Today our church was assigned its day to raise volunteers and the forms to sign them up for the annual Salvation Army Kettle campaign. In a couple of week's time our congregation will have 9 hours to fill in one hour time slots starting at noon. We will hie ourselves away to the local WallyWorld and shake a leather strap of jingle bells to draw the attention of all the shoppers to the tripod and kettle set up beside us by the entrance and exit doors.
Some people will open their wallets and deposit generous amounts of cash into the kettles, thrilled to be able once again to support a charity whose work they genuinely believe in.
Some people will snarl and tell us their opinion of charities in general in the nastiest tone of voice they can muster.
Some people will stand about and visit with us, excited to have new ears available to listen to their stories.
Some people will make a point of looking in the other direction and taking the widest path possible around us to avoid any contact with us whatsoever, either because they do not want to give and also don't want to feel associated guilt for their decision, OR they don't want to be seen near us because being seen near a bunch of middle aged folk standing in a popular store ringing straps of leather jingle bells and asking for money simply isn't cool.
What I most enjoy is the excitement of some of our congregants as they sign up to volunteer their time. They love collecting money that they know is being wisely used to help others, they love visiting with their many friends as they stand around in WallyWorld, they love having something different to do in the course of their week's activities. Some of them sign up for 2 and 3 hours at a time. One of our parishioners who is presently several thousand miles away from here emailed to say he would be back in time to volunteer and would we please make sure to sign him up for a few hours.
I can't wait to go and take my turn with my husband. He wears his clerical collar and as a result we get to meet many people we have never met before. Obviously he is a clergyman but they don't necessarily know what church he is with. They are curious. In a town this small it is perfectly fine to come right up and ask him where he ministers and strike up a conversation about their opinions, good and not so good, of churches and God and life in general. He loves fielding their comments. I love learning about the people of our town.
Soon I will be standing around in this very popular local venue, jingle bells in hand, collecting money for one of my favourite charities. In any other circumstance I would not be caught dead ringing jingle bells in public and asking for money, but for the Salvation Army it is a privilege.
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