Shownotes
Partner with work of CareImpact and Journey With Care!
Description
Can an ugly sweater bring a community together? In "Journey with Care's" latest installment of "Six Tales of Christmas," a quirky, mismatched sweater becomes a symbol of unity and generosity this holiday season.
As the Great Knitter weaves a colorful, unconventional masterpiece, this unique sweater warms the hearts and spirits of a divided community, reminding us of the power of compassion and collaboration.
Discover how an awkward piece of attire can inspire transformative change and bring hope to the marginalized, creating a fabric of warmth and wonder.
Get or gift your proverbial Ugly Christmas sweater and make a difference!
htts://careimpactchristmas.com
Other Links
Reach out to us! https://journeywithcare.ca/podcast
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
CareImpact: careimpact.ca
About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
Editing and production by Johan Heinrichs: arkpodcasts.ca
Transcripts
This is Journey with Care, the official podcast of Care
Speaker:Impact. Johan here, and today, I will be your
Speaker:guide. Welcome to the special series of Care Impact
Speaker:Christmas, where we celebrate the joy of the Christmas season.
Speaker:As the snow falls outside and the warmth of the holiday spirit fills
Speaker:our hearts, we invite you to gather your closest loved
Speaker:ones, your kids, grandkids, friends, or family. Get
Speaker:cozy by the fire or snuggle up with a blanket and a cup of hot
Speaker:cocoa and get ready for something truly special.
Speaker:Today, we invite you to journey with us through a series of short stories that
Speaker:capture the essence of Christmas. These tales are filled with
Speaker:warmth, care, and loving generosity.
Speaker:So take a sip of that rich hot cocoa, nestle into your
Speaker:favorite spot and let the glow of the firelight or simply of your
Speaker:Bluetooth speaker bring our stories to life.
Speaker:Welcome back to 6 Tales of Christmas. Today's
Speaker:story is a stitch in time, a yarn you won't
Speaker:soon forget, a tale about an ugly sweater
Speaker:that's as awkward as it is extraordinary. So grab
Speaker:your coziest blanket and just dive into the world of a cool, ugly
Speaker:sweater.
Speaker:Once upon a Christmas season, in a little
Speaker:shop filled with yarn of every possible color, texture, and
Speaker:size, the great designer was hard at work.
Speaker:Spools of mismatched yarn danced between his fingers as he wove
Speaker:together a masterpiece unlike anything ever seen,
Speaker:a sweater. But this wasn't just any
Speaker:ordinary sweater. This was an ugly sweater,
Speaker:bold, bright, and outrageously unique.
Speaker:It had zigzags, sparkly pom poms,
Speaker:soft pastels, neon swirls, and
Speaker:earthy thick wool. The designer held it up to the light
Speaker:smiling at his quirky charm.
Speaker:Oh, This is unlike anything anyone
Speaker:could have imagined, but you are what I had in mind
Speaker:all along.
Speaker:The ugly sweater had a big job ahead. It was gonna clothe the
Speaker:most overlooked, misunderstood, and distraught in the community.
Speaker:Its threads were made from all sorts of yarn, a dazzling
Speaker:variety of threads from the community, delicate pastels from
Speaker:churches, merino wool and silk from businesses,
Speaker:fun pom poms from outreach programs, and predictable
Speaker:gray polyester from social services. Each thread
Speaker:was unique, full of its own stories, struggles,
Speaker:and strengths.
Speaker:Now the ugly sweater found many people in the community who needed its
Speaker:warmth, many in poverty, those who were sick,
Speaker:newcomers, and many marginalized people.
Speaker:But the ugly sweater didn't just stop with them, as if they were
Speaker:Christmas community projects to be fixed. Actually,
Speaker:everyone in the land was living isolated, misunderstood,
Speaker:and disconnected from each other. Hey,
Speaker:one person said, running a hand along a colorful patch.
Speaker:This thread reminds me of me. And
Speaker:look at this one. Another added. It's so different from
Speaker:mine, but they somehow fit together.
