Spreading Holiday Cheer: A Call to Serve and Make a Difference // M-Note 11.11.23

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, with Christmas just around the corner, and one of the questions I get asked a lot this time of year is - how can I help serve others during the holidays?

Well, I have a few answers to share…

Inexcelsis, which works with the unhoused and who we’ve often worked with, needs help with their annual Thanksgiving Dinner held at two different shelters on Thanksgiving Day. You can sign up to provide food in advance or to help serve dinner and be in fellowship with those attending.

LifeWiseSTL, another organization with which we have a long history, needs help with their annual Holiday Market, which provides over 200 families with the opportunity to shop for Christmas gifts at a greatly reduced cost. They especially need interpreters to help their Spanish-speaking families.

And don’t forget that we still have about 70 slots to fill for our annual Giving Tree to support Literacy Project teachers and staff.

Even if it’s doing something simple, like ordering your Thanksgiving dinner rolls from our friends at Bridge Bread, shifting your focus toward serving others helps us to live as Jesus encourages. When we do, we not only can make a difference for others, but our own lives are enriched during the holidays as well.  That is why The Gathering elevates serving as one of the 5 practices of following Jesus.

These are just a few of the opportunities we know about from our partners. I know there are many others. I hope you’ll find one that works for you, so that you and your family might practice serving others this holiday season.

This Sunday, we continue our sermon series, ONE: Finding Unity in a Divided World, and I hope to see you there to hear about how we can better love those that we deeply disagree with. Have a great weekend and I will see you in church.

Peace,
Matt

P.S. My new book, The Methodist book of Daily Prayer, was released this week. I was blown away by how many of you ordered copies for yourselves and others. Online orders should now be shipping this weekend. If you havenl;t ordered one yet and can wait a few more days, come to our Launch Party to buy one, and I’ll sign it!! It’s this Thursday, November 16, at 7pm, at our McCausland Site. There will be some dessert and I will talk a bit about why I wrote the book and how you can use it. I would love to see you there. You can find the details and register here. The book is also available on Cokesbury, on Amazon, locally at Novel Neighbor, or anywhere you get your books.