WHO Will Help Host Christmas?
Every year our church works together to staff the local overflow shelter for families during the week between Christmas and New Years Day. I believe it is our single largest ministry effort in terms of number of people involved. There are 126 spots on the sign-up sheet.
Watching our church family rally to serve those in vulnerable situations is one of the things that makes me say, “I love my church!” We are still three weeks away from our week of service, but more than 90 have already signed up! That is really encouraging and it means we only have 35 spots left.
I am certain we will have no trouble finding people willing to fill these remaining spots. The only trick is finding a moment to compare the needs with your personal calendar. Kristin and I are in that boat. So, I took a close look at the sign-up sheet this morning so we can figure out where to go ahead and sign up.
If this is your situation as well, here are a few notes that may help you.
- Daily opportunities: Our service week is December 24-31 and we still have at least one open spot on every day that week. That means if you have time to help on any day that week, there is a spot for you.
- Staffing a Shift: 16 of the open spots are filling a 4 or 5-hour shift. The 5:30-9:30am shift is the one that has the most openings. Morning people unite!
- Doing a Task: 19 of the open spots are for doing a task such as providing soup for an evening meal, cookies and milk for a snack, sandwich makings for lunches or delivering laundry (need a vehicle with larger cargo space).
- The Jesus Shifts: The most special shifts available are those on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. They are special because they are the hardest to fill (understandably) but also because they represent an extraordinarily valuable gift to Jesus. After all, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is when Jesus and his homeless parents were most in need of shelter. And Jesus says the folks at the WHO shelter are him as well. We already have one person on each of those shifts, but need a few more.
Thank you, church family. It is a pleasure serving Jesus with you.
Pastor Toby
Categories: Evergreen Connection