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Kids Free Christmas Shopping helps youngsters buy Christmas gifts for their families, and the price is right: free. ARK United Methodist Church in South Dakota and Velva United Methodist Church in North Dakota work together on the project each year. “It is such a joy to see the faces of the children … and the delight in the volunteers that are helping.”
Increasingly over the past four decades, United Methodist congregations with choirs have included a service of Lessons and Carols among their Advent or Christmas musical celebrations. While the music may be what draws people to the services, what actually drives the vigil form of worship historically is an extended period of listening to the Scriptures.
Two chance encounters led Bishop David Alan Bard to reflect on the need for kindness during the Christmas season. “ ... might our Advent be a journey into kinder hearts and a recommitment to living with greater kindness, gentleness, tenderness and love?” Bard writes.
