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Giving is Being

God the Creator (Genesis 1:1, 26-31a, 2:7)

We give things a cash value. Our house is 'worth' so many thousands of pounds. Our wages per week or our annual salary is expressed in amounts of cash. When we take out insurance on our life or the car we own or the contents of our home it is expressed in money terms. All our dealings are in money - actual coins and notes or bank transfers or cheques or credit/debit cards. Money is NOT the root of all evil. That is a popular misquotation of a remark made by Paul in his first letter to Timothy chapter 6 verse 10. What he actually wrote is "the LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil."

Would you like to discuss this now or think about it? Do you agree with Paul? Is it in line with your own experience? Can you say it is true in national and international affairs? According to the size of the group, split up into threes or fours and bring your findings back to the full group for an exchange of views.

Money touches us all and we are very shy of talking about it. If we are very rich, of course, it is usually quite obvious. If we are very poor, it is hard to hide the fact. But most of us are in between those extremes and keep quiet about just where we are!

This shyness makes the topic of the giving of money by Christians a very difficult one to discuss. But because it is so basic to every one of us, we must try to work out a Christian attitude to it.

Let us be quite clear: we are not talking about 'fund raising'. We are talking about a Christlike approach to money. What we are trying to find out is how we should practise our discipleship of Jesus in the use of our money, especially in the way in which we give it away.

Where shall we start? At the beginning, of course. The beginning for us Christians is the first verse in the bible which itself begins "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". The creation - that is our starting point.

So turn to Genesis in your bible and read particularly chapter 1 verses 26-31a and also chapter 2 verses 7-9. Pause in silence to think about these verses.

Verse 28 of chapter 1 is very important. It tells us that the human race was to fill the earth and subdue it and to have dominion over everything on the earth. We say, therefore, that the human race is God's viceregent or 'deputy manager' of creation. What we do with the world - its people, its animals, its trees, crops, minerals, and everything else - is therefore serious, because we do it on behalf of God.

Discuss at this point what attitude Christians should have to ecology, conservation, environmental issues and all that can be put under the heading 'green issues'.

If you look at 1 Chronicles 29 verses 10-13 you will find some of the words familiar to you. Why? Where would you find them in print outside of the bible?

Finally, look through the Psalms to find words to express the belief that God made the world.

As a closing prayer say together Psalm 145.

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Back to Basics

A FULL MEASURE Project© has more than one objective. Certainly, the primary objective is to develop in us Christians a deep spirituality of generous giving. Adequate financing of God's work in and through the Church can only be achieved that way. It is not a matter of coughing up a few more pence or pounds when we are appealed to. It is not merely a matter of having enough money for maintenance of our work and our buildings. It is a matter of each one of us responding with generosity of spirit to the words of Jesus in Luke 6:38, `give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.' One Christ-like quality of spirit to which we must aspire is clearly that of generosity. We thought through Lent into Easter of the supreme generosity of Jesus himself in suffering and dying for us.

Our generosity is not expressed in money terms alone. Generosity of spirit finds expression in our love of and concern for one another in the Christian community and beyond that in the wider community. That is why the Anglican Stewardship Association seeks to inspire members of parishes to develop a strong pastoral care network. Generous caring for one another within and without the Christian Community is a Christ-like action.

It is good to share some of our experiences. It is encouraging. Perhaps others may read of these experiences and seek to have a project themselves.

Ken Middleton - Summer 2003

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Participating in the action of God

The Most Reverend Dr. Rowan Williams was the keynote speaker at the 1995 Stewardship Network Conference in Newquay. It is timely to reprint some extracts from his address and fitting that they develop the theme of relationship in Christian giving.

We sometimes talk about Stewardship and Christian giving in terms of God giving and our responding as sharing in the gift; participating, as an older generation of theologians said, in the action of God.

Perhaps it begins to make slightly more sense if we think of what God in fact gives. God gives God. After all, what else has God got to give us? God does not have a bank account or a unique collection of valuable antiques. We might try defining the Church in those terms, but the life that God gives is a diffusion, spreading out, self-bestowal. That is what God is like.

