Do hard times call for extra generosity?

Do hard times call for extra generosity?

Giving is a spiritual discipline like prayer. Or maybe I should say prayer is a spiritual discipline like giving.

At my church, we pray. Every Sunday. We don’t ask whether people feel like praying, we just jump right in. We pray on Wednesdays. And on the days in between.

We have a prayer calendar with names on each day of the month so that we can pray for each other. I get a daily email with the names of people in that day’s calendar entry. It’s always a very good day when I see my own name on the list. People are praying for me!

Emails and phone calls go forth when someone needs prayer.

What I gather from all these communications and opportunities to pray - both collectively and individually, regularly and spontaneously - is that prayer is important. We don’t just pray for ourselves, we pray for our neighbours, for the wider church and for the world. I value these places and spaces of prayer.

Prayer takes practice. Sometimes it’s the hard times where we really lean into prayer, times when we cannot pretend to be in control of our lives any longer.

Generosity takes practice. I wonder if hard times are also an occasion to lean into generosity. Fear would make us hold on tighter, but perfect love casts out fear.

Maybe it’s a both/and situation where we need to lean into both prayer and giving. Here’s a generosity prayer:

Lord, help us to live gratefully and generously. Help us not to rely on our resources but to lean into your lovingkindness, your mercy and your peace. Amen.