Photo by rick

By April Yamasaki

When I completed my pastoral ministry last fall, our Vietnamese church-within-a-church planned a special farewell service on Thanksgiving Sunday. I had been part of the ministry support team when the church was first planted, part of the visioning for the church to develop in the context of the main congregation where I served as lead pastor. We dreamed together of a Vietnamese Christian church with its own identity and practice yet part of our overall ministry. I worked closely with the pastor and other leaders, had joined them for worship and community outreach events many times, celebrating baptisms and communion, taking part in a funeral and officiating at a wedding.

For the combined farewell and Thanksgiving service, the church invited two other churches to join us. They bought twenty copies of my new book to give as gifts for their own leadership and for the leadership of the other two churches. They asked me to speak along with two other speakers. They planned special music. They planned a banquet of Vietnamese foods, including 200 handmade spring rolls because they knew the spring rolls were among my favorites. I received cards and many hugs, and the church even took a special love offering to give to me.

“All of this is too much,” I protested. “You are too generous.”

“We need to practice how to give thanks and say goodbye,” said the pastor.

“You hardly need the practice,” I said to him. “You could give lessons to other churches!” I felt overwhelmed by their generosity and love.

Now as I look back on that experience, I realize that it was a beautiful example of what Aristotle calls “liberality”: generosity, open-handedness, a willingness to give freely. The word applies both to the money we give away and how we spend what we keep. Both to acts of generosity and to the attitudes that lie behind them. Liberality is both what we do and a disposition of the heart. I saw and felt the liberality of the Vietnamese church as we said our goodbyes that night.

I also now realize that the spirit of liberality wasn’t only for that one night. It showed itself countless times over the years – in the many prayers lifted up for the concerns of the church, in the way different families took turns preparing and providing a noon meal for everyone who came for worship, in the thoughtfulness of the pastor’s wife who would bring me something whenever she saw me: a basket of blueberries or a papaya from the market or whatever else she had to share that day. Liberality shaped their relationships with one another and with those beyond their own small group.

When Jesus sent his disciples out to serve, he said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8, New American Standard Bible). He went on to talk about money, but clearly his instructions were not confined to financial matters. Whatever mercy, whatever forgiveness, whatever blessing the disciples had received, they were to pass that on to others just as freely.

I’m grateful for the way our Vietnamese church has embodied Jesus’ teaching over the years, and I pray a blessing on them and on all of us. May God’s abundant mercy and blessing continue to refresh and inspire us. May we grow in thankfulness and generosity to those in the family of faith and beyond. Amen and Amen.

April Yamasaki is an ordained minister with 25 years experience as the lead pastor of a mid-size, multi-staff church. She is now Resident Author with Valley CrossWay Church, which is a liturgical worship community, and the Editor of Purpose, a monthly magazine featuring stories of everyday inspiration. Her most recent book is Four Gifts: Seeking Self-Care for Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. For more information, see aprilyamasaki.com and WhenYouWorkfortheChurch.com.