To receive is not to have a possession, it is to be caught up in the stream of God's action. To say that we 'receive' the grace of God is as abstract as saying that some little crevice halfway down Niagara Falls receives some water from the waterfall. Receiving isn't quite adequate to the notion of being absolutely saturated by something that descends and passes on and draws you in. There's a danger of theology getting stuck with a static and trivial idea of God's gift.

God does not give something other than himself, to which he is not committed. "He sent no angel to our race, of higher or of lower place" says the hymn. God gives what he is, so in his giving he is promised, he is committed. The gift is not a substitute for God. It is God. God in motion, God in action.

The life that God the Father gives to the Son is itself a giving life. The Son gives it back to the Father and out of that the Holy Spirit is given. So whatever we say about God ought to be drawing us back to that central mystery: What is it like to be God? An impossible question to answer except to say that for God to be God at all is for God to be committed to giving. Even if we were not here, that would still be true - a life that gives itself and returns upon itself and pours itself out afresh; God the Holy Trinity.

One of the basic principles of sensible stewardship thinking is that it is given to us to become givers. Once again, think Niagara! There's not much point in the rocky crevice half way down saying "I think I would like to hold on to some of this water". You really haven't got much option. It is given to us to pass on an intensity of outpouring. That feels a bit different from talking about an obligation to respond.

And when we say that proper thinking about Stewardship and Christian giving lies in gratitude, we ought to bear that in mind... real gratitude, which is joy and delight, has very little to do with calculating what I now owe. It is not the acknowledgement of being under a debt - it's a share in the dynamism of the gift. Real gratitude is part of the life of the gift.

If God gives God and God's life is that whirlwind of... outpouring which is the life we call Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then God can't give anything without relation. In this light you see how limited so much of our traditional theology has been; how often we talk about the gift of God without talking about relation to God, to God's world, to each other. So when we say we need to look at a person, a situation, or a thing as the gift of God... we are talking about learning to see and respond to and live with the possibilities of relationship. We really need to be disabused of the idea of possessiveness where God is concerned. A gift from God is precisely not given into our ownership, because it is life, it is action.

We should listen and take very seriously the sense that many people have that their experience of grief, of loss or of joy and achievement comes to them as a gift in the sense that they feel they are caught up in the action of God. It is not easy or glib. It is not somebody piously saying, "The Lord giveth and the Lord Taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord". It is people saying, "In this experience (doing a course of study, losing a partner, changing jobs), I simply know that I have been made more myself than ever. Thinking of God's gift in this way disabuses us of ideas of possession, things that we can hold on to, of God coming labeled and sealed.

These then are my three basics:

1. God's gift being God
2. the gift of God being... a giving life
3. ... a giving life being a life in relation

There, I dare say, are the foundational principles that we are bound to be appealing to, almost whether we know it or not, when we talk about the work of Stewardship. We are talking about finding the words and acts that will channel and make fruitful the restlessness of people who are aware of being in touch with, and caught up in, the giving life of God.

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ME and US

Thanksgiving Sunday in a FULL MEASURE Project© works on two different levels. It is both individual and corporate. It is about me, and it is also about us.

It is about me and my relationship with God, and how that relationship is expressed in how I handle my money. I have received life and possessions from a generous and giving God. Furthermore, I have received infinite love from God in the forgiveness shown to me by his son Jesus Christ.

Having received so much, how I respond to the love that has been poured out for me becomes a critical issue. It is a vital matter for every Christian heart: 'Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' Thanksgiving Sunday offers a key moment when my response in thanksgiving to God can find its own expression. Will my Christian giving and stewardship of money reflect in some small way the great love shown to me?

But it cannot and must not be simply a private matter between me and my God. My relationship with God has to find expression in my relationship with others. Here again, money is uncomfortably important. How I handle my money impinges upon others, from the people in faraway lands who grew the crops sold to me in my local supermarket, through those I work for and with, to my nearest and dearest. Money represents a whole network of relationships.

