Dear East Shore members and friends,
My favorite of the Christmas carols is actually about the day after Christmas: Good King Wenceslas. I have always liked it. First of all, as a child, I liked it because it mentioned my name: “Good King Wenceslas looked out, On the Feast of Stephen, When the snow lay round about, Deep and crisp and even.” As I grew older and came to appreciate Howard Thurman’s sage remark that actually it’s after the star disappears and the shepherds and magi all go home that the work of Christmas truly begins: finding the lost, healing the wounded, and rebuilding a broken world. So it was that Wenceslas gathered his faithful page and went forth into the ever-present storm outside to serve his people. And it was by virtue of his noble character that, in 1853, English hymn writer John Mason Neale wrote the “Wenceslas” lyrics we all know. And, in some cases, do our best to emulate.
It is in Wesleslas’s spirit The Earth and Social Justice Council and I invite you to make an end-of-the-year contribution to East Shore Unitarian Church’s emergency support budget. In recent years, this appeal, plus the Christmas Eve offertory, has raised more than $7,000, which is then administered and distributed through the Minister’s Discretionary account of the Operating Fund. Funds have gone to providing food for the hungry, auto repairs to people living in their cars, medical and dental care, rent, bus tickets, relocation expenses, diapers, clothing, and many other critical needs for people in distress. The generosity of East Shore members has provided a safety net to keep people from falling into homelessness or from becoming terribly crippled by unemployment, illness or hunger.
We are asking for your continued generosity to secure enough funds to maintain this vital ministry alive for the coming year. Your donations go to East Shore’s Operating Fund, which supports the Minister’s Discretionary expenses and other programs. Please make your check out to East Shore Unitarian Church with Holiday Gift on the memo line and either mail or bring it in and drop it in the collection plate on Christmas Eve. You can also contribute online at esuc.org.
Peace on earth. Goodwill to all,
Steve