What is your Holy-Day story? I am always jealous about – and also happy for – the stories I hear from friends and family who have so many beautiful memories of this time of year. We didn’t have any extended family in our lives, and my parents were solitary people, so we didn’t get the experiences that so many of you were lucky enough to have. We did, however, have the church, which, though small, had more than its share of generous people. One family was the Frances; Tom and Lu and their three sons lived on a beautiful little lake and had done very well in life. Their generosity was evident in many ways; I found out after my mom’s death that they had given her a car later in life when things were really tough for her. They did this kind of thing all the time.
Every year, the Frances would invite members of our church and the church we were yoked with to their home right around Christmas. The lake was always frozen (I don’t know if that still happens) and we would ice skate and make s’mores over a fire outside. The house was warm and filled with food, people, and music. Tom, like my parents, was a singer and actor, so everyone would stand around the piano trying to outdo each other with their vocalizing. (My mom always won). It was like something out of a Hallmark Christmas movie, and it was both enchanting and alien to me, but I always looked forward to being there. The last time I saw Tom was at my mom’s funeral in 2004; he died three years later. Lu died in 2015. Both of them left a legacy in our church, our county, and my memory.
I learned a lot about giving from the France family. I learned that it doesn’t matter what your religion is, or who you vote for; what matters is how you live your life. Without generosity, we are nothing. And we don’t have to have money to be generous – time, words, phone calls, letters, emails; all are ways to reach out to others. Once we learn to be generous in one aspect of life, it generally flows to the rest of it. The book of James chided the early church about its lack of generosity. James wrote, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder. I hope this Christmas and Hanukah are filled with generosity and joy. What you give is what defines you, not what you take.
Prayer – Holy God, You are so generous to each of us. May that generosity flow through us to people in need. Amen.
Today’s art is “Generosity” by Jane Halliwell Green.