Pastor’s Corner – December 2013

I am writing this article the week before Thanksgiving.  We already have a growing collection of food stuffs for the food pantry with another Sunday to go.  We will be able to provide a very good boost to assist feeding the people in our community.

Now we look to the Christmas season and the opportunity to help others.  Once again, we will work with Heifer International to provide gifts that will not only help feed a family, but provide a source of income for the future.  Heifer International provides livestock, such as camels, llamas, heifers, sheep, and goats.  They also offer ducks and geese, chickens and rabbits, trees and bees.  People in need of water pumps or who want to start a fish farm can be given what they need.  You can check out the Heifer International at www.heifer.org.

If you want to make a gift of a future for a family, just put a check in the offering plate or in the mail made out with FCC and Heifer on the memo line.  Over the past couple of years we have provided heifers, llamas, chickens, rabbits, bees and trees.  Let’s see what we can provide this year.

We will also continue to assist the food bank by collecting food.  Demands at the local food pantries are up.  More people are in need of food assistance, and we can provide help during the Christmas holiday.

We as a society can be easily swept up in the press to buy and buy until we overspend and find ourselves paying bills for months after all the decorations are stored away until next year.  But the focus of gift giving stems from the Magi who gave gifts to the infant Jesus.  When we give a gift, we should strive to give something that has meaning, not only to the person, but also represents our love for that person.  Some of the best gifts are the gifts that have been created, or made by the giver.  The gift creates a memory that can survive long after the gift has been given.  Remember the gifts that your children gave you.  How many do you still have?  We still have pencil holders, and recipe card holders, and sculptures, and handprints in plaster.  We love and appreciate all the gifts that are given to us, but there are always the special ones that become treasures.  This is how we should approach gift giving.

Shalom, Darrell