Our feelings today about the role of money and the other valuable resources in our lives are intimately connected to what we were taught or shown in the past by our parents, families, partners and friends. Looking back can help us determine how we have come to certain conclusions about our money and how that relates to our relationship with God.
Helen LaKelly Hunt writes that we must make that connection with our own history and tradition in order to move forward: “We [should] reflect and draw on the faith traditions of our parents and grandparents. When we sever ourselves from our tradition, we cut ourselves off from what is vital and living in our souls…the prayers and wishes that our mothers and grandmothers held in their hearts for us” (Faith and Feminism: A Holy Alliance, Atria Books, 2004).
When you were a child, how did your family express generosity? How do you and your family express generosity today?
This message is excerpted from Grace-Full Living, a 2009 resource of the Women of the ELCA. Today we commemorate Francis Xavier, missionary to Asia, 1552. All are welcome to attend a Blue Christmas service via Zoom, December 21 at 7 p.m. (CST).
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