Christmas is a time of celebration when family and friends gather to enjoy fellowship and tradition for the holiday season. While gathered around the table one may say “God Bess America.”

“I like the phrase ‘God Bless America’ because he has blessed us,” Andrew Biehler, ’08, said. “It is a little redundant though because he has, yet everyone keeps asking for more.”

During the Thanksgiving chapel students viewed the Nooma video, “Rich.” Rob Bell, pastor and traveling speaker, tells of how rich society is and how what is insubstantial for some is more than enough for others. He asks the question “who are you going to bless?”

“I love Nooma videos because I think he is a good preacher and love his perspective on God, the Bible and life,” Scott Falk, campus pastor, said. “I also think he is extremely creative and has a lot of valuable things to tell people.”

Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan. Falk enjoys Nooma videos for the verbal and visual effects.

“Sometimes messages about wealth are hard to take in,” Falk said, “even if the message is good. I also thought it was a little hard for students to relate; it is more an adult or family one.”

Volunteer involvement often provides a different perspective especially when it involves spending time in an unfamiliar environment.

“I go to retirement homes because some people have no family so I see it as me being their grandkid,” Rachel Balint, ’08, said. “It gives me a rewarding feeling when I help people out.”

Statistics from Bell stated that 800 million people do not eat daily and 300 million of them are children. Every couple of seconds a person dies from lack of a necessity. Another sobering fact is that one billion people live on less than a dollar everyday.

“I have been going to Saint Agnes for three years to care of kids from one to two,” Rachel Kruger, ’08, said. “I go there because I love children and it gives me practice for becoming a preschool teacher.”

In order to provide basic needs (such as food and water) for everyone on the planet, the video stated it would cost $20 billon. Ironically, this is the same amount that Americans spend on ice cream in a year.

Even though there are people around the world lacking basic needs, campus students and administration will continue to help by hosting charity events during the school year.

For more information on Nooma videos or Bell, visit www.nooma.com.