Chunk Change

The phrase removes any value from the coins that are collected during a day. They are only kept to keep from breaking the extra dollar when the cost is $5.18. In the evening, men, especially, empty pockets and pile them on a dresser. Some families collect until a jar is full and add them up to see if there are enough for a treat. My church had drive by togetherness on Sunday. We honked and waved at each other as we circled between cones. I dropped off masks I had made at one station and picked up a card with a church member name to contact at another.

Someone’s brilliant idea was for all of us to turn in coins to go to an organization that supplies lunches for poverty people. I had been stockpiling change in a wooden “Dime Box” that was husband David’s side line deal at one time. A friend who lives farther from church consigned her mahjong coins for me to donate. The line slowed as we went under tents that collected the offerings. Most people wanted to look in the bin and see how the contents were growing. Children giggled as they tossed a plastic sack or some even screeched as they dumped their bags over to hear and see the coins scatter in the mix. This seemed like a feel good way to help without doing much.

I came away aware “Here’s my penny,” was not enough. We can be penny pinchers or penny saved, a pound earned people. Either way takes care of ourselves. I was forced to think a diversity of essential yearnings: hunger, shelter, providing the sustaining grace of worship. Our church offering will help buy bread and fruit, and each day in a variety of places other consistent gifts are needed. Mother Teresa left her monastery to start Sisters of Charity with two pennies. She was asked what she could possibly do with two pennies. She said, ” Nothing. But with two pennies, and God, I can do anything.” The coins I gave are a reminder that I need to move as I can beyond “chunk change.”

A Story From Another Time

 Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts.  I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could – far more than they could afford! –  pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians. This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5