Today your Christmas Joy Offering bulletin insert talks about family — one family in particular, and a much larger one in general. Granted, the Chavez family may be a little unusual — not all that many families grow up so closely identified with a single institution. Will Chavez has photographs of many members of his family at Menaul School over the last 75 years, including an aunt who played saxophone in the band there in the 1930s. But this isn’t just a case of blind loyalty — the school seems to have changed the lives of a lot of the Chavez family, especially by way of helping its members recognize the importance of treating the larger world as family.

Will’s brother was moved by his time at Menaul to decide he must not respond by perpetuating the cycle of violence that the gangs represented, but must leave it behind. That example taught Will that an entirely different kind of life was possible from that which he and his brother saw all around them. He learned that, like all of us, he had gifts that could open up a new universe for him. He didn’t need to compete for power with those around him in a game where someone was always the loser, but could instead help his community and his nation learn to live in harmony with their surroundings.

Starting from the belief that the whole world is part of our family can change the way we meet one another. Whenever there is a birth within our family, most of us wonder, “What child is this?” — who will this baby become, who will he resemble, what gifts has she inherited?” But if we recognize that all children are members of our family, we extend the same concern to them that we would if they were living under our roof.

That concern is what causes teachers who could earn more money doing something else to remain faithful to their calling and pour their lives into the ministry of accompanying young people in their journey to become who God calls them to be. It’s what has helped Menaul School surround generations of the Chavez family with the values that call them to serve a greater cause than their own immediate well-being. It’s what helps us remember that even after a long life of service to the church, the families of pastors, educators, and mission workers are still children of our family and may need our love and support just as much as the newborn child to whom we respond so reflexively.

This season is a time when Presbyterians traditionally focus on that concern. Hopefully, not because the church guilts us into feeling a duty to help one another. Not only because when we focus on the infant Jesus, it reminds us of the love to which he calls and invites us. But also because this is a season for joyfully sharing with those we love. When you’re family, it’s a joy to help each other live as fully as possible the lives God calls us to. Today, as we give to the Christmas Joy Offering, knowing how our gifts will help students listening for God’s call and church workers who have tried to follow that call faithfully for decades, may giving generously to our larger family bring us as much joy as it will bring them.  

See the bulletin insert