Yesterday I was with my extended family for what has become a annual tradition for us. No longer do we purchase gifts for the adults in our families, we use that money instead to engage a mission project. This year some of us rang the bell for Salvation Army outside of Eastview Mall in Victor NY. I loved what this taught our daughters. Then we gathered together and had purchased gifts for two families of single moms. The gifts were laid out on two tabled and we could see the mission right in front of us. The families we would never meet, and they may never know who we are, but they will know that someone cares about them enough to give them gifts.
This couples nicely with what we are doing here at the Cortland UMC this Christmas. We are asking people to reduce what they spend on Christmas, gifts, parties, decorations etc, and then match dollar for dollar what they do spend on an offering going to assist a school and clinic in Kenya. We are asking people to live more simply so that others may simply live. Our goal is to raise $10,000 by the end of the year so that we can give Jesus a gift on his birthday. Remembering that Christmas is not our birthday but his.
I am sure thins might be a long shot, but I want to invite all who are reading this blog to join us in remembering Christmas is not your birthday. If you would like to contribute to our fund, or possibly invite your church to participate, sharing this mission would be wonderful. You can send any contribution to Cortland UMC, 734 State Rte 222, Cortland NY 13045, ATTN: Christmas is not your birthday.
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