Cleansing Generosity

 

Read the following Adam Hamilton's book, Luke. He's talking about Jesus' response to the Pharisees criticizing Jesus for not ritually washing his hands (Luke 11:37-38).  Jesus tells them that they are foolish for worrying about what is outside when it is what is inside that is unclean:

It would be like, he says, washing the outside of a cup but not the inside.  Then he offers this one little line that touches on what we learned in the last chapter, "Give to those in need from the core of who you are and you will be clean all over." (11:41). The act of generosity to the poor actually serves to cleanse our hearts and souls?  Yes, in that act we lift up the lowly, we become instruments of God.  We deny ourselves and take up our cross.

I talk about generosity a lot in the work I do.  I often talk about generosity as part of discipleship, and I talk about how being generous is one of the ways we fulfill our potential of being the image of God, God who is generous.  I talk about generosity as one of the ways we respond to God's generosity towards us.  Amid all of that, I've never thought of generosity as a way we are cleansed. 

It does make sense, though. I do believe generosity is transformational, and what is transformation if it is not changing who we are on the inside.

Why Worry About Mission? Part 2

This is the second post of a devotional I shared at our Generosity event.

I want to tell you stories of three men. 

 

In 2010, I was the chairperson of the strategic planning committee of my church.  I asked them (after some other work we did) to share what they thought a five year goal should be for the church.  One man’s answer: to still exist.

I think very highly of this man.  He is a good person, a loyal member of the church who contributes greatly to its ministry – in many ways.  I think his view of church is shaped by not only the outside culture and his way of doing business, but also by the culture of our churches. I think we sometimes operate out of fear and scarcity, and I truly believe we will not be a successful church – in God’s eyes – when we do that.  “Please come to our church and bring your checkbook.”  “Please come to our church so that we won’t die.” 

 

Where does our mission fit into that?

 

The second man is Henri Nouwen.  If you haven’t read something written by Henri Nouwen, go find anything, and read it.  I think you won’t be sorry.  You might want to start with Henri Nouwen's book, "The Spirituality of Fundraising.” In that book, he writes:

 

Fund-raising is precisely the opposite of begging. When we seek to raise funds, we are not saying, "Please, could you help us out because lately it's been hard." Rather, we are declaring, "We have a vision that is amazing and exciting.  We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you - your energy, your prayers, and your money - in this work to which God has called us."

 

He also wrote, “Fundraising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission.”  Maybe that’s why Jesus told the Disciples to “Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt.” Maybe this gave them the opportunity to invite others into Christ’s mission.

 

The story of the third man is from a devotional that one of our Trustees provided at a committee meeting. She had been visiting family in another state and went to church there.  She met a man at the church who had become involved in mission work.  He said, “I don’t have time to play at being church.” 

 

I think that’s true of all of us – we don’t have time to play at being a church.  It’s time to be church.

 

Getting back to Luke 9.  What happened next?  The next bit of scripture in the 9^th chapter of Luke is where Jesus asks this question: “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

 

We have resources we haven’t even noticed yet. We have been equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit. We have been given a mission by Christ to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick.”  Will we tell others who Christ is? Will our churches reach out and heal people, proclaim peace and justice, and love a hurting world? Will we use the gifts we have been given wisely as competent stewards? Will we invite other people into God’s ministry?

 

Or will we just hope to exist in five years?

 

Please pray with me…

 

God of abounding love and grace, we offer thanksgiving for each other and for the church you created.  Forgive us when we fail, and free us for joyful obedience.  Shape us into faithful stewards of your gifts so that when you send us out into your world, we can use the power you have provided to fulfill your mission.  In your son’s name, Amen.

Why Worry About Mission, Part 1

 The following two posts are a devotion I wrote for our Foundation's Academy of Faith and Generosity.

I think, when we read a passage of scripture, it’s important to expand our viewpoint, at least a little bit, and see what is happening around what we are reading. 

 

You may know that the Feeding of the 5000 (plus) story is in all four Gospels.  On Monday, Jeff read the passage from Matthew.  Today, I want to look at it from Luke – it’s in Chapter 9.  But let’s move back in the chapter a little bit – hear these words from Luke 9:1-6.

