A Moment for Mission
“We’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the Lord and his strength—the wondrous works God has done.” —Psalm 78:4, CEB
The gift of organ and tissue donation allows us to put faith into action through the wondrous works of science and technology.
Delegates to the 2000 United Methodist General Conference approved a churchwide Special Sunday without offering: Organ and Tissue Donor Sunday. The preferred date—the second Sunday in November—is close to Thanksgiving and is viewed as a time to gather around the issues of life and gratitude. The General Board of Church and Society is responsible for supervision and promotion of this Special Sunday.
According to the medical research company, Geisinger[A1] [A2] , “one organ and tissue donor can save and enhance the lives of up to 50 people. An organ donor can give a second chance at life to up to eight people. Through tissue donation, a donor can enhance the lives of countless others through bone donations to repair fractures and prevent amputations, skin donations to heal burn patients and heart valve donations to repair life-threatening defects. Donors can also donate their corneas, which can give the gift of sight to recipients[A3] [A4] .”
Organ and tissue donation is surely a way to praise God and share with the generations to come how the Lord is at work.
Learn more about Organ and Tissue Donor Sunday here: November 8—Organ Tissue and Donor Sunday (no Churchwide Offering) (resourceumc.org)
Children’s Message
Show an image of the organs in a human body and point out some of their functions.
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Sometimes, people get very sick or injured and their organs stop working properly. When this happens, they may need a new organ from someone else to get better. That’s where organ and tissue donation comes in. It offers a precious gift to someone who needs it to keep them alive.
The church has set aside a special day called “United Methodist Organ and Tissue Donation Sunday.” On this day, we come together as a church to learn, pray and think about how we can help others by becoming organ and tissue donors.
Kindness and generosity can change lives. Usually, the difference you make is not as extreme as sharing a body part, but this week, think about ways that your caring heart and helping hands can make a difference to someone else.
Offertory Prayer
Loving God, you are our strength. Thank you for your wondrous works. May our praise to you continue from generation to generation. In your name, we pray. Amen.
Newsletter Nugget
“We’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the Lord and his strength—the wondrous works God has done.” —Psalm 78:4, CEB
The gift of organ and tissue donation allows us to put faith into action through the wondrous works of science and technology.
Jennifer Loud had a double lung transplant in August 2020. “The transplant,” she said, “saved my life. I give God glory and praise for orchestrating my entire transplant journey,” Jennifer said. “I prayed that God would put me in the hands of skilled and experienced surgeons and send me a medical team that understood my complex medical history. I asked God to deliver a double, not a single, lung transplant.”
United Methodists observe Organ and Tissue Donor Sunday on the second Sunday in November. On this Special Sunday, we come together around the issues of life and thanksgiving.
Jennifer says, “My hope is that others will see the second chance that organ donation has given me and will consider being organ donors themselves.”