Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Strangers. Our world is full of them. And the world of technology is creating more of them every day. We buy gasoline or make an ATM withdrawal from our bank and never learn the name of the cashier behind the counter. We browse “reality TV,” where intimate details of the real lives of our fellow citizens become entertainment before our voyeuristic gaze — and we become strangers ourselves, the anonymous audience.

We live in a world full of strangers, who have needs and loves and desires. We see them every day — and yet technology makes it easy to escape the inconvenience of their humanity.

Jesus has plenty to say about strangers and our responsibility to “welcome” them; to show them hospitality, care, concern, assistance; and to greet them as if they were as beloved to us as our Redeemer.

Matthew 25:38 asks, “When was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you?”

Whether we realize it or not, our gifts to Week of Compassion have helped provide emergency shelter, food and medicine for refugees fleeing violence in Darfur, Sudan — and have provided immediate temporary shelter and food for the survivors of hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and others — as well as survivors of innumerable natural disasters both here and abroad.

Whether we realize it or not, our gifts to Week of Compassion give us a way to respond to the needs of strangers. And what’s more, our gifts often inspire more giving. When Week of Compassion provided seed potatoes for Bosnian farmers returning to land and homes devastated by years of war, the farmers shared their harvest with strangers and sojourners in their own land!

“Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me,” Jesus says.

Please give generously toward our congregation’s goal of ($_______). Our world is full of the strangers that Jesus calls on us to welcome.

In Christian love and service,


NAME, TITLE

P.S.: Please use the enclosed envelope for your gift to this compassionate offering and bring it to church when we dedicate the Week of Compassion offering on (date).