What Gift Will You Offer?

Her name is Erika and she and her mom are active in the Gray Memorial Church in Caribou, Maine. Erika loves to color. She is an artist.

I first became aware of her when talking with pastor Rev. Tim Wilcox regarding the ministry area of stewardship. We were discussing people sharing their gifts, whatever it was, for the glory of God. He told me that when Covid hit back in March and they closed the church, Erika decided to send some of her artwork to the people she was no longer seeing each Sunday. She wanted them to know she was thinking of them and missing them.

As the pandemic continued, she asked her mother for the names of other people in her church with whom she could share her pictures. Soon Erika’s pictures were being mailed out into the community. People started writing back and to let her know how beautiful and precious her work was. They thanked her for sharing her talent with them. The mailing list continued to expand to include leaders in her community, the governor of Maine, and more. In Mid-December, her mom shared that she had sent out between 800 and 1,000 of Erika’s pictures to bring beauty and love to people’s lives.

Just before Christmas, I received a Christmas card from Erika and her mom. I hoped what might be inside… and then, there it was. A folded picture that Erika had done of the baby Jesus! It was as she saw it, not as we are taught to see it. I broke into a huge smile. Even though we’d only recently met, she told her mom she wanted to send me one of her pictures. I saw this gift as one of welcome into her sacred community and to remind me that I was accepted for who I was. The good news is that each of us have gifts that can offer the same hope to those with who we share them.

Erika’s ministry of art is a reminder to all of us that stewardship is more than monetary. It’s more than how much we give each week in the offering. It is about sharing that which we’ve been given, gifted, and blessed by God. Stewardship is the outward and visible signs of our inner and personal relationship with Christ.

What gifts of love, grace, welcome, and hope might we give others in the name of Christ?

“Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice.” Matthew 10:42 – The Message