all year long.
It still IS a great idea. However, God shouted at us – and we listened. ‘Tis the season ….for giving – and gift cards just aren’t enough.
So we are asking you to give more. Frank Theaters has been a great community partner for actionchurch. They are collecting non-perishable food items for the York County Food Bank whose shelves are near empty. It’s been a rough year for them as well. Bring cans of green beans and jars of peaches and sugar and spaghetti noodles and anything else that you can think of that doesn’t require refrigeration every week right up until Christmas!
And –As we announced Sunday, because of your faithful giving EVERY WEEK, actionchurch is partnering with Bridge of Hope to provide an apartment for a family who was homeless…and now will have a place to call home for the holidays! Because of you, when a really great family needed a helping hand, when Bridge of Hope called, actionchurch was ready to answer with the needed funds. I have a feeling for THAT family, this will be a Christmas they will never forget.
So for those of you who felt a little deflated (like our reindeer after service) when we were only asking for gift cards – great news! God has shouted at us and we listened. ‘Tis the giving season and we are giving:
- Non-perishable food items for the York County Food Bank
- $10 gift cards from any store you can think of ….except maybe Victoria’s Secret :-)
So – Cut loose! Footloose! Kick up your Sunday shoes and help actionchurch help those in need this giving season.