My relationship with God's Church also has to be about money. Practical issues dictate as much. When deciding about my giving, I must seek to be honest with myself in order to be honest with God and with my fellow Christians. Like it or not, this all-pervading issue of money represents a complex web of inter-relatedness which connects me to God, with the Church, with other people, with the world at large.

On Thanksgiving Sunday this all comes together in worship. We make our individual decisions and commitments, based on prayer and reflection, but we do this corporately as part of the worshipping community. That is why it is so important for us to complete our Thanksgiving cards together before God within the Eucharist on that day. This offering within public worship is a key part of a FULL MEASURE project©, and offers so much more depth, challenge and resonance than a secretive process carried out by myself.

What I do about my money is not just a private matter, however much I might wish it to be otherwise. God cares about it. God cares about the decision I make and offer on Thanksgiving Sunday. This needs to be done as part of my worship and as part of the worship of the whole Church. Anything less will not do.

Adrian Mann - Autumn 2002

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"I really must go to the gym, I haven't been for ages"

Most of us strive for excellence. Our personal excellence is the result of a fairly self-disciplined quest for integrity involving hard work: physical, mental and spiritual, which covers everything from music to walking by the river, from reading to church loyalty, exercise, eating and drinking.

For those we love we strive even harder. If we have children, we provide for them to be clothed, fed and entertained, looked after while we work, perhaps paying for their education or treatment when ill. All these aspirations, activities, relationships, involve money. And when it is someone we love, we want to be generous. We want them to have the best.

If we turn to our relationship with our church, there is a danger that we suddenly become detached. The Church becomes something we go to, rather than a body of which we are part; something which makes demands on my time, my energy and, if I am not careful, my money, rather than the Church being as much part of my life as my children, family, work and friends.

It is difficult to cope with because it is, essentially, mildly boring, too practical. We get no buzz, no feel-good factor as we might from a spontaneous donation to a charity. We get no bills from the church thudding onto the doormat (although they arrive for us as a Church with the same frequency as at home). You see how easy it is to become detached.

And then we hear, or see in the papers, talk of "dwindling" congregations, churches falling apart, good and necessary works not done, a picture of defeat and despair. We may ask, "Why don't they do something?", but these problems are our problems, these challenges our challenges, these failures our failures. The Church is not some ethereal body somewhere in the middle of London or at Diocesan Office, not the figureheads on the news. They are our office staff. We are the Church.

So when we come to considering our call to give weekly, as we can do each Thanksgiving Sunday, we must avoid thinking of it in terms of 'The Church' raising money. Rather, it is how we let our faith, undefinable as it may be, our loyalty to our local church community, fallible though it may be, affect the way we handle our money, and how much we are going to entrust to the Church we belong to and, perhaps, love a bit.

We do not go in for vulgar fund-raising. We don't say, 'The Church needs so much', because the work we could do if we were adequately resourced is limitless, and we see the results of those churches whose members do give sacrificially, with the tenth as their basic starting point. The assumption is that we are all part of one body and are willing to be realistic and generous in upholding that and making it real.

Our Church life is no less demanding than the rest of our life. Here, as everywhere, we are called to be realistic, generous, even self-sacrificial and dependable. All these have practical sides to them. They are indicators that we will let our faith and loyalty have some effect on that most sensitive and touchy bit of our lives: our money and how we control it, or let it control us.

We might look at Biblical quotes such as "Lord, increase our faith" and "we have done no more than our duty". We might also observe that all over this country a lot of money is committed so that people can say, "I really must go to the gym: I haven't been for ages".

John Willmington - Spring 2002

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Suffer the little children...

What do you find most unhelpful in the Sunday worship in your church?

You may remember this question in the Members' Attitude Study at the start of the FULL MEASURE Project©. These are two of the most common answers:
The distractions caused by noisy, undisciplined children and,
Trying to cope with my own children.
I confess to a good deal of sympathy with both comments.

