Songs and Stories for Giving Week

It's nice to have a little inspiration, isn't it? Here are some songs and stories to help us along in growing into generosity.

Love Reaches Out is my favorite for this.

"Answering the Call of Love" is #1014 in Singing the Journey. (The song was formerly titled "Standing on the Side of Love.") Also in this little teal hymnal are

• "Building a New Way,"
• "Come and Go with Me,"
•  "Lean on Me," and
• "Love Knocks and Waits for Us to Hear."

"For All that is Our Life" is in Singing the Living Tradition. "To build the common good/ And make our own days glad" is definitely the spirit of Giving Week.
Other songs to check out in this volume include

• "Love Will Guide Us," 
• "Be That Guide," 
• "We'll Build a Land," 
• "From the Crush of Wealth and Power," and 
• "Can I See Another's Woe?"--all these are close together in the low 100s, since the book is organized thematically. 
• "We Would Be One," is another good one, and there's also 
• "What Gift Can We Bring."
• From You I Receive is a simple song suited for all ages in Singing the Living Tradition as well, and also printed in the children's hymnal Come, Sing a Song with Me.

"I Will Not Pass By" by Joyce Poley is a song based, of course, on the story of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25...). I haven't found the song online anywhere.
From the book of Matthew (chapter 25, verses 35-40) we have direct instructions on giving generously.

The Power of Half is the story of a family who decided that generosity was worth making huge changes in their lives. Here's a news article that sums it up.

If you like Ted talks, there are several about generosity on YouTube.

After a few years, I found that there are other people who celebrate Giving Week in India and Singapore. That's neat. I'd love to see it catch on that way in the US as well.

Enjoy. :)