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Yesterday, 1,000 Triad youngsters tore through wrapped packages and hopped on bicycles too big for boxes.

The toys, along with warm clothing, came from the Christmas Store at West Market Street United Methodist Church, where their parents and guardians earlier paid $1 to shop through a bounty of items donated by 26 congregations.

The shopping spree was done in a way, organizers say, that empowered the parents to provide for their families with dignity and allowed churches to share the love of Christ directly with those they served.

Centenary United Methodist Church’s young group, for example, made pancakes for the children as the adults shopped. The gifts were wrapped while the adults waited with cups of hot apple cider.

“It was amazing to see how well the more than 500 volunteers from 25 churches worked together, and so many of the 350 families we served were overwhelmed with joy and gratitude as they selected gifts for their children, had their family portraits made, or had time for prayer with a member of our prayer team,” said Elizabeth Montgomery, West Market’s director of outreach. To get involved in 2010, e-mail her at emontgomery@wmsumc.org.

“As I gazed out over the store floor, I saw a mosaic of the very tapestry that is Greensboro — all races, ethnicities, and ages coming together to serve and to be served with Christ at the center of it all,” Montgomery said.

It was just one example of public service this year by houses of worship. Actually, this was a year of faith in action for a number of religious communities:

• The volunteer-run Al-Aqsa health clinic sees patients on two Saturdays a month and has no income requirements. That’s a relief, especially for the middle class, many of whom show up as they also struggle through the worst economy since The Great Depression.

Founded by volunteers from the area’s Islamic community, the clinic has attracted non-Muslim volunteers and recently joined the Guilford Community Care Network, which offers additional health-care options for patients, such as the ability to see a specialist.

To make donations or to learn more about the clinic, call 350-1642.

• Through their spiritual texts, Jews believe they have to go out and do what they can to, in Hebrew, “Tikkun Olam,” or repair the world. During this year’s Mitzvah Day of Jewish service, which drew nearly 1,000 volunteers, one group prepared casseroles that were frozen and later delivered to Hospice and Palliative Care for Greensboro patients in need. Other groups took on repair jobs and office work at other area nonprofits.
• But one of the best lessons of being a good neighbor this season, was quietly undertaken recently by the students of the American Hebrew Academy, who presented the FaithAction International House with 1,000 Christmas gifts to be distributed to immigrant children living in distressed households. Because of the generosity of students at the Jewish boarding school, dozens of immigrant children who otherwise would have had to go without had gifts to open on Christmas Day.

May this spirit of kindness, tinged by faith, infect us all in 2010.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com