New Year's Resolutions, or How to Save Lives in 2014

Happy New Year! Are you making any resolutions for 2014? The first day of the year always seems like a good opportunity to declare your intentions to be more healthy in mind, body, spirit, relationships, finances, and other important areas of life.

If you're looking for ideas on how to help proclaim God's love in the coming year, or want to share with family and friends what it means to be a United Methodist committed to putting faith into action, here are 10 ways to support Imagine No Malaria in 2014 - let me know in the comments if you take on one or more of these, or if you have other suggestions!

How to Save Lives in 2014

1. Schedule a monthly donation to Imagine No Malaria (make sure to check the box to indicate what church you're affiliated with). Remember:

• $10 Buys a life-saving insecticide-treated bed net
• $20 Pays for the cost of food and treatment of anemia in a pregnant woman with malaria
• $50 Provides malaria medication to treat ten adults
• $100 Covers the cost of an anti-malaria campaign in a local school
• $200 Trains Traditional Birth Attendants in malaria prevention and treatment
• $500 Provides all the resources for a one-day community leader training for 35-40 people on malaria prevention
• $28/month over three years adds up to a pledge of $1,000 that will save 100 lives - that's a whole community!

2. Send an email to your friends and family, telling them about the threat of malaria in Africa, what Imagine No Malaria is doing about it, and why you are supporting this cause. Invite them to join you in saving lives.

3. Like Imagine No Malaria - Rocky Mountain Conference on Facebook and follow @RMCbuzz on Twitter. Share or retweet a post at least once a month.

4. Host a screening of A Killer in the Dark, the documentary about the United Methodist Church's work to fight malaria in Africa. Invite friends, neighbors, coworkers, or church members to watch with you and discuss afterwards.

5. Talk to your pastor, Sunday school teacher, small group leader, or other church members to find out what your congregation is doing to support INM, and offer to help.

6. Make pipe cleaner mosquitoes with your own children or the church youth group. Sell them for donations (suggested: $5 each or 3 for $10) at church during coffee hour/fellowship time or as part of a bake sale or other event.

7. Contact your Senators and Representative in Congress to let them know that you support continued federal funding for global health work, including the President's Malaria Initiative. Tell the staff person you speak with that you are United Methodist and you are doing your part through Imagine No Malaria, and you hope the US government will continue to do its part to end this unnecessary source of suffering in our world.

8. Talk to leaders in your school, civic groups, local government, hospitals/clinics, or other congregations in your community to find out if they would like to partner with your church in saving children's lives in Africa.

9. Help your church leaders plan and put on an event that invites the whole community to come together in support of Imagine No Malaria. Possibilities include a basketball tournament, benefit concert, fundraising dinner, silent auction, knit-a-thon, variety show, or any creative option that will give people a chance to have fun while learning about malaria and giving generously.

10. Pray each week for those who suffer from malaria, for those who have lost loved ones, for the doctors, nurses, and community health workers who bring healing and hope, for those who are working in communication and advocacy, for improvements to infrastructure and social systems that will make health care more accessible for more people, and that Imagine No Malaria can be a powerful witness to God's desire for abundant life for all people as we help end deaths from malaria in Africa in our lifetime.

Thank you for whatever step you can take to help make abundant life more possible for our sisters and brothers in Africa. Together, we are bringing hope and healing to millions of people: a great testimony to the Good News of God's love made known in Jesus Christ!

A Prayer for Christmastide

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Yes, the one big day of gifts and feasting is over for most of us, but in the Christian calendar, Christmas lasts for 12 days, until we celebrate the arrival of the wise ones with Epiphany on January 6.

If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to check out this great brief video created by Imagine No Malaria staff in Iowa, Missouri, and Holston Conferences - consider showing it in worship this Sunday or next! As we keep our hearts and minds focused on the gifts of Christmas in the coming days, I offer this Prayer for Christmastide:   

God of blazing galaxies and blades of grass,
     Creator of worlds and healer of wounds,
we give you thanks once more for the gifts of Christmas:
     For Jesus, the baby who grew up to proclaim your blessing on the poor
          and your boundary-breaking plan to redeem all people by love;
     for Mary and Joseph, who risked security and social standing
          to say yes to your invitation to parent that Holy Child;
     for the shepherds, and all who work and watch by night,
          who were awake to hear the angels’ chorus
          and were willing to go and see what they had been told;
     for the Magi, who were wise in the ways of heaven and earth,
          paying attention, bearing gifts and returning home by another way.
Open our ears to hear your voice
     proclaiming wonders and new worlds being birthed;
open our eyes to see your signs
     blazing brightly overhead or quietly resting in mother’s arms;
open our hearts to new ways of loving, new ways of living
     that continue the gift of the Incarnation
     by letting your Word of Love become flesh in us once more;
open our hands to reach out in generosity and care,
     to work for justice and to touch with compassion,
that the world may know you are still Emmanuel,
     God-with-us,
     living within and among us
     in this time and place.
In the name of the babe in the manger,
     our Friend and Teacher,
     Healer and Savior,
     Jesus the Christ,
     we pray.
Amen.

Rev. Kerry Greenhill ©2013

May Christ be born anew in your life this year!

Advent & Holiday Giving Review

If you've been following the blog regularly, you already know about most of our Advent resources for worship and study, as well as Giving Tuesday. But in the interest of putting it all in one place (with a little less theological reflection to distract you from it than usual), I thought I'd run a quick review:

If you're making Imagine No Malaria a mission focus for Advent and Christmas:

• Check out these Advent Worship & Study Resources: includes Advent candle liturgy, prayers, sermon starters, and more
• Find weekly images, videos, crafts, and other files in this folder
• Use this bulletin insert for Christmas Eve (contact me if you want to edit the wording).

