Reflecting on how keen Jesus was for his disciples to pick up all the scraps of food and not let any be wasted, even after some 5,000 people had been miraculously fed (John 6:12), scripture seems to suggest that recycling is to form an integral part of Christian discipleship.
Shepley Methodist Church were already doing this in a variety of ways but working in partnership with Kirklees Eco Elves we were to discover a new, exciting and fun way which would offer help to young families at a time of the year which can prove expensive financially, especially during economically challenging times.
Together with Kirklees Community Hub workers and along with Surestart and a local School Uniform Exchange Charity we were able to offer the warm, comfortable venue of our church building for young families to enjoy a free of charge fun fill crafting day in early December. Through the event and in partnership with others we shared the vision of spreading the joy of Christmas in an economic and environmental responsible way but one which offered lots of ‘ goodies’.
Eco Elves had been busy collecting, checking and gift wrapping hundreds of good quality used toys which had been donated in a response to an appeal. The wrapped gifts were then delivered to the event where each young family could choose, free of charge, three or four age related gifts for their children from a numbered list.
While the adults were doing this the little ones enjoyed craft work using left over materials and recycling it into Christmas decorations which they were able to take home .Refreshments were available free of charge to everyone who came. Sharing the workload of the long day with others, made all this possible.
We felt very blessed by the new friendships we made and were able to offer invitations to them to other events, particularly to the Christmas Christingle workshop the following week.
On my final reflection centring on the image of the Christingle with its message of love, it seemed to me that “Jesus the Light” wasn’t simply shining on the world but very much embedded in it, and in some way by partnering with our lovely Eco Elves, we’d had one opportunity to let the light shine.
Revd Sue Pegg
This story was also featured on The Methodist Blog: Helping Eco Elves deliver Christmas – The Methodist Church
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