But there is another question: "What is our greatest need?" Overwhelmingly the answer to this is, "Bring in more young families. They are the future". Is the only reason for bringing them in to keep the church going when we are past doing so? They are in fact part of the church of the present. It is our duty to draw them into the saving community of Christ.

The Sunday Eucharist is the corporate act of worship for the local Christian community, which includes all ages. It is not the principal time for private prayer. Of course there are periods of quiet and these moments of stillness, conscious of a shared intention with fellow-worshippers, are very important to us. Children sometimes disturb, even destroy, this atmosphere.

It can be hard for older people to accept that small children are not now expected to be quiet anywhere, not even in school, as many of use were. If we demand total silence and stillness from them we make churchgoing an ordeal, the dreariest hour of the week. Is this experience likely to encourage them to attend once they can no longer be dragooned by their parents?

So what is the solution? Banish the children to a crèche or Sunday School? That deprives the leaders and teachers of their chance to worship. It also means that the children cannot become accustomed to adult worship, understanding it more clearly as they grow. In many churches the answer is a compromise: the children and their leaders have their own time together and come in for the liturgy of the sacrament, but in the long term the spiritual growth of the teachers is likely to suffer, especially if the same ones take charge every week.

Keep them in church then, in a separate, carpeted area with toys and books? Their chatter and tears can usually still be heard. Should they come only to special 'family' services? Are these adequate for parents? And again, how do they move on to full liturgy?

In some churches the liturgy is adapted and shortened, while children are given parts to play, taking the collection, reading a lesson, performing something practised in Sunday School. This engages older children in the service, encourages them to pay attention to it and helps them to realize that they are as much a part of the community as the grown-ups. But done routinely, it may not be satisfying for their parents and does not solve the problem of the very young.

Perhaps they should stay with their parents in the pew. My answer was to provide each child with a 'church bag' containing toys that did not make a noice and were not played with at home, so they were not bored with them. I did not try to insist on complete quiet, except during the consecration and communion, but I avoided getting into a conversation; questions or comments were answered as briefly as possible.

I had to manage on my own because my husband was the incumbent so a job was found for each child as young as possible, as boat-boy, server or chorister. By the time the fifth child was out of his pram two or three of the older ones had their duties, which they performed with great solemnity. Being the vicar's wife, I realize, shielded me from criticism: any complaints never reached me, although the verger felt it his duty to restrain the child who wandered off to inspect the pulpit. This naturally became a game of chasing which was entered into with great enthusiasm and laughter.

Which brings me to the second problem identified at the beginning. The parents are tense, struggling to minimize distraction and cannot concentrate on the service themselves. They can only remind themselves that this is God's will for them at this stage in their lives. He understands their difficulties and lovingly accepts the offering they make by coming faithfully with their children. Above all, he wants their children to grow up as welcomed members of the Christian family.

The rest of us should surely try to help put the whole family at ease. We must help to give them confidence that we, like Christ, welcome them. We need to show them that we understand that there will be interruptions and try to give practical help whenever we can. If it is too noisy for us to concentrate, God still gladly accepts our worship. He understands the difficulty and surely rejoices that we are considering other people's needs as well as our own.

Cold comfort perhaps? If we do go home feeling irritated and dissatisfied, is it because we forget that we have been nourished with Christ's own sacrificed life? Offering our petty annoyances in private prayer and spending time in meditation at home will enrich our spiritual growth.

Ann Middleton - Spring 2002

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The Pub, Football and William Blake

The Silly Season ended with a vengeance this year. Now for some mellow reflections on three earlier news items which occupied the media during the Summer.

The Foot and Mouth epidemic and Prince Charles' "make the pub the hub" catchphrase kept the plight of our beleaguered rural communities in the forefront of the news. Whether facing financial ruin or cushioned by compensation, people need access to reliable public transport, a post office, banking facilities, a general store. If media attention has finally laid bare the myth of the idyllic country life, it is more sobering still to reflect on the fact that our urban population increasingly finds itself equally poorly provided for.

