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There was a small glass jar that lived in the center of our kitchen table when I was growing up.
Every night before dinner, we’d dig into our pockets for spare change and drop whatever we had into it. On the nights my brother and I came up empty, my parents would press a nickel or a dime into our palms so we’d have something to give. The gesture mattered, even when the amount didn’t.
I was told this was to help feed people who were hungry. But even at that age, I was skeptical. I’d look at that jar — maybe a dollar’s worth of coins rattling around in the bottom — and think: there is no way this is feeding anybody.
And then came the first Sunday of the month.
On the way to church, we’d bring our little jar with us. We’d stop at a table in the narthex where an enormous glass jar sat waiting. And one by one, families like ours would pour the contents of their little jars into the big one. The sound alone was something — a cascade of coins from families, young adults, older folks — all that small change becoming something you could actually see and hear and feel.
Something shifted in me in those moments. I couldn’t have named it then, but I can now: my generosity wasn’t small. It was part of something much larger than me. Alone, my tiny assortment of coins couldn’t do much. But joined with the generosity of everyone around me — it was abundance. Real, tangible, overflowing abundance.
Which brings me to the Better Together initiative we launched last month. As you know, Better Together is the name we’ve given our Mission Partnership Giving effort this year, the annual invitation for our sessions to prayerfully consider their part in our presbytery’s shared ministry. Because here’s the conviction underneath it all: generosity was never really a budget question. It’s a response — our response to a God who gave first, and gave everything. When our churches give to this presbytery, we’re not filling a line item on a spreadsheet. We’re doing as a presbytery what those families did at that narthex table — pouring our small jars into something larger, something shared, something that becomes abundance together.
Already you’ve heard two amazing stories on how Providence Presbytery has made an impact (you can read them again, and learn more about Better Together, HERE).
Thank you for being part of this journey - and know I’m grateful that we are always “better together!”
Live in hope,
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