This past Sunday, at the end of the sermon, I asked the ushers to come back up to the chancel and to bring their offering baskets with them. I don’t know what folks were thinking – maybe that I was going to ask for a second go-round of people digging deep?

It was the opposite. We filled the offering baskets then passed them back out. Everyone 14 years old and above was invited to take a $20 bill to do some good in the world.

This was inspired by the story of Larry Dean Stewart, the “Secret Santa” of Kansas City. For 25 years, he handed out money to strangers, especially people who might be a little down on their luck. And for this, he was inspired back in 1971 by Ted Horn, a kind diner owner who gave him $20 when he was down on his luck.

What will you do with your $20? You can do like Larry, spotting someone who looks a little sad, or a little in need, with a kindly, “You must have dropped this.” Or donate it to an organization that is doing good work in the world. Perhaps you want to pool it with others to do something grand. Maybe your employer matches donations and you can leverage its power. Or maybe, like a couple in our church 9 years ago, you’re going to buy the supplies to make soup for those who could use a hot meal.

There are no rules. You can add some of your own money, if you’re feeling flush, but that absolutely is not expected. I do have a request, but it’s optional. Send an email to me at minister@liveoakuu.org and let me know what you did with it. We’ll be sharing those stories later. Anonymously, just like it was with Secret Santa and Elf 32A.

And if you want some ideas, here’s what happened the last time we did a reverse offering: Gift of the Magi. (We passed out $10 bills that year.)