You know the Stone Soup tale. A hungry traveler arrives in a village seeking a place to rest and a bit of nourishment. The townspeople, tired and hungry themselves, shoo him away. He promises to make soup from a stone. It seems preposterous, but eventually the villagers stop worrying about how little they have and focus on what they can contribute. They discover abundance where they’d seen only scarcity. The pot overflows with potatoes, onions, beans, beef, carrots, herbs, and on and on.

Nourishing, plentiful, and co-created in community, “Stone Soup” is like First Parish in Lincoln. Day in and day out, FPL is the spiritual soup that feeds our souls, quenches our thirst for belonging, and gives us the strength to seek and serve. FPL is bubbling with inspiring Sunday worship, lively fellowship, action-oriented racial justice, spiritual discernment, growing numbers of youth, green initiatives, and pastoral care. Theology is on tap, poetry is on ZOOM, transcendentalist meditations are running through our minds and on our trails. Joy is everywhere.

But just like Stone Soup, FPL depends on generosity. Generosity with time: showing up to worship, grieve, and celebrate together. Generosity with our talents: singing, leading, teaching, baking, praying, telling stories, offering compassion. Generosity with our “treasure”: aligning our financial resources with our passion, commitment, and deepest longings. We live in a culture that tells us we don’t have enough time, talent, or money. There is so much more joy when we share it.