Dear Friends,

During the Christmas season we are often reminded that because God loved the world so much, he gave his only son. 
 
This Sunday, December 8, we all have an opportunity to give gifts through our mission partner­, Harbor House. Our gifts help stock the Harbor House Christmas Shop.
 
Families visit this shop and purchase gifts at a significantly reduced price, allowing them to choose gifts for their loved ones. Join us in this effort by bringing toys and “wish list” items and place them in the marked containers around the church campus. 
 
Thank you for sharing the gift of Christmas as we remember the gift of the Christ child.

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Blessings to you this season,

Tom Elson
Mission Pastor, Temporary Supply

Harbor House is a Gift to Me
By Leslie Badoian

This year, our Advent calendar resides beneath our quilt made at Harbor House, a community development ministry in Oakland. I bought the quilt at a silent auction like anyone might, but the reason I was there was my job at Harbor House. I bought it because I fell in love with it at first sight—a bit like I fell in love with Harbor House.

The quilt was made at Harbor House by a Mien woman who was injured while escaping from Laos in the aftermath of the Vietnam war. She learned quilting as she learned English. It has African folk art themes and one house is made out of fabric featuring sushi. The colors vibrate.

My first time walking up the front steps of Harbor House, I recall the distinct impression of feeling deeply welcomed. As the door opener had been basically polite with curmudgeonly overtones and I was standing alone, waiting in a dim entryway, I couldn’t really discern why. But I came to understand that something had sunk into the very frame of the large house perched at the top of a hill. Harbor House lived up to its name. People were welcome. The multilingual, multiethnic community of fifty or so distinct people groups was welcome. And so was I.

I saw my eventual role in communications and some fundraising as not only soliciting gifts to support the work of Harbor House, but also to communicate the gift that Harbor House is. There is something about being in a place that has a deep commitment to the dignity and unique delight to God that each person is. The vision was that we could all become the people God means for us to be—together. While offering needed resources, Harbor House also chooses to offer dignity and community.

This year we are invited to donate gifts to the Harbor House Christmas store. Youth interns from the neighborhood work at the store, and parents in the community have the opportunity to pick out gifts for their children and pay for them at very affordable prices. The proceeds pay the youth interns. And we get to know that our donation created opportunity for youth employment, community gathering, dignity, and a gift of a parent to their child.