Where does charity begin?

“What are you doing this weekend?” “Oh, I’m mountain-biking from Chatsworth to Sheffield.” “I’m climbing Britain’s three highest mountains in 24 hours.”

You guessed it, we’ve hit the peak charity fund-raising season. Maybe it’s the people I hang around with, desperate to prove themselves in some kind of mid-life crisis, but lots of them seem to be volunteering to do fun stunts or challenges, to raise money for worthy charities.

My wife somehow volunteered this week to join The Message Trust, who run the Foundation Community Grocery near Park Hill. Their team were sitting in a hot-tub, every hour on the hour while live-streaming to social media, only the tub was filled with ice-cold water.

What motivates a person to raise money, or volunteer previous time and energy, on behalf of others?

The saying goes: ‘charity begins at home’. I guess that means that until we’ve cleaned up our own problems close to home, we shouldn’t worry about anybody else’s.

I disagree with that.

Last weekend about a dozen folk from my church funded themselves on a trip to the migrant centres on the French coast. They volunteered with ‘Care4Calais’ who look out for the welfare of people seeking refuge in a new nation, often fleeing war or terror at home, fending for themselves and detached from the rest of their family. My friends did simple things like disposing of several hundred sacks of rubbish because the French authorities won’t provide bins, or running water. Some readers of this blog will have been through the Calais camps a few years ago, and now call Sheffield, the City of Sanctuary, their home. Some will be volunteering themselves for local charities.

In the bible, Jesus said: “whoever has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke’s Gospel) chapter 7 verse 47).

I’d say that charity begins in the heart. We can be generous to others, when we realise how generous God is to us, or how others have found space in their hearts to reach out in care towards us.

CAP debt relief charity helps people to establish a tight weekly budget that eventually repays their debts. Clients are encouraged to donate a tiny weekly amount back to the charity, so it can multiply its services to others in need. People willingly agree.

Can we be humble enough to support charities without thinking about what it might cost us? Let’s cultivate an attitude of gratitude.