All communities need a focal point if they are to survive. At one time the church was probably the centre of village life. Social changes and a shortage of clergy may mean that in some communities the pub is now the only place where people can meet.

I do not advocate hole-in-the-porch cash machines or farmers' markets in redundant churchyards, but it is not only the lack of a catchy headline which prevented Prince Charles from suggesting that the Church be the hub of village life. The Church itself is in the news, pleading poverty. An extra £12 million will be needed to meet the cost of clergy pensions alone. Once more we are tightening our belts and in retreat. Looking outwards is, it seems, off the agenda.

Perhaps football has taken over some of the church's historic role in the nation's life? ITV is hoping to win the ratings war by showing matches on weekend prime-time television. When this was first announced, Radio 4's Today Programme sought the views of some members of the public. One female football supporter said, "You lose your job, you go to the football. You split up with your partner, football's still there. It's the one constant in your life really." Each of us needs a constant in our lives from which we can draw strength, but those of us who do not appreciate the beautiful game wil have to look elsewhere. Even if we are staunch football fans, if we lose our job, split up with out partner and our team is relegated, life could become very bleak indeed.

William Blake had his own vision of a better world, but one couple who found it inspiring were in for a shock. The vicar banned Jerusalem from being sung at their wedding, one objection being that William Blake was not a Christian; his New Jerusalem was an analogy for a better world in a purely secular sense. The couple in question did not appreciate the finer points of the theological argument and went elsewhere. Was this a vitally important stand on Christian principles or a pastoral blunder saved only by another church's greater tolerance?

These three news items have repercussions for all church members. Livestock farmers receive some financial compensation for animals that are destroyed while other rural workers may be relying on charity, but for many the distress that have suffered cannot be compensated for in cash. While congregations are being asked to increase their giving simply to maintain the status quo, the need for the church's voice to be heard is greater than ever. The fact that more couples are choosing not to get married or are opting for civil weddings means there are fewer opportunities to welcome them into church, not to mention the loss of income from fees. Perhaps it is no wonder that people look to football as their anchor in life's crises.

It is difficult sometimes to feel optimistic about the church and its role in society but one parish visitor wrote in a Pastoral Link Letter recently, "Would anyone really like to live in a village without a Church, even in today's climate of supposed secularism? I certainly wouldn't, even with my wayward faith! I believe it is important that we maintain the web of Church life in as many ways as possible."

Christian faith is not blind. It involves a robust, practical engagement with the whole of life. We have some tough choices to make about giving and serving so that we can achieve much more than simply guaranteeing our retired alergy a pension. The Church of England is becoming more and more dependent on its members. Each of us has to work out for ourselves exactly what that means and what we are being called to give.

Carol Sims - Autumn 2001

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By their fruits
St. Matthew 7 vv 15-21

You will by now be familiar with the books about Harry Potter. If the newspapers are to be believed the Dean of Canterbury has turned down the possibility of filming the books around the cathedral. He thinks that because Hermione is good with spells and wizardry it is not suitable. But the Dean of Gloucester disagrees and thinks that the books are good, traditional, enjoyable stuff and the fees for the filming rights will be well worth having. There is very clear disagreement as to the nature of the fruit, good or bad, these books create.

It is easy to talk about bringing forth good fruit. We see the sense of the saying "By their fruits you shall know them", but we cannot always agree easily on what is, or is not, good fruit. And further, most Christians have a genuine horror of being the sort of people who, with outward pretence call out "Lord, Lord" yet inwardly live their lives in a way they know to be open to a charge of hypocrisy. So the reading from Matthew 7 leads us to examine ourselves and the fruit of Christian lives carefully.

The first point is that we do this for ourselves before God. It has nothing to do with anyone else. If we get drawn into judging others - their fruit, their integrity - we are lost. I would be surprised if you did not need other people's help, but as I have come to understand it, the whole of our lifelong Christian pilgrimage is about learning to come easily to God, without pretence of falseness. I need to be easy in the presence of my heavenly father. I hope you feel better at it now than when you first began and the first area I recommend you examine is this integrity in the presence of God - the wholeness and easiness of your being as you rest in his presence.

