Pastor's Corner: Christmas gifts - Simplified and sanctified

One of the hardest parts of Christmas for me-and maybe for you-is the gift-giving. My husband is a gift-giving pro, while I am scrambling on Christmas Eve to wrap the last box of Girl Scout cookies, forgotten for months behind the rice and pasta, and pass it off as, "Look, dear, I got these Thin Mints just for you!" My dad, my aunt, my brother...all were or are gift-giving geniuses. (Yes, that past tense and the fact that loved ones are no longer here with us is THE hardest part of Christmas, but that's for another article for another year.) Some years, I feel like a gift-giving failure.

For many of us, gifts fill in the 'wants' in our lives, because our needs are relatively taken care of. Charities have wisely taken advantage of this "what do you get the person who has everything (they need)?" quandary. Many organizations have programs where you buy something for someone truly in need in honor of the person for whom you're 'shopping.' For example, my denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has a Good Gifts program. You can buy ten little chicks and a cow for a family in Tanzania and give your FFA granddaughter ornaments of a chick and a cow.

These programs do a lot of good-especially the charities that have low overhead, and most of your gift actually does end up where you want it to go.

But there's a nonprofit here in Havre that does so much good for the people of Havre, and they have almost no overhead costs. The Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association (GHAMA) helps so many of our neighbors every week. When someone needs just a bit of rent money to stay in their apartment, or just enough gas money to make it back home, or a night in a motel away from an unhealthy situation, GHAMA is there to help.

At least, GHAMA wants to be there to help. Havre and Hill County are big enough to see a lot of need, but too small for a lot of the services available in larger areas. Even with incredible nonprofits doing incredible work here in town, this makes for large gaps in the social safety net.

The little book of James says it best in 2:15-17. "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." There's a particularly awful feeling when you want to help a shivering, hungry, lost person, but all the bank account will allow is a pat on the back and a "Good luck and God bless and there's the door." On the very first Christmas, Mary and Joseph relied on the practical kindness of a stranger. Imagine if the innkeeper had said, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," to the Holy Family?

So here is my proposal, for all of us gift-giving failures AND you gift-giving pros. For $25, you can buy a son the gas he needs to get home after trying to find work the next state over. For $50, you can help a family whose car needs major repairs pay their electricity bill in full. For $75, you can just about keep one of God's children warm and safe in a hotel room for a night. For $100, you can assist that little bit with rent so that a child can stay in her bedroom no matter the poor choices of her parents. For $200, you give a couple a chance to stay in a motel for a few nights after they got kicked out of their home. For $500, you can buy the plane tickets or the Amtrak tickets that will get a few lost souls to the places that can care for them best.

I don't have any ornaments to give you in return for these gifts, but I do have deep wells of gratitude for the generosity of this community and the wisdom of the GHAMA members who distribute these funds. If you are stirred to give, you can mail these gifts to GHAMA, PO Box 407, Havre, MT 5950, or talk to your pastor if they're a member of GHAMA. This year, whether you give to GHAMA or some other worthy cause, may we all give gifts that reflect the love of the true gift, Jesus Christ.

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Pastor Megan Hoewisch

First Lutheran Church