Something wonderful happens each year around this time.
First, Thanksgiving invites us to pause and be grateful. It's so easy for problems and expectations to cloud our thoughts. How healthy it is to pause and be consciously thankful. Even if the list is short, gratefulness orients us constructively.
Etty Hillesum is one of my teachers. She died at age 29 in a concentration camp. Etty nurtured thankfulness and hope despite her circumstances, always insisting that life is beautiful. She talked to God through her journal: "Even if I should be locked up in a narrow cell and a cloud should drift past my small barred window, then I shall bring you that cloud, oh God, where there is still the strength in me to do so." There is always something to give thanks for, even through prison bars.
Christmas and the other December holidays bring lights and music and gifts into the darkest time of the year. It is a season inviting us to reconnect with family and friends with generosity and cheer. It is the giving season.
The Thanksgiving-Christmas spirit is particularly important for non-profit programs that serve so many good purposes. For many charities, December is the biggest donation month of the year. This is the season when we express our thankfulness through our generosity to organizations doing healing work in our community and elsewhere.
One of the good things about living in Northwest Arkansas is that there is a robust network of non-profit services and volunteers. Now is a great time to express your support and to make a donation. Online options make that very easy.
So many problems seem so big, and our resources can seem so small. When we offer our support to a non-profit, we share in a constructive response to those needs that are bigger than we are. That's a good feeling.
What touches your heart? Where would you like to make a difference? There's probably a non-profit organization working on that.
I've had the opportunity to help start two local non-profits to address problems that touched my heart. My parishioner Kimberly Gross researched the need for a day-center with resources to help neighbors experiencing homelessness. She mapped the "seven hills" that people need to climb to reach security. With support from churches and from a network of people with similar interests, we founded 7hills Homeless Center to provide a wide range of basic needs and to collaborate with other organizations. We added the HOPE program to provide rapid rehousing, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing. It's a terrific program.
There is another need that touched my heart. An acquaintance died tragically. She attended our church's worship services in the Northwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center, and she participated in our Prison Stories project. After her prison term she was sober and hopeful, but she returned to the same place that got her in trouble in the first place. A few weeks after her release, she died from a suspicious overdose.
Brokenhearted, several of us said "we've got to do something." We found a great model in Nashville, and created Magdalene Serenity House, a two-year residential program helping women rebuild their lives after trauma, sexual exploitation, addiction and incarceration. It is working beautifully, healing families and communities.
That's just two local non-profits close to my heart. They are making a difference in our region. In an 11-county area of Northwest Arkansas there are over 7,000 non-profit organizations serving our neighbors. They are making a difference. Whatever is on your heart, you can find and support organization working to meet that need.
One other note of thanks. I am grateful for the many ways we support one another through meaningful government programs. Of course, we don't pay taxes as a gift, but taxes underwrite important, life-giving purposes. And some problems are just too big for our well-meaning charity work.
It is clear to me that voluntary charity alone is not enough to create a safe, caring society. I once researched the total income of all American churches. It approximates the value of just one major anti-poverty program, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) supplemental nutrition program. I am grateful when our nation creates structures to protect and encourage one another.
Soon we will hear music reminding us "it's the most wonderful time of the year." Joyfully embrace this season. It's a time for thankfulness and generosity.