generosity

“Is not this to know me?”

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings:
Psalms 27; 147:12-20, Jeremiah 22:13-23, Romans 8:12-27, John 6:41-51

Many teachings of Jesus, especially about justice and mercy for those who are poor, echoed the words of the prophets before him. Consider these words from Jeremiah:

  Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
          and his upper rooms by injustice;
     who makes his neighbors work for nothing,
          and does not give them their wages;
who says, “I will build myself a spacious house
          with large upper rooms,”
     and who cuts out windows for it,
          paneling it with cedar,
          and painting it with vermilion […]
     Did not your father eat and drink
          and do justice and righteousness?
          Then it was well with him.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
          then it was well.
     Is not this to know me?
          says the LORD.
But your eyes and heart
     are only on your dishonest gain,
     for shedding innocent blood,
          and for practicing oppression and violence.

Fair wages. Dishonest gain. Excess ignoring need. Oppression. Social justice is inseparable – perhaps indistinguishable – from faith. Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul … these Biblical voices seem far less concerned with whether we hold other people accountable for their misdeeds than with whether we hold ourselves accountable for doing mercy and justice. Jeremiah’s audience probably thought their cedar-paneled wealth was a sign God favored them, when the opposite was true.

Lyn White of Animals Australia wrote: “The greatest ethical test that we’re ever going to face is the treatment of those who are at our mercy.” She was referring to animal cruelty, but this idea applies to people as well. If we are financially comfortable, lots of people are at the mercy of how we choose to use our resources. The pennies we save choosing cheap prices over fair labor practices; the time we spend evaluating the merit of the poor and needy rather than helping them; the violence we allow to continue because confronting it is inconvenient; Jeremiah could easily be addressing these sins today.

Only a couple more weeks remain in this Lenten season. Let us take time to reflect on how Jeremiah still speaks to us – not some general “us” but us personally.

Comfort: God craves justice for the poor and oppressed.

Challenge: Work on thinking of justice not as punishment for those who steal bread, but as contributing to a kingdom where no one goes hungry.

Prayer: God of Abundance, teach me to be generous with all I have, and stingy with my judgments. Amen.

Discussion: Would you pay more for something if the extra cost guaranteed someone would not go to bed hungry?

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Fear of Success

/ JJS / 2 Comments

MuchRequired

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 103; 150, Numbers 6:22-27, Acts 13:1-12, Luke 12:41-48

“Fear of success” doesn’t sound like something that should happen, but it’s a common psychological challenge. Success represents change, and there are numerous reasons we consciously and subconsciously fear change. In many ways failure can be less fearful because it means remaining in familiar territory.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus touches on what it means to succeed: “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”

Does that kindle a little fear in your heart?

When we do well personally and professionally, we say we have been blessed. While that’s true, we also need to realize we have been burdened. Though it’s cliched, we need to ask ourselves whether we are paying it forward. The motto of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) is: “Lifting as We Climb.” This organization focuses its efforts on a specific community and profession, but  it embodies the responsibilities that come with success.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a wealth of money, time, or talent, but we must not get caught in the trap of thinking what we have earned is what we deserve. No matter how much success we earn, we fall short of “deserving” God’s love and mercy, yet God gives them to us freely. If Christ is our example, and he gave up his life for the salvation of our undeserving souls, how can we claim the right to hold on to anything we’ve earned? How can we look down on those who have not “earned” what we hold but they need?

Personal accountability is not something we impose on strangers (though we should expect and encourage it), but a standard to which we hold ourselves. It’s not measured by what we’ve socked away for retirement, but by how proportionately we’ve used what’s been given and entrusted to us to meet the requirements and demands of faithful service.

Success means change. If that change happens, and much is demanded of us, will we be more afraid of being broke or being broken?

Comfort: How you account for your generosity is between you and God.

Challenge: “Responsibility” can become an excuse for mean-spiritedness. When you are deciding whether to give time, money, or talent to those in need, consider what it says about your character as least as much as you consider theirs.

Prayer: God of mercy, teach me to use my gifts wisely and generously.

Discussion: How do you arrive at a balance between generosity and practicality? How concerned do you think Jesus is with the practical?

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Poverty of Ideas

/ JJS / 2 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 15; 147:1-11, Proverbs 17:1-20, 1 Timothy 3:1-16, Matthew 12:43-50

Americans have a schizophrenic attitude toward people living in poverty. On one hand we canonize Mother Theresa for her work with the poor, and missionaries who feed starving Ethiopian children. On the other, we tend to think less charitably of the poor at home, and frequently require them to justify their poverty because we can’t stand the idea that someone somewhere is taking advantage of the “system.” Among Christians and nonbelievers alike, the poor are too often vilified rather than loved, torn apart rather than restored.

Do we honestly believe poor people “over there” are somehow different from or more deserving than people sleeping under bridges in Chicago? Poverty is a product of injustice and bad luck. America may have more resources and opportunity than many nations, but we can’t ignore the social, political, and economic structures that intentionally or unintentionally conspire against the poor. Jesus may have pointed that out once or twice.

We all know examples of people who’ve risen above – maybe we’ve done it ourselves – but lifting oneself out of poverty, especially generational poverty, usually requires exceptional talent. Hard work alone does not guarantee success. Your able body, sound mind, ethnicity, gender, and looks are all matters of chance helping or hindering  you. People who possess socially favorable variations of these traits have the opportunity to earn more, but do they inherently deserve more?

We treat intelligence and strength – and the success they engender – as virtues, but they are not something we choose; they are unearned gifts God has entrusted to us. Aren’t they meant to serve more than our bank accounts? Whether comfortable or afflicted, we should all do our fair share, but Christ taught if we have two coats and our neighbor has none, we should give them one. How often do we instead grill them about why they are too irresponsible to have a coat?