Speaker:I simply can't keep up with the fashion these days. Amused another.
Speaker:But I actually think I could pull this one off.
Speaker:The ugly sweater felt its mismatched threads glow with
Speaker:pride. Each strand sparkled a flicker of curiosity,
Speaker:drawing people closer as they wondered how their yarn was part of this
Speaker:wild and wonderful design. Mesmerized by these woven
Speaker:mismatched wonders, young and old, rich and poor,
Speaker:and people of all ethnicities, abilities, political and
Speaker:religious backgrounds would pause, tilt their
Speaker:heads, and lean closer as the ugly sweater warmed
Speaker:those around them. Soon, it wasn't just the youth
Speaker:aging at a care who benefited from its warmth or the mom who was
Speaker:struggling to keep her family together or the gentleman on the street
Speaker:corner begging for food. Before long, the whole
Speaker:community was eagerly awaiting their ugly sweaters
Speaker:too. Pastors felt awkward at first,
Speaker:realizing that they've always worn the same soft pastels.
Speaker:Pastel yarn was what they spun, so pastel yarn was what they
Speaker:knew to wear. Well, what if
Speaker:we don't get along, whispered a pastor, tugging at a stiff
Speaker:collar. Across the denominations, with
Speaker:community leaders who don't believe what I do, what if the
Speaker:community doesn't want us? But as they don their ugly
Speaker:sweaters from the pulpit and in their neighborhoods, the same phenomenon
Speaker:happened. People would pause, tilt their heads,
Speaker:and lean in closer. Now social workers had
Speaker:never worn anything but their predictable gray polyesters
Speaker:and typically wouldn't be caught dead in this ugly sweater fashion,
Speaker:woven by church pastels. Well, it hasn't always
Speaker:gone well in the past. What if churches slammed the door in my face
Speaker:or they have hidden agendas to coerce my vulnerable clients into their church?
Speaker:But as social workers dared to dazzle in new ugly
Speaker:sweaters, people would pause, tilt their heads,
Speaker:and lean in closer. Social workers started to
Speaker:feel supported and warmly cared for. Wow.
Speaker:Said a social worker. Others, do you want to support me? Maybe
Speaker:there is a way to see those on my caseload supported too.
Speaker:At first, business leaders didn't see much point in supporting an
Speaker:ugly sweater. They were used to writing checks, keeping the
Speaker:economy afloat, and leaving the warm fuzzy and gritty work to the
Speaker:helping professionals. But as they started to take their silk
Speaker:ties and luxurious merino wool jackets,
Speaker:these fabrics were masterfully woven into more ugly sweaters.
Speaker:Looking into the mirror at their wild new flamboyant knit
Speaker:fashion, they saw how their skills and savvy strengthened
Speaker:and supported other sectors in meaningful and life giving ways.
Speaker:Jumping onto their Zoom calls and into high stakes negotiations,
Speaker:people would pause, tilt their heads, and lean
Speaker:in closer. No longer feeling like ATM machines
Speaker:or distant philanthropists, these ugly sweater wearing business
Speaker:leaders gush to their clients, colleagues, and government officials
Speaker:about how they cared for their community.
Speaker:Make no mistake, the ugly sweater was awkward and
Speaker:challenging for the great designer to knit together. The sweater could feel
Speaker:the tension in its threads, stretch tight with fear and
Speaker:trepidation. Everyone worried they'd run into their own yarn and
Speaker:get hurt or be mocked or lose their identity. But the
Speaker:great designer masterfully knew how to work with each type of yarn,
Speaker:with their own quirks and insecurities, softening each
Speaker:of them to bring out their unique best.
