People of Hope:
On the wall of my house is an art piece given to me by someone in a congregation I once served that reads:
No one has ever become poor by giving
When I first received it, I remember puzzling over it. I thought: Surely, the resources of those who give generously contract as they give. I thought: We must be careful about our giving.
And then, I remembered the first year of my adult life that I tithed, meaning giving 10% of our income away to God’s mission in the world. I was in my last year of seminary. Though my husband at the time and I had part-time jobs, we paid our rent only by taking out student loans. Because of contextual education requirements, we weren’t members at any church, so we tithed by giving to Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, then called Lutheran Social Ministry. It was a paltry sum; our tithe for the year was nearly equivalent to what I give in a single month now. We tithed because we wanted to practice what my father had taught us: that, as pastors, we never ask people to do something we ourselves don’t do. I remember the stress of letting go of that much money at one time. I remember thinking: I am doomed to tithing the rest of my life. I remember calculating how we were going to make it work. But then, we actually gave the money, and I was like: Why didn’t anyone ever tell me how great it is to give?! Indeed, no one has ever become poor by giving. Instead, giving enriches our lives.
I hope you know the joy of giving, the joy of participating in God’s mission by letting go of financial resources, the joy of helping grace and love and healing flourish. No one has ever become poor by giving, because giving is itself the gift.
Even so, I am grateful for your gifts to Esperanza. May they bring grace and love and healing not just to our community at large but to you.
With gratitude and joy,
Pastor Sarah