On Our Minds

During Connections Hour at 11am on Sunday, October 27, Ami will talk about the Love Let Go experience and the power of generosity. Join her at Winnetka Presbyterian, 1255 Willow Road in Winnetka.

In this post, Rev. Janet Karvonen-Montgomery shares how her personal experience of receiving an unconventional loan led her to use her $300 windfall to lend to others.

Reverend Patrick Joiner’s distribution of one-dollar bills reminds us of Dan West’s walk through his neighborhood (chapter 5 of the Love Let Go). Read more about Patrick’s experience here.

Pastor Betsy Hoium spread her $300 windfall across generations. She shares in her blog that she learned “money is a human creation and a means, but not an end. In the best of circumstances money can be used to love God and love neighbor — doing God’s work in the world, thinking of others before ourselves and providing opportunities to develop our God-given gifts.”

The second blog from the Love Let(s) Go pastor retreat comes from Rev. Horacio Castaldo who gave his surprise $300 windfall to the Union Gospel Mission, a ministry that preaches Christ to people who have lost everything due to drug or alcohol addiction. Read more here: https://www.spas-elca.org/generosity-spreads-gospel/

Last summer a group of ministers from the St. Paul area participated in a retreat titled Love Let(s) Go, inspired by our book. Ami spent a day with the group, facilitating discussion and helping them rethink stewardship within their congregations. At the end of the retreat, the bishop handed each of them a $300 check to do God’s work, a la LoveLetGo. Each pastor was asked to submit a blog post. Over the next few weeks, we will share their reflections. Here is the first, from Pastor Julie Wright of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church. She in turn created her own Love Let Go experience: https://www.spas-elca.org/a-generosity-ripple-effect/