 

Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses. ² He sent them out to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. 3 He told them, “Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt. ⁴ Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. ⁵ Wherever they don’t welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” ⁶ They departed and went through the villages proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

 

In this passage, Jesus sends the 12 out to do ministry.  He doesn’t just randomly send them away – he equips them, and he gives them a mission: “proclaim God’s kingdom and heal the sick.” They were successful – so successful that Herod hears about it, and wonders if John the Baptist has come back to life.  Listen to verses 10-14:

¹⁰ When the apostles returned, they described for Jesus what they had done. Taking them with him, Jesus withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. ¹¹ When the crowds figured it out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about God’s kingdom, and healed those who were sick.  ¹² When the day was almost over, the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so that they can go to the nearby villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place.”¹³ He replied, “You give them something to eat.” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.”

We know what happens next, right – Jesus feeds them with the five loaves and two fish. But what really interests me today in this passage is that the Disciples had been sent out on a mission – a mission they understood. They were untrusted with power – power that they used so successfully that even Herod heard about it – and they come back – I imagine – brimming with the excitement of what had happened so that they have to tell Jesus about it.

 

And then they can’t imagine that they could feed people.

Manna and God, part 2

Continued from yesterday

For the Israelites, God made his presence obvious. Hear verses 16-18

16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Collect as much of it as each of you can eat, one omer (o-mer – about 2 quarts) per person. You may collect for the number of people in your household.’” 17 The Israelites did as Moses said, some collecting more, some less. 18 But when they measured it out by the omer, the ones who had collected more had nothing left over, and the ones who had collected less had no shortage. Everyone collected just as much as they could eat.

They were told to only collect what they could eat in that one day.  When they tried to keep the leftovers until the next day, the manna would be spoiled by worms.  On the day before the Sabbath, they were told to collect enough for two days so that they could rest on the seventh day.

My study Bible says that manna is a pun.  When the Israelites say it, they said, "What is it?" -- Man (What) hu (is it)?  Man hu  You can hear the name of the food.

How often do we look at God's providence - God's manna -- and say, "What is it?"  I think there are times we don't even recognize it.  I would propose another level to the pun -- Man says huh?

Manna was to teach the Israelites to rely on God – to trust that God was with them.  To see the world with eyes of abundance instead of scarcity.  Even the command to collect double on the day before the Sabbath and to "rest" on the Sabbath, is another way to teach them to trust God.  God is in the room – open your eyes so that you can see.

I wonder if the disciples looked at the baskets of leftovers after feeding 5000 men, and more women, and more children, from 2 loaves and 5 fish, if they said Huh?  

God is with us.  Manna will come. We can feed more than we even imagined and there will be leftovers.   Let’s not say "Huh?" but instead, remember that God is in the room, and trust and obey.

I know that we come this morning with worries and problems on our minds. Let’s begin the day together in prayer.  I’m going to start a prayer, and then give you an opportunity to silently lift to God what weighs on your heart – the room in your mind that you might not have invited God into yet.  I’ll give you a full minute – I know it will feel like a day, but just pray, and remember that God is here.

Please pray with me…

O God of manna and bread, God of fish and quail, God of Moses, Peter, and us, Open our eyes to see you with us. Remind us that you are in the room, in our lives, in the very midst of our problems.

Hear our prayers today as we lift them to you from our hearts.  (wait one minute)

Loving God, forgive us when we don’t see you, don’t remember you, don’t seek you. Change our thoughts of scarcity into the reality of abundance so that we may serve you more, and become your stewards of the gifts you provide. In your son’s name we pray, Amen.

Manna and God, part 1

The following two posts are a devotion I wrote for our Foundation's Academy of Faith and Generosity  

The Walk to Emmaus is a leadership development program that begins with a three-day retreat experience. For me, that three-day retreat was in the fall of 2006.  After that, I continued to participate in the community – helping with other walks, and eventually becoming part of the leadership team.   During one of the meetings of that team, we spent a lot of time talking about mattresses.  The walks our community sponsors are held in a United Methodist Church, and because the three-day walks involve three nights at the Church, the community owns mattresses. They are stored in the church’s attic, and when a walk is about to happen, we have a mattress party, pull the mattresses out of the attic, and prepare the sleeping rooms for the walk.

