In Colossians 3:16 we read,

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”

Now we who are in Christ have learned over the years that gratitude and generosity have a reciprocal relationship. It often happens that those who are grateful are generous, and those who are generous grow in their experience of gratitude.

Recently in the Synod E-Newsletter, the following article appeared:

“Donate your worship supplies to help congregations in Liberia
Does your congregation have extra worship supplies? The Lutheran Churches in Liberia face significant challenges due to limited resources and are seeking support through donations. Specifically, we are requesting:

• Old communion sets
• Vestments
• Paraments and lectern cloths
• Pastoral gowns, shirts, and clerical collars

If your church or congregation has items of this nature that are no longer in use, they could serve as a tremendous blessing to our brothers and sisters in Liberia.”

When I saw this article, I thought, wow, maybe this is an opportunity to reduce my collection of clergy shirts!  After all, I am (semi) “retired”!  In any case, I was giving way too much houseroom to clergy shirts and stoles that I wasn’t using. (Do you notice the focus on self and “what’s in it for me?” It seems that God can work even through our imperfect motives!) And I found that I had more than one communion set for home communions, too. In fact, the more I looked, the more items I found.   Then I asked Pastor Bryan and members of our altar guild if they thought there were items we were no longer using at Bethesda. As a result, two boxes of older vestments, linens and communion ware were collected from the lower sacristy that we no longer were using, including 6 old communion distribution trays.

When Suah Borsay, who had placed the ad in the Synod News, came to Bethesda to collect our offerings, she shared that her sister is a pastor in Liberia.  Previously, Suah and her husband had been collecting layette kits for newborns and sending these to her sister. But this year, her sister asked for church materials, saying that the Liberian churches do not have even the basics we take for granted for worship.  When I showed her the 6 communion trays Bethesda no longer needed, Suah was so excited!  She took out her phone and showed me that the Liberian pastors make their trays out of cardboard, with little holes cut in the cardboard to hold the communion glasses.  When I saw that, I wished I had been able to share even more.

This goes to show that we are simply unaware of how much we have been blessed and the needs of our neighbors. Of course, the most significant thing we share with our siblings in Christ is our faith and trust in Jesus. Wherever 2 or more are, Christ is there among them, and I have no doubt that the Spirit can move mightily in congregations with little means. Nevertheless it is a blessing that goes both ways when we can be of help.

This experience reminded me to be grateful for what we have here to enhance our worship, and I hope it encourages all of us in living generously.