The second area I think we have to examine quietly for ourselves is the giving of our money each week for the work of the church and to other charitable causes, on the basis that God is the Giver, that defines him. Everything he ever does is giving and you are trying to become like him. So you must learn to give and to realize how rich you become in the giving. And it is irresponsible to put money in the collection plate without "gift-aiding" it if you are a tax-payer.

There is something God-given and liberating about this Christian giving - a fruit of our discipleship. Getting our approach right is vital because it builds up a wonderful sense of trust as the Christian family. The amount people give is not important; the proportion is, and that we trust one another each to play our part. And all so that we can learn to be more like God the Giver.

And the third and vital area to think about is our worship together and our approach to it, because in our approach to worship will be seen one of the fruits of our Christian discipleship. I need to make a distinction between;

• The nurturing of your spiritual life and,
• Your worship of God as part of a community.

My own need is for a great variety of materials and service forms. I am lucky: BCP in St. Anselm's and Common Worship in St. Erasmus'; the Litany at 7.45, celebrating Common Prayer at 7.30, Choral Evensong at 3.30, they inform and enrich one another.

You have spiritual needs. Some things are more helpful than others so take responsibility for them: The Daily Service, Thought for the Day, Songs of Praise, your daily Bible reading, your still, quiet time, empty of words.

But, do not confuse the meeting of your own spiritual needs with the corporate act of worshipping God on a Sunday, which is about looking to God and supporting everyone else. Getting your spiritual needs met is little to do with this coming together to worship him. You are not here at this jamboree for yourself. You are here for God and you are here to enable the person next to you to worship God - the small child and the grandparent; the person who has had bad news this week and the person who has had good news; the person who is a visitor and the person who has wandered in; the person who is thoughtful and intensely questioning and the person who just wants to be held and lifted up

I see this Sunday act of the community coming together as our giving the first hour of the week to God. This is one of the fruits of your Christian life, that in the praise of God you forget yourself and you enable others. Because you are here, their worship will be enriched.

This corporate act is never exactly as we would like it; always a hymn tune that we would prefer not to have, but others like it; a funny translation here, a piece of ceremonial there; making space for young people, an unfamiliar approach to our prayers this week. But you cannot be a Christian on your own. It is in being bound together that God teaches us to let go of ourselves and truly see him and praise him in worship.

Because we come together, he rubs the corners off us and helps us let go of our selfish selves. All the rest of our worship may be as incense offered up to God, but there has to be a worshipping heart to things - a community not taking but giving, joining for the greater good in worshipping God. By their fruits you shall know them.

As you quietly examine your approach to the main act of Sunday worship, what do you see in yourself? There is a phrase, isn't there? Cherry-picking - just choosing what you want and leaving the less desirable for others. Well, are you a cherry-picker in your worship? Have you let meeting your own spiritual needs become confused with the Christian community coming together to enable one another to turn to God and praise him with the richness and diversity he deserves? Would that we ever get that far!

Take this reading from Matthew and examine yourself quietly in the presence of God. Look at the fruits of your Christian life. Are you becoming easier with God, more familiar? Are you learning to be more like God, a giver? And most importantly, in this first hour of the week and the jamboree act of worship, are you a cherry-picker? Or have you genuinely seen the vision of a diverse family building one another up, so that people looking in will see a community of faith intent on the praise of God and the valuing of his people in all our diversity?

And may it all be for God's honour and glory.

Canon John Roff - Spring 2001. Canon John Roff is a residentiary Canon of Chester Cathedral.

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Giving with a Vengeance

A young man recently related an incident to me which highlighted the gulf that can exist between giving and generosity, or between worldly attitudes and Godly ones.

