The annual Community Celebration
of the life and legacy of Dr. King will be on
Sunday, January 15, 2017

The Steering Committee and Subcommittees continue meeting, though, like the rest of us, they have paused for Christmas preparation and celebrations.

Father Dominic Garramone, in his book ’Tis the Season to be Baking, a lesser known devotional book for Advent, suggests that “we can more easily resist the tendency to over-consume if we are more aware of the purpose of our festivities and feasting: to recall and celebrate all that God has done for us, and to prepare to meet God in a new way.”

Celebrating continues in January with the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Celebration (link to promotional flier). An integral part of each year’s celebration is the “More than Just an Essay” contest. The theme for this year’s contest, “The I in We,” is explained as follows:

There is an I in every We. What does it mean to feel included? What can you/we do to help everyone feel included in our school, neighborhood, community and world?

The contest is open students who attend any school within the boundaries of the Webster Groves School District, as well as to young people who are members of Webster Groves area faith communities, who are in Kindergarten through 12th Grade. Essays, poems or other artistic representations of the theme will be judged according to five grade levels, and are due no later than January 6, 2017. Please see details on the Contest promotional flier (link).

As we finish our own preparations for Christmas this week, perhaps we can look to our year of Renewal opportunities as a time that we, individually and collectively, can extend the hopes of the Christmas season and prepare to meet God in a new way.