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November 27, 1998

Edition

IN RETROSPECT

An Offer We Can’t Refuse

By James F. Jennings
Conference Council on Ministries Director

James Jennings, CCOM Director Throughout Central America and around the entire world our brothers and sisters need help! For millions of children there won’t be any Thanksgiving turkey during this or any other holiday season; no toys under the Christmas tree; no festive dinner around the table.

As never before, our brothers and sisters need our assistance. Many lives and destinies hinge on what we do today. Let us join with God in opening our arms wide to Central America. Let us respond with the urgency of the people called by Christ’s name! In the words of Gabriela Mistral, Nobel prizewinning poet from Chili, “To this child we cannot answer, ‘Tomorrow.’ This child’s name is ‘Today.’ ”

We are not called to do everything to heal the world, to change the world, but only to do something! What can we do?

Give your financial gifts to your local United Methodist Church in care of UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) Advance #982515-0 or send your contributions directly to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115.
Encourage your local church to take a special offering for the church-wide appeal for Hurricanes ’98, Advance #982515-0.
Donate bulk food items. To do so call Rose Rogers at UMCOR’s office of Emergency Response (703) 284-3601.
Donate food, health kits, school kits, blankets, etc. They may be sent to the UMCOR Depot in Baldwin, Louisiana, at 131 Sager-Brown Road, Baldwin, LA 70514.

For additional information, call Dr. Larry Rankin in the Conference Council on Ministries’ Missions Ministry office at 1-800-282-8011 or 941-688-5563, extension 131; or e-mail: lrankin@flumc.org.

We urge all persons of faith and concern across our conference to join us in reaching out to our brothers and sisters during this holiday season and in the days to come. To ignore those in such dire need is a non-permissible luxury we cannot afford. We can do more than sympathize; we can give. We can do more than wish; we can participate. We can do more than promise; we can commit. We can do more than despair; we can reach out!