{"id":25,"date":"2008-03-08T10:13:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-08T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/2008\/03\/08\/help-me-with-present-thinking\/"},"modified":"2008-03-08T10:13:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-08T15:13:00","slug":"help-me-with-present-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/help-me-with-present-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Help me with &#8220;present thinking&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m working on the Pentecost 2008 edition of <em>Congregation Connections, <\/em>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 <em>Seeds for the Parish.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"mailto:hunger@elca.org\"><em>hunger@elca.org<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here are snippets from the <em>Congregation Connections<\/em> for a start. The sentences in bold signal where I&#8217;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.<br \/>God bless us, everyone! Sue<\/p>\n<p>UNWRAP YOUR PRESENT THINKING<br \/>Help participants initiate conversations about Christmas giving and share their plans with family and friends. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Think about Christmas-present giving. What do participants feel is \u201cexpected\u201d of them? What was their all-time favorite gift? <strong>What gifting strategies have they employed in their family (e.g., drawing names)?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Brainstorm alternatives to store-bought presents. Strategize antidotes to \u201ctoo much.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Make a pact to give up mall and mega-mart shopping during Advent. <\/li>\n<li>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\u2019d like to receive. \u201cDon\u2019t give me <em>anything<\/em>,\u201d for example, is not as helpful as \u201cPlease don\u2019t give me a <em>thing<\/em>&#8230;I\u2019d much rather receive a gift-donation, the gift of your time, or a hand-written letter.\u201d Consider sending an ELCA Good Gifts catalog to folks who want to remember you at Christmas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;I WANT SOMETHING TO WRAP*&#8221; GIFT IDEAS  (<strong>Please share your alternative gift ideas&#8230;whether they can be wrapped or not.)<\/strong><br \/>Light a candle and say a prayer for your gift recipient(s), then wrap up the candle and a copy of the prayer.<br \/>For ELCA Good Gifts, wrap up a representative stuffed animal for the youngest member of the family to receive your gift donation to God\u2019s 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).<br \/>Box and wrap a card or hand-written letter to announce your gift donation.<br \/>Wrap up consumables, something that can be readily eaten or used (e.g., Fair Trade chocolate and coffee, homemade treats, postage stamps).<br \/>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.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks! Sue-s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;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. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Help me with &quot;present thinking&quot; - ELCA World Hunger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/help-me-with-present-thinking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Help me with &quot;present thinking&quot; - ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I&#8217;m working on the Pentecost 2008 edition of Congregation Connections, the 12-page biannual resource that links ELCA World Hunger, worship and congregational life. 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