Learning Partnership

On Tuesday, I (Bill) was talking with a neighbor who lives off an alley here in Wrigley. She’s a single mom trying to take care of her little family even though Covid has shut down her place of work so she’s been cut off from that income. Our Food Team had brought by a large supply of staples earlier in the day. As she and I chatted a bit about neighborhood life she mentioned that another mom who lives a couple blocks down from her has been struggling to feed her five children. So this single mom had cleared out her pantry and made a box of goods to share with her friend and her five kids. She told me she was planning on doing it again with the new supplies that had been dropped off - sharing them freely with her friend.

This is exactly what we’ve been reflecting on this week - how Ruth and Naomi, both pushed to the edges of power in society and in great need, demonstrate remarkable fortitude, initiative, and personal power. They partner together to demonstrate love, care, and the very kingdom of God.

This is exactly the kind of partnership that Paul wrote about to his friends in Philippi:

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. - Philippians 4:14-16

What might it look like for you, in order to become more generous, more partnered with others, and more on mission with Jesus, to be taught by those who have few worldly resources?