Speaker:There, there, my beautiful strands. Let your unique
Speaker:beauty, strength, and connection with each other be
Speaker:exactly what the sweater needs. The more
Speaker:communities were brought together in these unprecedented ways, the greater
Speaker:the demand for ugly sweaters across the land. So the
Speaker:great designer called together teams of gritty, quirky, and skilled
Speaker:yarn gatherers who were passionately obsessed about bringing yarn
Speaker:together. These tenacious gatherers loved connecting with
Speaker:churches and social services and cultural groups and
Speaker:businesses and many hurting people to assure them that
Speaker:they were needed and valued, and to invite them to be part of
Speaker:something much bigger together. The great
Speaker:designer gave the yarn gatherers a particular assignment to
Speaker:gather more soft pastel yarn of the church, as this was in high
Speaker:demand to bring warmth and light into each sweater
Speaker:he knit. I want you to remind them of their
Speaker:calling and who they were created to be in community.
Speaker:Some churches were eager and ready, so excited and curious for the
Speaker:adventures they would be zigged and zagged into. They were wanting
Speaker:to collaborate, but needed a way to make meaningful connections.
Speaker:Oh, how they brought such timely joy and warm love into social
Speaker:worker offices, the street corners, and some of the people
Speaker:just hanging on by a thread. These soft
Speaker:pastel church fibers were unstoppable now. The
Speaker:more they gave of themselves into ugly sweaters, the more the
Speaker:pastel yarn seemed to flow. But oddly
Speaker:enough, this wasn't the case for other pretty pastel
Speaker:churches. Tightly wound together in neat
Speaker:calculated balls of yarn, some brushed the yarn gatherers off
Speaker:because they were too busy making their own pastel sweaters.
Speaker:Others stroked their chins judiciously and said they'd pray about
Speaker:it. Still others hardly raised a sleepy glance at the
Speaker:gatherer's invitation, as they were simply too comfortable wrapped
Speaker:up in their cozy fibers. Perhaps they
Speaker:couldn't fathom had the great designer would ever have them venture away from their
Speaker:traditional solid pastel ensemble to be part of such a gaudy,
Speaker:ugly sweater. The yarn gatherers
Speaker:lovingly assured the church their soft pastels would become more
Speaker:beautiful and the fibers of their faith would not only remain
Speaker:steadfast, but actually grow softer and more
Speaker:resilient in the great designer's ugly sweater.
Speaker:No matter how hard it was, the great designer would never stop
Speaker:pursuing all the pastel yarn in the land, inviting them to be
Speaker:woven into a wilder design they were created for.
Speaker:It wasn't just the pastels who had trepidations and fears.
Speaker:Every single type of yarn felt it too, ingrained into the
Speaker:very fibers of their being. But how could they deny
Speaker:the awkward marvel and bizarre beauty of the ugly sweater?
Speaker:How could they dismiss the way these woven wonders were changing the very
Speaker:fabric of their community? There was no way around it.
Speaker:The ugly sweater was warming people up to each other so well, it
Speaker:became the coolest list in the land. So if
Speaker:you see someone sporting an ugly sweater this Christmas,
Speaker:remember the great designer is still at work, making
Speaker:awkward cool again. Pause,
Speaker:tilt your head, and lean in closer.
Speaker:You might be surprised by the beauty found in the ugly
Speaker:sweater.
Speaker:This Christmas, you can help warm up communities with an ugly sweater.
Speaker:Visit care impact christmas.com to gift virtual ugly sweaters
Speaker:for everyone on your list. Care Impact knows that working across
Speaker:sectors isn't easy. Different values and priorities can clash,
Speaker:but real change happens in these awkward spaces, and we're here for
Speaker:it. Care Impact specializes in knitting churches with the
Speaker:most diverse community sectors so that you can build vibrant and
Speaker:trust based collaboration. One virtual ugly sweater of a
Speaker:$100 warms an entire gathering of diverse community
Speaker:stakeholders, ensuring no one is forgotten or left in the cold.
Speaker:Because when diverse people come together, people do pause,
Speaker:tilt their head, and lean in closer. Help us reach
Speaker:80 ugly this Christmas, each a bold step toward
Speaker:healing and collaboration. And here's the best part. Every
Speaker:dollar you give will be matched until December 31st, doubling
Speaker:your impact. Give the wildest and coziest gift of the season
Speaker:at careimpactchristmas
Speaker:dotcom.
