Rt Rev Dr Noble McNeely, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

I OFTEN open my mail with a bone-handled cheese knife that has sat on my desk for more than 30 years. I received it as a Christmas gift from a young boy I taught in Bible class. I thought it was a very unusual gift to get at the time, but three decades later I make good use of it. This was a gift that created a particular memory for me.

Over the years, I have received many Christmas gifts that, I am sad to say, have long since been forgotten. But it is, however, very special to get a gift that you remember – and to give a gift that creates a lasting memory for someone else.

While in Zambia this year visiting our global mission worker, Diane Cusick, we travelled into the remote bush to visit a community and before leaving we were given a chicken by a couple of very humble villagers. It cost them dearly to give away the scrawny bantam, but it was their pleasure to part with the bird and by doing so it etched a memory Florence and I won’t forget.

Once again this year there will be thousands of Christmas gifts bought in our packed shops. Within days they will more than likely be forgotten and in many cases what was received wasn’t something that was really needed.

So, should we consider giving gifts that will form a memory? Could we, as families, try something different that might create a memory that lasts? If we curtail the excesses and consider something imaginative, it may also make a difference to someone else’s life.

While travelling around churches in recent months I have seen hundreds of specially prepared Christmas shoeboxes ready to be sent to eastern Europe. On a cold but bright December morning I visited Townsend Street Presbyterian Church in west Belfast, the main distribution point in Northern Ireland for the charity Samaritan’s Purse. Here I met many faithful people packing some of the