Saturday, March 8, 2008
Help me with "present thinking"
I'm working on the Pentecost 2008 edition of Congregation Connections, the 12-page biannual resource that links ELCA World Hunger, worship and congregational life. A two-page spread in this edition looks at ways to help congregations, families, and individuals make plans in the summer in order to enjoy a simpler and more meaningful Advent and Christmas. This will morph into a summer article for Seeds for the Parish.
A big part of that planning centers on Christmas giving viz-a-viz Christmas presents. Please share your alternative-giving ideas, suggestions, and experience with me by commenting here or e-mailing hunger@elca.org
Here are snippets from the Congregation Connections for a start. The sentences in bold signal where I'm especially looking for comments. Rest assured that ELCA Good Gifts (World Hunger and beyond) and LWR Fair Trade Projects are lifted up as key alternative-giving strategies.
God bless us, everyone! Sue
A big part of that planning centers on Christmas giving viz-a-viz Christmas presents. Please share your alternative-giving ideas, suggestions, and experience with me by commenting here or e-mailing hunger@elca.org
Here are snippets from the Congregation Connections for a start. The sentences in bold signal where I'm especially looking for comments. Rest assured that ELCA Good Gifts (World Hunger and beyond) and LWR Fair Trade Projects are lifted up as key alternative-giving strategies.
God bless us, everyone! Sue
UNWRAP YOUR PRESENT THINKING
Help participants initiate conversations about Christmas giving and share their plans with family and friends.
- Think about Christmas-present giving. What do participants feel is “expected” of them? What was their all-time favorite gift? What gifting strategies have they employed in their family (e.g., drawing names)?
- Brainstorm alternatives to store-bought presents. Strategize antidotes to “too much.”
- Make a pact to give up mall and mega-mart shopping during Advent.
- Encourage participants to let family and friends know what they are giving this Christmas (e.g., prayer, gift-donations, gifts of time or food). It is also respectful to share ideas about what you’d like to receive. “Don’t give me anything,” for example, is not as helpful as “Please don’t give me a thing...I’d much rather receive a gift-donation, the gift of your time, or a hand-written letter.” Consider sending an ELCA Good Gifts catalog to folks who want to remember you at Christmas.
"I WANT SOMETHING TO WRAP*" GIFT IDEAS (Please share your alternative gift ideas...whether they can be wrapped or not.)
Light a candle and say a prayer for your gift recipient(s), then wrap up the candle and a copy of the prayer.
For ELCA Good Gifts, wrap up a representative stuffed animal for the youngest member of the family to receive your gift donation to God’s Global Barnyard. Likewise, wrap small-and-useful representations of other gift donations (e.g., a dust pan for a gift donation to ELCA Disaster Response).
Box and wrap a card or hand-written letter to announce your gift donation.
Wrap up consumables, something that can be readily eaten or used (e.g., Fair Trade chocolate and coffee, homemade treats, postage stamps).
Give pre-owned or no-buy gifts: share a gift from your home (e.g., dish, photo, ornament); personalize free calendars with important dates; wrap up garage-sale finds.
Thanks! Sue-s
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When we moved back to Minnesota from California, we followed the tradition of our "Second Saturday in December holiday party" and invited friends from former neighborhoods, high school, college, work and church. We promised a good time and good food (we make assignments!), carol singing, and laughter but also promised they would not know most, if any of the other people there. We were the only ones who would know them all! And we agreed to answer a question about themselves, secretly, so everyone could learn to know each other better and to bring a gift for sharing.
We've partied on for 12 years now and the group refers to each other as their "Christmas Friends". We've moved from gifts for ourselves (reflecting our ethnic background, in the color green, homemade, etc.) to gifts we share with others. We have brought items such as toys to share with the police/sheriff's department when they are needed to calm children, hats/gloves to share through SouthEast Asian Ministry, children's books for Lifehaven (an LSS operated house for teen moms), toys for Toys for Tots, and even enough money to buy a pig through Heifer International one year!
The questions are always fun (who is it who would prefer Greek if they had a choice to speak another language proficiently?) - -and the quantity of gifts have grown each year. Besides, the "Christmas Friends" have been a support group when news, good and not so good, needs to be shared and prayed about. It's now a group which deeply cares for each other even if we all only meet face to face once a year.
(And now we've added a second party for people we knew at a former congregation here during the early '70's. They do the same questions and bring the same gifts, so the effort is multiplied each Christmas season.)
We've partied on for 12 years now and the group refers to each other as their "Christmas Friends". We've moved from gifts for ourselves (reflecting our ethnic background, in the color green, homemade, etc.) to gifts we share with others. We have brought items such as toys to share with the police/sheriff's department when they are needed to calm children, hats/gloves to share through SouthEast Asian Ministry, children's books for Lifehaven (an LSS operated house for teen moms), toys for Toys for Tots, and even enough money to buy a pig through Heifer International one year!
The questions are always fun (who is it who would prefer Greek if they had a choice to speak another language proficiently?) - -and the quantity of gifts have grown each year. Besides, the "Christmas Friends" have been a support group when news, good and not so good, needs to be shared and prayed about. It's now a group which deeply cares for each other even if we all only meet face to face once a year.
(And now we've added a second party for people we knew at a former congregation here during the early '70's. They do the same questions and bring the same gifts, so the effort is multiplied each Christmas season.)
Permalink posted by 
: March 10, 2008 2:07 PM
: March 10, 2008 2:07 PM
One great gift idea that my sister used is to fill a small wooden bowl (that you already own or that you can buy at a fair trade store or world craft fair) with about 50 cut up pieces of paper. Each paper slip had a favorite bible verse, quote, or prayer typed on it. This would be a good gift by itself I think, but she also included three burned CDs of relaxing music (don't know if you can use that for the purposes of Congregation Connections) and a small incense kit (could also use a scented candle). She called it a relaxation kit.
Another idea is to make a collage of favorite pictures of you, the gift recipient, friends, and family.
Another idea is to make a collage of favorite pictures of you, the gift recipient, friends, and family.
Permalink posted by : March 11, 2008 3:55 PM
: March 11, 2008 3:55 PM
Deb Martin, Northern Illinois Synod - I stopped exchanging gifts with anyone except my 2 adult children. I give money to ELCA world hunger and send E-cards or use the hunger postcards to tell friends and relatives about their "gift."
Permalink posted by : March 11, 2008 7:43 PM
: March 11, 2008 7:43 PM
every year i make chocolates- hand dipped fondents, or whatever strikes my fancy. something time consuming and that requires me to sit and contemplate for a while. it is a gift to myself as well as to those who recieve it. then i either make and decorate boxes to hold the chocolates or i reuse a tin and create a tradition of passing the tin back and forth. my dad slipped a picture of me as a baby in the tin when he returned it last year.
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