"Merry Christmas from Genesis Church," said Susan Socia, to the guard manning the front door Dec. 24 at the Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville. Socia came to the jail to deliver a tray of holiday goodies to the guards and others working on Christmas Eve.
The delivery was a part of the annual Shepherds' Run at Genesis, a campus of Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville. Socia and about 10 member volunteers delivered holiday treats to those working the day before Christmas. Each fire station, law enforcement office, ambulance service, detention center, hospital and nursing home in Fayetteville received a tray.
"It's their job, their calling," said the Rev. Jody Farrell, campus minister of Genesis, in a dedication of the gifts at the end of the church's 5:30 p.m. Christmas Eve service. "They're on the front lines to protect us, so we can be with our families. They are trained professionals, and in any event or any crisis, they're ready to care for us. They are waiting to respond to any catastrophe for us."
'LET'S DO IT'
"In 2004, I was sitting at my desk reading the Interpreter, a Methodist magazine we got every month," said Doris McConnell, a member who served the church as administrative assistant for many years. She read an article about a Methodist church in Abilene, Kan., which had run such a Christmas program for four or five years.
"It struck me as something we could do at Wiggins," she said. "I went into the pastor and said, 'We could do this.' He said, 'Let's do it.'"
Genesis church was formerly Wiggins Memorial United Methodist Church, which merged with Central in May 2014. The Shepherds' Run was just one Wiggins ministry program continued by Genesis. The Rev. Steve Cook was the pastor when the Shepherds' Run was started.
The first year, only eight to 10 trays were filled, McConnell said. This year, 25 trays -- donated by Wal-Mart -- were overflowing with goodies. Members trickled into the church's Wesley Center all morning with cookies, cupcakes, fudge, brownies, candy, muffins ... any kind of treat imaginable, coming in all shapes, sizes, colors and tastes -- most of them homemade. Volunteers donned food-service gloves and filled the trays assembly-line style in about an hour.
McConnell recalled members were asked to bring 4 dozen treats. Then, members who hadn't signed up brought their treats in, too -- sometimes leaving Shepherds' Run organizers with too much of a good thing. But this was no problem -- extra trays were taken to the county's juvenile detention center as treats for the inmates. "They did not go to waste," McConnell said. "I bet those boys enjoyed them."
Like Santa, Genesis volunteers drop the trays off Christmas Eve and run to the next place, not staying long enough for a response other than a requisite "thank you." But, McConnell noted, one year, the run was running late, and when members got to one of the fire stations, one of the fire fighters said, "'Oh, good! We thought you'd forgotten us this year,'" McConnell related.
"They were so relieved to see those goodies," she said.
Sherman Terry was greeted warmly with fist bumps and hugs Dec. 24 as he came to join the volunteers filling trays. "I always come when they need volunteers," said Terry, who wants to give back. "I first came here a year ago. I was homeless, and they really helped me out. This is my home."
Elsewhere in the church about more 20 volunteers -- including church members and their extended families in town for the holiday -- stocked the shelves of the Genesis food pantry. And another 20 or so from Farmington United Methodist Church prepared and served the regular Saturday community meal free to about 150 people. Volunteers with the Northwest Arkansas Hope Center gave away bags of toiletry items to those who came for the free lunch.
"[The church is] very focused on helping," Terry said.
CHRISTMAS EVE
"It's just a way to show them we appreciate them," Socia said. "They work Christmas Eve, while others are at home with their families."
"We want to let them know we are thinking about them as they are working to protect, care for and serve others," said Janice Hanna, member and current church administrator.
Reannon Pocius and Rica Russell sat behind the desk at Fayetteville Health on Saturday night, nurses each in the middle of two 16-hour shifts for the weekend -- which they said is the norm. If not at work, they would have been home with their families, children and even grandmothers on Christmas Eve, they said, but their attitudes were upbeat as they prepared to watch over their charges.
"I'll go home in the morning," Pocius said. "I'll do Santa Claus, and then I'll just have time for a nap. I'll be back at 2 (p.m.) tomorrow."
"So we send you out into the world that desperately needs the message of hope shared here today," Farrell said to close the service.
But perhaps, a line from the hymn, "Oh Holy Night," sung during Genesis' Christmas Eve service, summed it up best:
Truly he taught us to love one another
His law is love, and his gospel is peace.
NAN Religion on 12/31/2016