“What does it mean to accompany the vulnerable?” is among the questions raised in New Journey Lutheran Church’s 2022 weekly Advent season studies. The question also served as an umbrella for local, national and global social ministry projects.

Closest to home, members delivered 33 Angel Tree gifts on Dec. 19 filled with new clothing and children’s wish items, along with stocking stuffers and a Christmas tree, for a large family enrolled in Imagine East Mesa School’s “Giving Gang” program.

On Dec. 13, 19 quilts and a robust pick-up load of new and gently used clothing and other household items were contributed to Native American Connections, a Phoenix agency that provides culturally appropriate health, housing and community development support to individuals and families.

On Dec. 2, New Journey’s collection of 184 hand-written cards, including hand-made and Spanish-language cards, joined some 80,000 gathered across the nation by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services to provide Christmas and other holiday messages for refugees confined to U.S. detention centers over the holiday period.

New Journey’s final Advent project for 2022 raised funds for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America “Good Gifts” program, sending over $1000 to support farm animals, tools and environmentally sound agricultural training to sustain families in dire hunger situations across the globe.

“When we ask ourselves where we have encountered God in unexpected places,” Pastor Beth Gallen said. “Some of those are locations of social, material or spiritual vulnerability. They become places where we are able to generously do God’s work with our hands.”

The mid-week Advent series concludes on December 21, with a Blue Christmas worship service at 6 p.m., recognizing and supporting those for whom the winter holidays carry sadness and other challenges.