These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.
- Esther 9:28

The festival of Purim has been faithfully celebrated by Jews around the world for almost 2500 years. Even Jews who are not very observant still celebrate Purim. It is an important holiday for the Jewish community.

Here at Chatham Community Church, twice each year, we do our own celebration of sorts. We stop what we normally do and move out together into the community in order to serve.

Over the course of the next few days, we’re going to invite you to enter into the Chatham Serves celebration with us.

We realize that a day of community service makes for a strange holiday. Some of us will get sweaty and dirty and tired serving our neighbors. Others of us will step into unfamiliar homes and social situations as we visit the elderly in our community. As one of our friends puts it: “This ain’t a day at the lake.”

But – as we’ll see through this week’s Connect Devotionals – there’s something special about setting time aside to celebrate God’s generosity to us. And that celebration will always spill over, rumbling downstream to bless our neighbors, our friends and our county.

If you haven’t yet, please take a minute to sign up for a project for this Sunday’s Chatham Serves: www.chathamserves.org. Don’t miss it!