Roots of My Generosity

I simply love it. Everything about it. That it’s hardly the only thing this parish does to love our neighbors, near and far. That we’re not afraid of big goals! 500 ThankFULL bags for the Lutheran Social Services Food Pantries!!! And … by Nov 7! Wow! It feels like we’re owning Paul’s claim in Philippians: “We know what it is to have little, and we know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances we have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. We can do all things through him who strengthens us.” (4:12-13).

I admit that, just like Lutheran World Relief Backpacks, it also fills my obsessive need for order. 3 of these, 4 of those. No glass jars! Fruit, my preference in juice not syrup. I don’t even like cranberry sauce, but it’s on the list so someone must. Like many of you, we grabbed our bags the first Sunday. Worked our list, delivered to the church already. Yes, we love it. It just makes us feel good to share with others. I’ve often wondered why.

I likely learned from my mother, who likely learned it the hard way as a child. All my siblings would describe her as having a hospitality gene. Perhaps it was her nature, but I believe it was nurtured, learned. Her parents struggled economically. Tough times, rough decisions. Now and then someone noticed at their church and would anonymously leave some handed down clothes or groceries in the small worship entry with her name, the eldest child, on it. She never forgot what it felt like to not have and then receive, to wear those clothes to school, to give thanks to God for food at her table. One result was that my mother shared food, clothing (always washed, pressed!), time, welcome, money. We learned her mantra; “this is going to mean a lot to someone, more than you know.”

The October 6 Washington Post had a nice story about Michael Jensen, a guy my age who start volunteering in a food pantry and how it changed him. It filled him. He shared snippets on reddit of the humility and generosity he witnessed. “People will say ‘I don’t want to take more than my share,’ and, ‘Are you sure you have enough for everybody?’ Some folks are clearly not getting enough to eat and they’re still thinking of other people! “What I’ve gotten extra portions of,” he wrote, “is humble pie. And a stronger belief in the fundamental goodness of people.” He named the pantry in his post not dreaming of the wave of random donations that flooded in! It could’ve been my Mom, but it was Jensen who wrote “When people are personally touched by need, they understand how much a little bit of assistance can help.”

Here’s a stewardship preview morsel for next month: I come to worship broken, hurting, hungry. I do. And when God welcomes me, forgives me and feeds me at a Table of mercy, it means more to me, and has all my life, than I can share. I am blessed to keep trying.

Pastor Jim Wilson