Best option for giving online to Imagine No Malaria next week:

• Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2013, when all gifts made at this page will be doubled by matching funds from the Advance, up to $10,000 per donor and a maximum of $50,000 per project. (Please note that where affiliation is indicated, your gifts will count toward church and conference goals, but the matching funds will count only toward the overall campaign goal of $75 million, not individual conferences or churches.)

Christmas gift options:

• Order a teddy bear, pajama pants, or bead bracelets made by artisans in Africa, and help support Imagine No Malaria as well as other health and economic development organizations with these fun and vibrant gifts.
• Host an Alternative Gifts Fair at your church to encourage giving that honors the child whose birth changed our world by helping to save and transform children's lives in Africa. Download the inserts that describe gifts at various levels from this folder.
• Make a gift in honor of family and friends at http://imaginenomalaria.org/donate - make sure to check the box to indicate your church or conference membership. When you give through this site, you can have your honoree notified by email or regular mail of your donation, in addition to these honor cards that you can download, print, and give to family and friends.

At Christmas, we honor the coming of the Christ child who transformed our world. Will you help save and transform the lives of children in Africa by making a gift to Imagine No Malaria this holiday season?

As always, please contact me, kerry [at] rmcumc.com, with any questions or if you need help getting other resources. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a blessed entrance to the Advent season!

Giving Thanks, Giving Back

Next week is Thanksgiving, a time for celebrating the abundance of God's good gifts, especially time with family or friends, and often a table laden with rich foods. It is also a time when many people recognize how blessed they are and are moved to bless others through acts of generosity and kindness.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to be generous with the gifts and resources entrusted to us, sharing with those who have less so that all might have enough.

I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.

2 Corinthians 8:13 -14

The reports coming in from churches across the Rocky Mountain Conference demonstrate that we United Methodists take seriously this call to generosity, both out of a sense of gratitude and often from a sense of God's desire for economic justice as well. Thanks to your work so far, we have already received gifts and pledges totaling $700,000 - that's 58% of our goal!

In contrast, we are barraged by messages in the media that emphasize buying and spending more than ever at this time of year, with an increasing number of stores starting their "Black Friday" sales on Thanksgiving day, or even earlier online. In recent years, "Small Business Saturday" has joined "Cyber Monday"as a significant way to kick off the holiday shopping season. Of course, gift giving can be a fun and meaningful experience; we can participate in the marketplace and still be faithful Christians. But the more we tune in to commercialism, the more difficult it can become to stay grounded in our Source and Center and to keep our focus on the deeper meanings behind the season.

However, even in the midst of this frenzy of "more, bigger, newer, better," there are ways to live out the values of God's kin'dom. Consider including Imagine No Malaria in your charitable giving this holiday season, and give a gift that will transform lives. All of the usual giving channels are appropriate (the Donate link above, which takes you to the RMCUMC giving website; www.imaginenomalaria.org; or through your local church), but we have a special opportunity to make your gift go further on "Giving Tuesday," in two weeks.

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving has become one of the largest donation days of the year. Any gifts given online on Tuesday, December 3, will be DOUBLED through The Advance.

Local churches can be credited, and gifts can be made in honor or in memory of someone you love. To make your gift count double, make sure to give at this page on that day. (You can also click on the "Giving Tuesday" tab on this site, above and to the right, which will take you directly to the page.)

Learn more about The Advance at http://www.umcmission.org/Give-to-Mission/The-Advance.

Advent is coming!

Advent is coming! Yes, it's just October, but we know many pastors and congregations like to plan ahead.

Advent worship resources (prayers, wreath liturgy, Bible study, and sermon starters) are now available! Download the file here.

And in a couple weeks, we'll have information about some adorable teddy bears and pajamas you can order as Christmas gifts that also benefit Imagine No Malaria.

Meanwhile, start letting friends and family know that if they want to make a one-time gift to Imagine No Malaria, consider doing so on Giving Tuesday, December 3. We recently learned that The Advance will MATCH EVERY GIFT made through their website on that day! Local churches can be credited, and gifts can be made in honor or in memory of someone. To make your gift count double, make sure to give at this page on that day. (You can also click on the "Giving Tuesday" tab on this site, above and to the right, which will take you directly to the page.)

If you haven't heard much about The Advance before, it's just one of the channels for giving to important United Methodist projects around the world like Imagine No Malaria:

The Advance is an official program of The United Methodist Church for voluntary, designated, second-mile giving. Through The Advance, United Methodist annual conferences, districts, local churches, and organizations, as well as individuals and families, may choose to support mission programs or mission personnel with their financial gifts. Each Advance project has been vetted and approved by Global Ministries and Advance staff.

The Advance is an official program of The United Methodist Church for voluntary, designated, second-mile giving. Through The Advance, United Methodist annual conferences, districts, local churches, and organizations, as well as individuals and families, may choose to support mission programs or mission personnel with their financial gifts. Each Advance project has been vetted and approved by Global Ministries and Advance staff. - See more at: http://www.umcmission.org/Give-to-Mission/The-Advance#sthash.G2gKyixd.dpuf

Learn more at http://www.umcmission.org/Give-to-Mission/The-Advance.

Stay tuned for updates on these great Advent and Christmas resources!