Giving what we can
Dear Editor:
I read Ralph Schwartz’s Oct. 1 report about Give Methow with an unusual feeling of hope. Fifty nonprofit organizations are participating this year, including groups caring for older neighbors, distributing food, protecting the land and providing emergency services. The campaign even offers a “Give To All” option that spreads contributions among participating organizations.
That last detail stayed with me. We live in a world that often asks us to choose which good cause deserves to win. Yet the needs of a community are not opponents in a contest.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, I think of Paul’s description of the church in 1 Corinthians 12. One body has many members, and each has a part to play. A hand is not a foot. An eye is not an ear. Their differences are the very reason they need each other.
A food pantry cannot replace an ambulance. A senior care center cannot replace the programs that preserve a valley’s natural places. And not every neighbor can afford a large donation. The lesson of the widow’s offering in Mark 12 is that a gift’s meaning is not confined to its size.
I live in Fort Collins, Colorado, and I am not a Give Methow organizer or participant. But I admire the invitation to see the valley as a community of connected needs rather than competing causes.
Christ calls us to love our neighbors in the concrete circumstances of their lives. Sometimes that begins with giving what we can, without demanding that one worthy neighbor matter more than another.
Douglas Vandergraph
Fort Collins, Colorado
