Mother Teresa of Kolkata is quoted as saying: “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can something wonderful.”
Although we often think it’s the bigger stuff that makes the real difference, the evidence indicates it’s the small things that together make up the substance of all we hope for. With this in mind ‘A light on every street’ has been developed to enable us to step out in a small but significant way to share something of the Good News of the hope our faith has to offer.
The aim of ‘A light on every street’ is to offer a LED tea light and an explanatory postcard to very child in WA so they can make new Christmas traditions and memories, and that by 2020 there will be at least one light in every street in WA.
Christmas traditions tell children a story about who they are and what is important, and create a connection that helps them feel like they are a part of something unique and extraordinary. Intentionally maintaining and creating traditions help bring meaning to our celebrations and bond us to those we love. Traditions of all types, like birthdays, offer a certain spirit that nurtures healthy connections, giving us a sense of belonging and as well as celebrating generations of family.
So the next step is to pray, think and plan how you and/or your church/school/organisation might make this gift to those you know.
One church has already suggested they will access and offer some to their local coffee shop, to give away in the week before Christmas. Another has suggested they add the details to the banner they are having prepared to put outside church in the run up to their Christmas event.
Suggestions to consider include:
- making contact with all the kindy providers in the area, offering them some to give the children and make a date to visit after the holidays to ask the children how they enjoyed the experience. This might also be possible with children’s groups, junior sports clubs, etc
- Uniting Church schools could access and offer to pupils
- perhaps contact could be made with other local schools and offer them the resource
- individuals could offer them to family members (grandparents spring to mind immediately), to friends or neighbours
- they could be given out at Carol services and other Christmas events.
Really, the options are endless.
LED candles and cards can be accessed from Rev Alison Gilchrist, Presbytery Mission Minster, at the Uniting Church WA. Call (08) 9260 9800 or email alison.gilchrist@wa.uca.org.au.
Alison Gilchrist