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MISSIONS - Christmas Joy Offering
As we prepare for Christmas, itís easy for the message to get lost, not only in the commercialism that currently surrounds it, but also in the holy light and sacred chords that bathe the whole scene. Perhaps it wasnít so terribly different for those drowsy Judean shepherds minding their own business, watching their flocks in the fields. How hard it must have been not to be simply dazzled by the light and terrified by the voice of first a single angel and then the heavenly host. How hard it must have been to hear and remember the message: to seek the One whose coming among us was the good news of great joy the angels heralded. In particular, it must have been hard to know that this news announced a new way of understanding our relationship with God: God as Jesus, the active and uncontainable presence of love in our lives.
One of the ways Christians have responded to the presence of Jesus' love in our lives throughout the centuries is by giving sacrificially to others of God's family. For seventy years, Presbyterians have given an Offering during Advent. Today that offering is the Christmas Joy Offering, and it not only celebrates the good news of great joy that Gods love now walks among us, but it also offers Presbyterians a way to open our hearts to the fullness of that joy by sharing it with others. [MORE]