John agreed to do a 26-mile walk to raise money for charity. Two of the people he approached to spnsor him were his flat-mates. They had had an argument and were barely on speaking terms so when Steve saw that Dave had sponsored John for 50 pence per mile, he put down £1 per mile because he was not going to be outdone by someone he disliked. The pragmatic view of this is that the charity benefited from the antagonism between these two men, the motive therefore did not matter, only the end result was important.

At the CTBI* Stewardship Conference this summer, we were asked to think of an idea which would increase the givingfrom church people and to explain the motivation behind it. This was one tongue-in-cheek (I hope!) wheeze: everyone is asked to put their money into envelopes. These are then collected and one is drawn out at random and opened. Whoever gave that envelope receives ten times the amount inside. Motivation: Greed. More serious suggestions included the encouragement of altruism, generosity and thankfulness.

In St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus urges mercy and compassion and an altogether higher standard of personal conduct than the law demanded. In Chapter 5, verses 23-24 there is a direct link between giving and forgiving: So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
(New Revised Standard Version)

How might John's flat-mate Steve have reacted on hearing this? If he had been motivated by compassion not competition, I wonder if he would have given more or less?

(* Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, Stewardship Network Conference)

Carol Sims - Autumn 2000

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Sheep and Goats

It would be easy to ignore the famous passage from St. Matthew's Gospel. Unless you are the clergy, people don't turn up on your doorstep wanting food and drink. Nor, even for us, naked. Three such exclusions could make us feel we are let off the hook.

Perhaps we need to reshape them?

I imagine that none of us could put our hand on our heart and come out of that unscathed.

To give gracefully and generously with money and energy to alleviate the real and desparate needs of people at home and abroad is a vital part of our calling. But the motivation to do so has its roots in our more domestic relationships, for no-one is an island entire of itself, as the poet John Donne reminded us. To be fully human we need to keep the two calls together: our solidarity with those a safe distance away needs to be balanced with the almost more taxing duty to those all too close.

By baptism we have a solidarity with the life of God, but we immediately inherit a large family of people we have never seen and never met. That brings apparently daunting commitments, but can also, if we let it, be a source of enrichment. Can we value that?

Revd. John Willmington - Autumn 2000

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Just Rewards
A reflection on Thanksgiving Sunday

I carry in my wallet a dark blue card which I present at Sainsbury's checkout. It promises much of its name, Reward, and I am not fooled. It is a con trick to make me think that I am saving money by spending more. In the retail trade it is called a 'loyalty card'.

But true loyalty cannot be expressed by looking for a reward. True loyalty is shown by sacrifice, by giving and throwing one's lot in, by faithfulness, generosity and love. I prefer to see the card we sign on Thanksgiving Sunday as a loyalty card, for by committing ourselves in this way we are thanking God for what he has done and continues to do now and, we trust, in the future.

It is a loyalty to God's work through his Church but not just to the parish we prefer, the Church of England has to grow beyond that. We can not all do everything, but we can be part of it by making it possible. Without our weekly giving we would not be able to continue and develop the work you have heard about and read about, nor have a base from which it happens.

Thankfulness does not come naturally. We have to be taught it at an early age and then learn that it does not end with mouthing the words. Thankfulness is shown by the way we live, by the relationships we develop. Thankfulness is shown by giving, whether it be within the family, parent to child and child to parent, between husband and wife, brother and sister, friend and colleague, within the life of God's and our Church, and in God's wider world.

Such giving shows that we can share, wanting others to have something of what we have given. Such giving shows that we do not see ourselves as independent of others, a sort of UDI from the rest of the human race. Without thankfulness, communities become sour and cease to thrive.

Such thankful and outward giving may not come easily at first, or at all. Yet it is only by giving, perhaps with some effort of will, that we become the sort of people we would like everybody else to be: generous, selfless, loving, supportive.

To give can help us remain thankful, for every weekly offering reminds us of our blessings. On Thanksgiving Sunday we can make our response of thankfulness for that, for our own lives, and all to follow.

Revd. John Willmington - Spring 2000. John Willmington is Vicar of Acton Green and a member of the Governing Body of ASA.