We were spending a lot of time during this one particular meeting talking about mattresses, because an un-related ministry had asked our community if they could borrow our mattresses for one of their events.  I can’t tell you how long we debated this question.  I can’t tell you because I’ve blocked it out.  It seemed to go on forever.  Until one of the pastors who was providing spiritual direction for the community said, “Jesus would want you to let them use the mattresses.”

Well, if you want to bring Jesus into the discussion.

It was an uncomfortable truth that we didn’t want to hear. We hadn’t even considered the radical question of being a faithful disciples to Christ in our discussion.  Maybe we were enjoying the power of owning the mattresses too much.  Maybe we were too lazy to think about pulling all of those mattresses out of the attic in service to someone else.  Maybe we just didn’t get it at all.

Have you ever been to a church meeting like that? Where you go on and on about a question or a problem, but no one ever even imagines that God might be in the room?

Yesterday, Jeff talked about the Feeding of the 5000.  The disciples came to Jesus and suggested he send the people away so that they could eat. Did the disciples ever consider that God was in the room?

Our scripture this morning is from Exodus 16. Verses 1-3 say:   

The whole Israelite community set out from Elim (ee-luhm) and came to the Sin desert, which is located between Elim and Sinai (si-ni) . They set out on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt. ² The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. ³ The Israelites said to them, “Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.”

It doesn’t sound to me like the Israelite ever considered that God was in the room.  We talk about having eyes that see abundance instead of scarcity, but I want us to hear today that when we forget that God is with us, that when God calls us to a particular work, that God will be part of what we are doing – when we forget that, we are seeing our world with eyes of scarcity. 

Continued on Wednesday...

Rambam's Ladder

I'm working through the steps to receive an Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising from Lake Institute on Faith and Giving, a part of the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.  As part of the class, I read the book Rambam's Ladder: A Meditation on Generosity and Why it is Necessary to Give by Julie Salamon. 

Rambam's ladder is an illustrative ladder that consists of eight rungs - each run another step in Charity.  It was conceived by a 12th century rabbi named Moses ben Maimon, known by his Greek name of Maimonides.  Rambam is an acronym of the first letters of his name.  The first rung is to give begrudgingly.  The next one is to give a small amount, but to do so cheerfully. As you "climb" the ladder, the focus shifts more to the dignity of the donor and the recipient, until you reach rung seven: To give to someone you don't know, and to do so anonymously.  The final rung is the gift of self-reliance, so that the recipient no longer needs to ask for help. 

Often in churches we talk about proportional giving - encouraging people to increase the percentage of their income that they donate to the church, with a goal of tithing.  What struck me about Rambam's ladder is that it is less transactional and more relational - with a focus on both the donor and the recipient. It seems to me that the Rambam's ladder approach (even if the rungs are not what we would choose) places more of an emphasis on spiritual development than proportional giving. Maybe we need to examine our approach to encouraging people to give in the church.

Stewardship and Generosity, Part 3

Continuing my thoughts from yesterday - are the words stewardship and generosity synonyms?

A stewardship that is an outgrowth of true discipleship, can't help but be a generous stewardship.  As disciples we learn about what it means to follow Christ. As stewards, we put what we have learned into action.  One of the ways we are Christ following stewards is that we give of what we have received, and in that giving, we reflect the nature of God in which we were created.

We are created in the image of God. As disciples, we learn what that means, and what God is calling us to do. As stewards of what we have learned and been given, we relect the nature of God within us.  What does that mean? 

As stewards, we are creative. We are kind. We love, we forgive, we stand for justice. And as stewards, we are generous - with our time, our heart, our gifts, and our money.  

Are stewardship and generosity synonyms?  No, I don't believe they are, but they are so wrapped up in each other that we might not be able to separate them.  The steward who is putting feet on his discipleship will be generous.  

It reminds me of the "great debate" over the words of James: "faith without words is dead." Works are such an expression of faith that without the words, we question the faith. Without generosity, we question whether the steward is reflecting the image of God and behaving as a disciple.

Stewardship and Generosity, Part 2

Continuing my thoughts from yesterday - are the words stewardship and generosity synonyms?

