Happy, excited mood in St. John's Church in Trimbach. It is the first Advent, and many things are different today than on other Sundays. A new pastor, Andreas Haag, is preaching to the congregation for the first time. And for the first time, during the service, the thanksgiving boxes are emptied, with which the people of Trimbach support the project work of Mission 21 in Tanzania. The principle of the thank-you boxes is simple: whenever someone feels grateful for something, he or she throws money into the box - the little boxes can be placed at home. The money goes to people in need. Members of the parish have been cultivating the thank-you box tradition for decades, but the fact that it is becoming part of the Advent service is new.
The donation helps - today and tomorrow
Before the service, Lisbeth Öhlrichs, the person in charge of Trimbach, and Pia Müller from Mission 21 prepare a large pot. Everyone in the congregation knows this pot; they ladle soup from it on soup days. Today, it serves as a collection container for the money from the Trimbach people's thank-you boxes.
They will find out where their money is going during the service, which Pastor Andreas Haag is putting under the motto "Turning happiness into thanks. A short film introduces Bahati Mshani, a Tanzanian who herself grew up as an orphan, studied theology thanks to Mission 21 and now heads the orphan children's ministry in her region. Bahati Mshani's voice rang through the church as she said, "This work is important not only for the orphans, but for the population as a whole. Because in a few years, these children will be adults. If we support them today, we will have a good society tomorrow."
Trimbach - together with many other parishes and donors - contributes to this success. Many thanks!
