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Stewardship Idea for 2019

The two book clubs have read a book called “Christmas Jars” this year. We were inspired by the story
and how it could be used by members of Trinity as they contemplate their stewardship for 2019. The story
begins when a young lady’s apartment is broken into on Christmas Eve. After the police come she dis-
covers a jar of money, mostly coins, by her door. It had not been there a few minutes ago. She is a news-
paper columnist and decides she needs to find the story behind the jar and several others that have been
left in past years, as she finds the stories in the newspaper files. She finds that the story began with a
young couple who, feeling the lack of money as they neared their first Christmas together, decide to put
all the coins in their pocket or purse each night into an empty jar. Because they decided this only a cou-
ple weeks before Christmas they did not have much money to spend on each other that year. In subse-
quent years they started saving in earlier in the year until they begin saving the day after Christmas – and
each year needed to increase the size of the jar they used. As their children came along they continued

the tradition to go shopping on Christmas Eve and to also change the coins into bills at the bank before
they went. Clerks in the store did not appreciate being paid in all coins! As their children grew older they
rotated the opportunity to carry the jar into the bank. One year the daughter carrying the jar noticed a
young lady sitting on a bench near the bank, looking lonely and sad. Without asking her parents, she
walked over to the lady and told her she looked like she needed the jar and gave it to her. This surprised
the lady, but also helped her – as is revealed later in the story. This event changed the way the family
used their jar of money in future years. Instead of using the money for themselves, they would leave it on
someone else’s porch so that that person or family could use it as they wished. They kept this up for
many years. We are sure any member of the book club would be willing to share the book if you want to
read the entire story. There are some plot lines we have not revealed. (Mary has a copy she is willing to
lend. It’s a short book, a quick read.)

We thought that this might be an idea members of Trinity could do during 2019. The family gave their jar
to someone they thought could use the money. Some people used the gift by passing it along to others
less fortunate than them.

It is just an idea – not a mandatory stewardship task. Collect the money and then give it away anony-
mously to someone. It could be the Salvation Army or other charitable organization or maybe you could
tuck it into a DEC food basket at Thanksgiving, making sure no one sees you!

Put a label on the jar when you start and see what happens in 2019. Here is a label for your jar.

Paula Rau and Mary Nuss
Stewardship Team

Christmas Jar

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