Oh there's no place like home...

“Oh there’s no place like home…”

Christmas music could be heard in my house, growing up, the day after Thanksgiving. This signaled the start of the Advent/Christmas season. You see, Christmas music was forbidden until after Thanksgiving; even today from Texas and Kansas City my children are the enforcers of my mother's rule! More often than not that first song would have been Perry Como’s rendition of Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays… As Second Presbyterian Church transitions from the theme of “home” into the holiday season—we decorate our Second Home early. We do this because we are preparing to take the Good News of the Advent/Christmas season out into the world through the Christmas Benevolence church wide program.

The Deacon’s Christmas Benevolence, CB, works with social service agencies to select 140+ families, that's 700+ people, to serve. The entire church works together to make it possible for these children of God to welcome the holidays with joyful hearts. Simple gifts such as household needs, food, toys, and essentials are gathered. In the process this church-wide spiritual practice of faith in action prepares us for the holiday season. It takes every bit of the prayer power of Second Church to take the joy and love from our Second Home into the homes of our friends and neighbors in need. This is not a “one time” event; there is a seasonality to the CB. There is a “liturgy” if you will. The air is crisp with service opportunities. Notices are sent out; sign ups are available. We are preparing and being prepared for the coming of Jesus. In doing so we are his hands, feet, and hearts in North Indy.

Families, friends, Sunday School classes, and groups of church members work together to welcome, to share, to box, to shop, to sing, to pray and to be messengers of the Good News. Like a child who has seen the gifts and heard the stories, I cannot wait to see the CB Joy! I wonder if I can use this as an excuse to listen to Christmas music early, because it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas Benevolence…

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