One Great Hour of Sharing—A Response to God’s Love

NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 20, 2007—Goharik Gevorgyan lives in rural Yerevan, a marze or province of Armenia. Interlacing mountain ranges surround her home. Through haze she can see distant, snow-covered Mt. Ararat.

Goharik attends school regularly now, because her mother can afford her school fees, once a constant worry. But today, thanks to a small-business loan from aregak, Mrs. Gevorgyan operates a fish-smoking business that provides a decent living for her family.

Transforming Hopelessness to Hope
The word aregak means sunshine in Armenian. And it is also an acronym for an UMCOR micro-credit program for women. Established in 1997, aregak aims to raise the living standards of poor women throughout Armenia.

Aregak provides small loans that are backed by groups of guarantors selected by the applicants themselves. Before a loan is granted, the applicant and her financial support group attend training sessions to ensure success.

More than 15,000 clients have built home businesses, expanded existing enterprises, and most importantly transformed hopelessness to hope.

UMCOR has worked in Armenia since 1994 in response to chronic war, extreme poverty and devastating natural disasters. Through UMCOR’s programs Goharik and children like her now live with hope.

Uniting in Special Lenten Offering
Once a year, during One Great Hour of Sharing, you and your congregation can join other United Methodists worldwide by making a special offering to support humanitarian aid from UMCOR. You can assure that when catastrophes cause suffering, your church, impelled by Jesus’ love and compassion, will be in the lead to ease the pain.

The 2007 Offering Essential to UMCOR
Gifts to this offering underwrite UMCOR’s “costs of doing business.” That helps us keep our promise that 100 percent of designated donations go entirely to specific projects, said the Rev. R. Randy Day, General Secretary, UMCOR. “The One Great Hour of Sharing offering on March 18, 2007, is a gift of stability to UMCOR,” said Rev. Day. “Our ability to respond and remain until the job is done is in direct proportion to the generosity of United Methodists at this time of offering.”

UMCOR is a good steward of God’s gifts, he said. Offering gifts over and above those used to cover administrative costs are channeled where they’re most needed. UMCOR’s specialized ministries—responding in disaster, fighting hunger, alleviating poverty, providing relief supplies around the world, and offering hospitality to immigrants and refugees—all assist the most vulnerable people whose need is greatest.

No World Service Funds to UMCOR
UMCOR receives no World Service funds or any other apportionments. Offering gifts mean United Methodists are right there with hardworking families, people who are affected by storms or war, disaster or disease.

Worship Resources

See, everything has become new!—2 Corinthians 5:17b

CALL TO AWARENESS

Leader
Why are we here?
People
We gather to bear witness to the love and mercy of God.
Leader
Why are we here?
People
We gather to celebrate the healing power of God, to worship the God who makes all things new.
Leader
How do we worship?
People
We thank God for promises of hope. And as we have been loved, we act to serve others in love.
Leader
How do we serve?
People
With God’s help we are there for others, not only in this special hour but in all our hours.
Leader
With God’s help we can respond, especially to the most vulnerable.
All
We show our love for God in our responses to all who are hurting. Let us now praise the God of love, mercy, healing, and hope.

LITANY OF NEW LIFE
(Suggested use: Dedication for the gifts received in the One Great Hour of Sharing special offering)

Leader
Gracious God, you created us to love one another as we love you. We offer these gifts of money in this One Great Hour of Sharing not only as symbols of our love for others but also as concrete expressions of the humanitarian work they support. You have promised to make all things new. We thank you for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, whose workers use these gifts to be there for us and to bring hope.
People
We hear God’s call as our own: to be there with UMCOR, to take the hearts and the hands of the church wherever people are suffering.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR in silent disasters—like cholera in Cameroon, where our gifts teach communities to avert cholera breakouts.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR in Sudan, where shelter and seeds, fresh water and schools, are signs of new beginnings in South Darfur.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, where families who suffered heavy losses of life and livelihood in the tsunami are able to move into their rebuilt homes and return to their farming and fishing.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR with small farmers in Mexico who can earn a fair price for their coffee beans and provide for their families.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR with United Methodist congregations that resettle refugees like Harrison and Onita, who celebrate the grace of God in their new home in the United States.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR when workers and volunteers distribute emergency supplies to locations in the United States and around the globe—and supply hope to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR with its partners the United Methodist annual conferences so that when the worst hurricanes ever devastated the Gulf Coast, trained workers could mobilize to respond.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
To all these works, gracious and loving God, we dedicate our One Great Hour of Sharing offering. Thank you for your compassion that impels us to say Yes when you call us to be there with all who need our humanitarian ministry.
All
Thanks be to God! Amen!

PRAYER
Gracious and loving God, thank you for the blessings of your eternal presence. Remind us to pray through our actions toward others: to offer the cup of kindness, the responding hand when a community is overwhelmed by disaster or war, the spirit of justice and peace, and the open heart to all who are hurting. We know that in these ways we extend your love to the world. Amen.

SUGGESTED HYMNS
The One Great Hour of Sharing offering supports works of justice and peace, restoration of self-sufficiency, and alleviation of hunger and disease. These hymns remind us how our calling as Christian disciples engages us with a hurting world. Selections are from The Faith We Sing (FWS) and The United Methodist Hymnal (UMH).

· As a Fire Is Meant for Burning, 2237 FWH
· Canto de Esperanza (Song of Hope), 2186 FWH
· Enviado Soy de Dios (Sent Out in Jesus’ Name), 2184 FWH
· For the Healing of the Nations, 428 UMH
· Ubi Caritas (Live in Charity), 2179 FWH
· Sois la Semilla (You Are the Seed), 583 UMH

LECTIONARY READINGS
· 2007 Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
· 2008 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41



BENEDICTION
Now to the God who created us to build bridges of care, we offer all these prayers and praise. Go out and act, in the spirit of a burning fire, giving glory to God’s name, to find and to be there with neighbors everywhere.



The writer of these resources, Linda Beher, serves on the staff of UMCOR.


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