 Greetings Parents!
Children, preschool through 5th grade, received their Christmas Joy
Offering banks today during the Sunday school hour. The offering banks
will be collected during the children's sermon on Sunday, December 20
at the 10:50 a.m. worship service.
The Offering helps students at racial ethnic schools and colleges
develop their gifts and find their calling to serve God through serving
their community. The Offering also helps families of both active and
retired church workers to meet unexpected needs.
Each child will be given a bank with their name on it. You might
want to let the child decide where he or she wants to put the bank this
week - at the family Advent wreath, the nativity scene, the child's
bedside table, or on the coffee table in the living room. Let the
child make it their experience. During bedtime or mealtime prayer, you
could add the names of the organizations receiving the gifts given by
the children from St. Andrew and Presbyterian churches in the United
States, helping the children understand that these organizations
represent people who need our help.
God's love bursts into our lives through the birth of Jesus forever
changing us and the whole of history. As we respond to this
transformative love and freely given grace, we are drawn out into the
world to be messengers of God's love and grace for all. We can walk
alongside our children in ministry as we bear joyful witness to the
power of the uncontainable love to change lives.
Grace and peace,
Lisa Patterson
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