Thanksgiving: Honoring God and Others

Can you believe that we are already half way through October?  The weather in our area has already started to feel chilly, and we've started to think about our plans for the holidays that are just around the corner.  With that in mind, I wanted to share some ideas for how we can celebrate Thanksgiving in a way that honors God and others.

The following list of ideas comes from the Enough for Everyone program (PCUSA).  You can read more at www.pcusa.org/enough/thanksgiving.

1.  Keep it local: Buy foods from farmer's markets and other local producers.  You can do some research at www.localharvest.org

2.  Buy Organic:  Honor God's creation in the food choices you make.  You can find some recommendations at 100milediet.org/thanksgiving

3.  Buy Fair Trade:  Honor God's people in the food choices you make.  Make sure that your money does not support unjust practices.

• Purchase your decorations and serving items from fair trade retailers
• Purchase fair trade beverages and snacks
• Purchase fair trade cooking and baking ingredients.  Many things like sugar and vanilla are now available this way.

4.  Share the work:  Work together (it is a great time to talk and laugh together) or have everybody bring something, cook from scratch as much as possible.

5.  Play together:  Take time to have fun together (cards or board games, take a walk or hike, plan for another outdoor activity...football anyone?)

6.  Take it slow and savor the meal you've created

7.  Serve someone and share the wealth:  Look for ways to ensure that others are not left out this holiday season either for lack of resources, family, or maybe even a home.  Look for places to help serve meals, donate food, deliver meals to others, or invite someone to share your meal with you.  Think of ways that you can contribute to ending hunger on this day and always.

8.  Stay home:  Don't fall into the temptation to shop on Thanksgiving day or the day after.  Instead use that time to spend with family and friends and set a limit on consumerism.

9.  Pray and Renew:  Think about your family's tradition when it comes to saying a blessing.

10.  Create:  Think about your family's other holiday traditions and how to share them.  You could create a family cookbook with all your favorite holiday recipes or gather natural items to create a centerpiece that reminds you of the beauty of God's creation.

Please comment if you can think of other ways to make this Thanksgiving a way to extend God's love and fellowship.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Everyday Changes

Hey Partners friends and alumni,

I wanted to start a discussion that hopefully will give us all ideas of how we can humbly and creatively live lives that are pleasing to God.  I hope that by sharing the small ways that God is guiding us to live lives full of justice and compassion, we can encourage one another and help each other to think of alternative ways of doing things.

I'm excited to hear about all the ways that you are already challenging the dominant culture and glorifying God in your everyday lives.

I'll get things rolling by sharing a decision that Greg and I recently made.  We've decided after a few months of using disposable diapers to switch back to cloth.  This may not seem huge, but if you saw how many dirty diapers we throw away on a day to day basis, you'd understand.  We hope that our decision will be gentler on the environment and on Gabriel's bottom, and help us to rely less on large corporations that we don't know much about.

Blessings,

Kelly

Bienvenidos!

Welcome to the new Partners in Hope blog!  A place to stay connected to the Partners in Hope community.  Share your seminar experiences, ways to serve, ideas for how to live lives full of justice and compassion.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Kelly Murphy

US Coordinator

Partners in Hope