Greetings
| I love Christmas cards. Photos of new babies, pets, and growing kids. Updates and reflections on the past year. Reminders of friends and family spread around the world. We need each other. 2020 has sharpened our awareness of social hunger. For love, laughter, and support. Small gestures of care convey great meaning, and we delight in creative connections. Though we long to see each other in person, our gatherings are more limited than ever. So as we anticipate Christmas Eve apart, we invite you to contribute to an NCF Christmas Video Greeting Card. Barbara Linder explains: It’s easy! Just take a super short video of yourself alone or with family. Using the video camera on your smartphone, stand or sit before the camera and say: Merry Christmas from (your name) in (your location–ie Urbana, Spain, west Champaign, etc). Stop video. That’s it! 5-10 seconds max. Forward the video to barblinder@gmail.com by Monday, Dec. 21 to be included in our Christmas Video Greeting Card, which will close our Christmas Eve Service on Thursday, Dec. 24. I am so looking forward to seeing the faces and hearing the voices of our NCF family on Christmas Eve–giving the gift of presence to one another as we celebrate Emmanuel, God-with-us. (Feel free to wear your Santa hat or your pj’s, but no masks!) And for those of you who identify as part of other communities of faith, family, and neighborhood- I encourage you to send your greetings to those far and near. Your face, your voice, your words, your smile. Share your light to brighten others’ night. May the peace and joy of our hope strengthen our connection. -Renée |