“Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” –2 Corinthians 9:7
Dear friends,
There is an old folk tale about sharing, the story of “stone soup.” Three strangers enter a town where the towns folk are hungry and afraid, everyone keeping to themselves. The strangers set up a big pot in the town square, fill it with water and throw in three stones. Then they invite the hungry, frightened people to share what they have…a potato, some old onions, a carrot or two. Everyone brings something to share. Everyone gives of themselves and, as the smell of a wonderful soup begins to fill the air, everyone gets served. In other words, they serve each other. Everyone gives and everyone gets, and there’s more than enough for everyone.
We know this concept well in the church. The whole notion of the ‘stone soup” and potluck suppers is almost synonymous with church, isn’t it? I looked up the history of potluck. The term started in the Middle Ages to describe an impromptu meal served to unexpected guests or travelers. Those who arrived unexpectedly for dinner would get “the luck of the pot,” that is, whatever food was left over or kept on the fire. And sometimes a potluck referred to a one-pot communal meal in which every cook brought something to add… just like in the story of “stone soup.” But it wasn’t until the depression here in America that the idea of a meal where everyone brings a prepared dish to share took hold.
This November in our stewardship season, a big glass jar will appear in our chancel for the kids to learn more about the journey of faith through giving. We’ll be learning through doing that coming to church is about God’s love and that we are to share that love with others…an object lesson taught through the feeling the coins in their hands, the sound of pennies dropping into a big glass jar, the spiritual discipline of doing this every time you come to church. We see the jar fill up week after week, and learn that if everyone shares, there’s more in the jar than any one of us could give alone. Everyone gives, everyone gets, and we have more than enough to serve others in Jesus’ name.
And everyone is invited to contribute to the big glass jar. When it’s your birthday, please come up and share the number of pennies that match your age, honoring the measure of your days and joining the children in celebrating your birthday with a gift that will touch other’s lives!
See you on Sunday,
Karen Nell