Yesterday, I wrote about my perceptions of the words discipleship and stewardship, largely formed from Dan R. Dick's book, Beyond Money.  I wrote about particular definitions of each word, and how they relate. 

Today, let's define generosity.  Bishop Robert Schnase, in his book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, defines extravagant generosity this way:

As people grow in relationship to Christ, they grow also in the practice of extravagant generosity, offering more of themselves for the purposes of Christ and providing the resources that strengthen ministry and that help the church touch the lives of more and more people in thee same way their own lives have been transformed by God.

For me, generosity is a characteristic of God.  God has given us life, all that we have, all the gifts we possess, all that is good around us.  God gave us his son, and his son gave his life for us.  We are created in the image of God, and by grace, we become (are transformed) more and more into that image every day.  Generosity, as one of the spiritual gifts we receive as we grow more like God, is one of the ways we reflect God's image in us.

Extravagant Love

Have you seen this YouTube video from Pizza Hut?



 It's called Big Pizza Delivery - and it shows a pizza delivery done with mega-caroling. It's caroling beyond anything anyone has ever done, I think. Extravagant. Beyond the limits of expectation. It's caroling that is beyond the realm of what anyone might expect.

 At our bible study last week, we talked about hope vs expectation. When we have expectations, we have in mind what might happen. We can imagine what might happen. When we have hopes, what can happen can be beyond our expectations. It is unimaginable. It can be beyond the realm of words or thought. That's what advent is. It is the breaking in of God in ways we never could have imagined or thought.

 Have you loved anyone like that this week? Have you done something that was extravagant - and I don't mean extravagant spending, I mean extravagant in what is expected of you?

 Our son called early this week because he needed a some supplies for an assignment he is working on. He is incredibly busy at school, with more that 20 hours. He had something like four papers and two projects due after Thanksgiving, three juries this week and then seven or finals next week. And a concert on Tuesday. He called about an hour and a half before the concert to ask for the supplies, so that we could bring them to him.

He didn't realize that buying the supplies meant traveling way our of our way before going to the concert, rushing around to get it all done, and possibly missing our only opportunity for dinner. And he even told us he could wait until tomorrow for them - he was asking us now because he thought it would be easy for us to bring them to him when we attended his concert.

Steve and I made an intentional decision to drive out to Office Depot, go beyond expectations into hope. By bringing him what he needed, we knew that he could work on the project that night, wouldn't worry about shopping for the supplies - and that it was something we could do to help him during this busy time.

When Josh saw the Office Depot bag, he knew what it meant, He knew what we had done, and he felt (I hope), extravagantly loved. Not because of any amount of money, but because of our investment of time and effort in his needs.

Have you loved anyone extravagantly this week? Have you caroled extravagantly? Made someone feel loved beyond expectation, the way you are loved?

Miracle Reminders

I wrote earlier that our bible study had challenged its own members and the congregation to FILL the harvest altar, as a mission miracle.  This is the harvest altar on the Sunday we collected food.

The whole project served to remind me of a few things:

1. That people are willing to give.  They are generous.  They want to give.  They (and I) just need to be asked, and need to understand the good that will come of their giving.  Otherwise, we forget.
2. That miracles can be ordinary actions of ordinary people, moved by God (hence the miracle) to change the world.  We should never forget that.
3. That this is church. This is what we are to be about.  

The Father's Eyes

Yesterday, I talked about using one of Nouwen's questions in Bible study to open our hearts to where we can love more generously. That post brought to mind for me a video that I saw on Facebook.  It tells the story of a young business man who is hurrying through his morning, leaving home, driving a car, stopping to get coffee at a "Starbucks-like" place.  All through his morning, we hear his innermost thoughts.  In his mind, he sarcastically speaks to other drivers, other people in line at the coffeeshop.  He recites to himself how they are all getting in his way, how they are too slow, and how he is being inconvenienced by their presence.

While he sits and waits, impatiently, for his coffee, someone hands him a glasses case that says, "Get Service."  He opens it up and inside is a pair of glasses.  He puts them on, and he can see what problem each person is facing in his or her life, written in front of them.  He looks at the person who brings him coffee, and sees "fighting addiction" written out in the space in front of him. The young mother on the street, with her two children, have words that say, "Single mother, barely making ends meet."  A teenager has run away from home.  Instead of seeing how these people have inconvenienced him, he begins to see them with God's eyes, seeing what their problems are, and learning how he can be of service to them.

