Sharing Calendar Instructions
Investing in Futures
God has blessed us in so many ways. This calendar is designed to help us acknowledge our blessings but to also think about and pray for others. Each day highlights various situations and suggests a donation of coins or bills. Your household can decide what unit works best for you. It is easiest if you select one unit and use it throughout the days on the calendar. The sharing calendar works well with the OGHS coin box. order additional coin boxes, at www.uccresources.com. Your gift
will be an investment into the lives of those who need
Participant Instructions:
Place the Sharing Calendar in a prominent place where each person in the family has access to it. Decide if you will save or put your money in one bank, or order banks for each individual in your household/group.
Use the Sharing Calendar as a daily giving devotion. The calendar not only gives us a chance to gather funds, but it also gives us a focused time of thinking about people and communities in a variety of ways that our gifts will help. This year we will focus on the love of children, neighbor, and creation, and how our donations are an investment into brighter futures.
At a time appropriate for your household, read the theme and scripture for One Great Hour of Sharing. This year our theme is “More than we can imagine” and the Scripture Reference is Ephesians 3:14-21. On the first day of the calendar (possibly March 3) you might express why participating in the offering is important to do as a family/group. Read the day’s entry in the sharing calendar. Discuss the situation described and its relationship to you/your household/your group. Consider your contribution for the day and add it to your offering box. To make this simple, you may decide to name the unit you will use throughout the entire calendar, (i.e. a quarter, a dime, or a dollar).
Pray for the people and situations highlighted in the sharing calendar, and for the people you will meet in the course of your daily activities. Trust that our giving, and sharing, and praying can mean a world of difference for people and communities in the midst of a crisis. God uses us and our gifts in ways beyond our imaginations.
Dear God,
Thank you for your grace and mercy, your compassion and your love. Thank you for the many blessings you have given to us. [Each member of the household names a blessing each day]. We pray that you would show us ways that we might share with others, and allow us to be with them in their times of need. Give us generous hearts that overflow with gratitude and joy.
Today we pray especially for [the day’s highlighted group or situation]. May our One Great Hour of Sharing gifts be a blessing to them, and remind us all of the ways that you are working in our world and in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Remember to take your offering box to church on the One Great Hour of Sharing offering Sunday in your congregation. The suggested offering date in 2020 is March 22.
“Sometimes you and I are the channels of God’s love and grace to the world in need.”
—Mark Pickett, OGHS contributor
2020 Sharing Calendar
Individuals should take their offering to their local church on the day of the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering.
Each church then sends their donation(s) to its UCC Conference Office, clearly marked for One Great Hour of Sharing. The Conference will forward your gift with other gifts from congregations in the conference to our office at The United Church of Christ. Checks should be mailed to Financial Services Offices, 6th Floor, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland Ohio 44115.
For more OGHS material resources, please visit www.ucc.org/oghs_resources or order directly from www.uccresources.com.
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