Gift Day Now and Then

Emily shares with us a Gift Day from the 1830s

In 1833 my great-great-great-great grandfather, John Barrett, and his brother Caleb donated 400 slates towards the building of Stonesfield Primary School, just 10 miles away from Chipping Norton.

During that time, many members of the community gave what they could in order to bring the project to completion. Diving into the history books, the list of pledges for this  project reads rather differently than the list of pledges for our own Building to Serve project! We read that;

• The Marquis of Blandford pledged £10 in timber
• Mr. Goddard pledged £3 of stone,
• Mr. Fidlar gave a carriage load of mortar, and
• two men - Timothy Moss and James Griffin - presumably having nothing material to offer - both pledged an evening's work: quite a sacrifice for men who had already laboured a full day to feed their families.

I wonder what people made of this building project, and of the brothers' pledge of 400 slates at the time? Did people marvel at the scale of the project? Did they question the need to educate the children of miners and farm labourers? Were there people who thought the money would be better spent elsewhere?

John and Caleb may have hoped, but could never have known, that the building would go on to to be the place where the next six generations of their family would be educated. Neither could they have known that over 180 years later the building would still be a place where the lonely would find friendship, the faithful would worship God, and children from all social backgrounds would meet each school holiday to learn more about Jesus.

What motivates a person to such an act of generosity? Presumably a desire for a better society is one reason. However, another local history book provides a clue that there might be another reason. John Barrett's son, David, who was a great musician in the local chapel, is quoted as saying;

"When I get to heaven I will get one side of the Saviour with my bass viol, and King David on the other with his harp, and we will make heaven's arches ring".

Seemingly the playing of music and the giving of material gifts are both expressions of love, by this family, for their Saviour!

How then, does all this relate to our building project in the present day? Most of us don't own a slate mine or equivalent (or perhaps we do!), but the Bible shows us that any gift given with a willing heart; anything from a golden temple (2 Chronicles 6:41) right through to the seemingly humblest of gifts (Luke 21:1-4) is noticed by God, and is blessed and honoured.

"For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have." 2 Corinthians 8:12