What if we had glasses like that?  What if we had eyes like that?  What if we could see other people's problems, and felt God's pull to love them more generously?  How would our world be different?  How would we be different?

It's easy for me to see how someone is causing me a problem.  It's harder to see beyond that and to find where I can love more generously, serve more fully.  There are times when I just don't want to do that, and yet God calls me to it.

A More Generous Love

Several years ago I was a student in a Disciple I class.  The teacher of that class taught us several ways to move deeper into a Biblical passage - questions to ask of any passage to seek out the meaning in it.  Those bible study techniques have stuck with me, and I often use them when I teach, to lead the class into the passage.

I was reading Nouwen's book, Here and Now, this morning. The chapter I read was about reading spiritually.  We often read to gain knowledge, but to read spiritually, is to allow God to read us.  He says, "Spiritual reading is reading with an inner attentiveness to the movement of God's Spirit in our outer and inner lives.  With that attentiveness, we will allow God to read us and to explain to us what we are truly about."

It's a different way of reading, isn't it?

Nouwen writes that we should ask the question, "How does God speak to me here and call me to a more generous love?"  I like that as a way to read the Bible.  What is God using in this passage to lead me to a more generous love?  Using that question can allow God to read us - to point out to us where we are not being loving, not being generous.  Through that question, God can open our hearts to feel a more generous love toward someone else.

St. Nicholas, Part 1

December 6 was St. Nicholas Day.  Do you know much about St. Nicholas?  I don't.  My assumption is that he is one of the inspirations for Santa Claus.  The devotional book I'm reading during Advent, "Lighten the Darkness" by Dena Douglas Hobbs, talked about St. Nicholas on December 6.

He is known for his generosity.  The most famous story about him is that he supplied dowry money for three daughters in a family where there was no money for dowries. Without dowries, the women couldn't get married, and would have no real life.  Depending on the story you read, Nicholas threw money over a fence, or down the chimney, or even into the girls' stockings so that they could start their lives.  Light, in darkness, supplied through generosity.

Light - that's why people put oranges in stockings.  They represented balls of light.

Anyway, think of Nicholas giving money to this family.  He redeemed the daughters from what would have been lives of poverty or prostitution, for in that society, that would have been all that would be open to them.  Through his generosity, he gave gifts of grace that let them live a redeemed life.  Christ does the same for us.

Dropsy

Today I read Chapter 14 of the book of Luke. The chapter starts with a description of the healing of a man with dropsy.  This is why I love Study Bibles.  The notes in my Bible (The New Interpreters' Study Bible) tell me that dropsy was the swelling of the body due to an excess of fluid --what we would call generalized edema.  In that time, it was used as a "metaphorical label for the greedy."  A person with dropsy would crave water in spite of the fact that their bodies were filled with fluid.  In this opening passage, Jesus heals a man with dropsy.

Luke is a wonderful writer.  In the sections that follow, he tells us about Jesus counseling dinner attendees to choose a place of low honor at a banquet instead of lusting after (my words) the places of honor and prestige at the table.  Jesus tells those gathered to invite the poor and marginalized to meals rather than those who can "return the favor."  He tells a story of a person having a great dinner.  All those he invited turned him down, so he angrily sends his servant to gather the outcast and bring them to the meal.  The chapter ends with Jesus discussing the cost of discipleship.

Are we like the man with dropsy?  Are we swollen with our need for prestige and power, and yet we crave it with an insatiable desire?  I think one of the messages of this passage is that Jesus stands ready to heal us -- to make us whole and well.  At the same time, he points to those who have nothing, and tells us to minister to them.  To take it even a step further, perhaps in this service, we will find our healing from Christ.

Widow's Mite

I used this image in a presentation on Saturday.  It's an illustration of the widow's mite.  I particularly like it.

Notice how the rich people aren't even looking at her.  They are looking away.  I heard a sermon once where this story was used to illustrate how we ignore the poor among us, turning away.  Did they care for her?  Did they provide for the widow in their midst, who had nothing, but was generous to the point of extravagance?

What does it say about us? 

What does it tell us about how God would have us to act?