Dear neighbor,

The Christmas basket you’re getting today comes to you from God. Even though he has used us to bring it to you—it really comes from him. He knows your every need, and He laid it on the hearts of members and friends in our church to remember you, to reach out to our neighbors, and to respond to an invitation to provide and repackage these items for you today. But food and physical things are not all God cares about in your life. He cares about your inner spirit, your eternal destiny, and about your relationship with him.

Probably you’ve already come to realize that none of us are very good people: definitely we are not good enough to live up to the standards of a perfect, pure, and holy God! But hopefully you’ve also heard the GOOD NEWS about how God sent his only Son to be our substitute, to bear the punishment for all of the bad things we’ve ever done, and all of the good things we’ve failed to do for others (if you haven’t heard this message, we hope you will—feel free to call our Minister of Outreach, Rev. Naji Umran, 956-7611×25).

But that step of hearing the good news and believing it is only the beginning. Our hope is that even nowadays you’re continuing to grow in your relationship with God—by reading the Bible, by meeting often with others who support and encourage you, and by praying and listening to God’s still small voice.

We believe that to be growing in our relationship with God is a bit like learning to relate to others—you need to learn how to say important things, like: “I’m sorry.” “Thank you.” “I love you.” “Please help me.” and, “Why did you do that to me?” We learn to relate to God and know him in a church family. God will meet us where we’re at, but for many of us, it’s hard to learn to see him as a good Heavenly Father—because of all the difficulties we’ve experienced in our lives. So it helps to learn to do it with others, and to learn from them. All this to say that we really do hope that you belong to a church—and although it certainly doesn’t need to be our church, you’d be welcome to join us anytime!

May God bless you and your family this Christmas Season, and all through 2009!
Yours in Christ,

Church of the Servant