Who among us dares volunteer to tell Jesus we know who is deserving and undeserving, and the poor but unexceptional just don’t make the cut? Yet we do that with our votes and checkbooks every day.

The problem of poverty is complex, but the solution is never to dismiss poor people as weak or lazy. Both Old and New Testament scriptures have very clear positions on loving the poor. Why look for so many reasons not to?

Comfort: Whatever your financial or social status, in God’s eyes and heart you are equal to all His children.

Challenge: Examine what biases, hidden or overt, you might have against the poor. How do you think Christ would respond?

Prayer: God of love, open my heart to those in need. Amen.

Discussion: In what ways do you think America effectively works to alleviate poverty? In what ways is it ineffective?

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Sunshine and Rain

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 92; 149, Exodus 40:18-38, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, Matthew 5:38-48

Turn the other cheek. When sued for your cloak, offer your coat too. If forced to go one mile, go a second one. Give to everyone who begs from you. Loan to anyone who asks. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. In these teachings, Jesus is telling his followers, I know you know the minimum legal requirements, and that’s fine, but actually loving involves so much more

Who actually does these things – all or any of them – all the time?

Would it be unfair to say “Nobody?”

We spend a lot of effort justifying why we don’t  do them, and throw around words like “enable” and “systemic” and “accountability.” We make our giving conditional on the perceived worthiness of the recipients. In the same passage Jesus tells us God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” If God is not doling out sunshine and rain based on merit, maybe we aren’t as qualified to make those distinctions as we’d like to believe. Resenting that our generosity is “wasted” on someone says more about our ego and need for control than it does about their worthiness.

Of course we should steward our resources wisely when battling systemic poverty and need, but that is not in opposition to the individual acts that Jesus promotes. Loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, and parting with our money are not just about helping other people: they are about perfecting the state of our hearts. Love is sacrificial. If our every act of generosity involves an intake evaluation and a cost-benefit analysis, we’re simply swapping one set of rules for another, creating divides between the clean and unclean. Since we are as dependent on God for our own gifts as we are for the sun and rain, should we really be acting as if we know better than God who does or does not deserve them? Love is humble. Jesus says so.

Ironically, selfless love has selfish benefits. As we learn to love unconditionally, we better understand just how much God loves us – worthy or not.

Comfort: You have God’s love, regardless.

Challenge: God expects you to love others, regardless.

Prayer: Loving God, may my love for others reflect your love for them also. Amen.

Discussion: Is your generosity ever tinged with resentment?

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The Seat of Mercy

/ JJS / Leave a comment

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 92; 149, Exodus 25:1-22, Colossians 3:1-17, Matthew 4:18-25

The LORD said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me.
– Exodus 25:1-2

The Ark of the Covenant was a container built to hold the tablets of the Ten Commandments, God’s first laws for Israel. Its golden cover, with grand cherubim sculpted into either end, was called the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat was where God was present in the center of his people, and where sacrifices were offered for atonement of the sins of the people. All the gold for the Ark, as well as materials for the tabernacle (portable temple) which housed it – other precious metals, fine fabrics, gems, leather, spices, etc. – were collected voluntarily from people whose hearts were moved to give. This was a special kind of generosity since the people of the nation of Israel had only the possessions they had taken with them when they fled Egypt, and were a wandering, exiled people without other resources or trading partners. Each contribution was a meaningful sacrifice. What a wonderful metaphor: God’s dwelling place is created by the generosity of the community.

The Ark was secured in the innermost part of the tabernacle, and later in the temple at Jersualem, called the Holy of Holies. Only high priests were permitted to be in the presence of the Ark, and each year on the Day of Atonement they would sprinkle sacrificial blood on the Mercy Seat. Flash Forward a few centuries and in the outermost part of the temple we would find the money-changers whose presence offended Jesus so much that he drove them out with a whip. What started with the generosity of the people had become a place for the powerful to exploit the poor.

Offering himself as the ultimate sacrifice, Christ fulfilled the law and made the Mercy Seat obsolete. His was the blood of the new covenant, shed for all. We are no longer separated from God by law, but redeemed to him by love. As Paul taught the Colossians, in Christ there is no male or female, Greek or Jew, slave or free … inside the Holy of Holies or outside; all are equal members of the Body of Christ. Together, through our generosity and love, we are tasked with building a holy place, more precious than gold, with this new covenant at its center.

Comfort: God dwells among us.

Challenge:  When you can, work toward reconciliation.

Prayer: Loving God, I thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. Make me a worthy bearer of his covenant. Amen.

Discussion: What divisions do you observe among the body of Christ? Conservative or liberal? Catholic or Protestant? Others?

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No Excuses

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 27; 147:12-20, Genesis 46:1-7, 28-34, 1 Corinthians 9:1-15, Mark 6:30-46

In what ways are we humans responsible to each other? This question produces heated debates about public policy for everything from healthcare to school lunches to seat belt laws to immigration. While one side cries “nanny state” and the other cries “class warfare” both seem less interested in compassion than in domination. People of faith can not look to secular leaders – even Christian ones – for answers about how to respond to God’s call to compassion. Fortunately, we have Christ as our guide.

When Jesus led his disciples to what he hoped would be a place of rest, and instead found a great crowd already waiting, he didn’t complain or look for a different place. Rather, “he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” Compassion drove him even when he sought rest. Does our own compassion take precedence over our immediate fears and desires, or is it a slave to budgets, calendars, and convenience? It is tempting to make excuses when compassion asks for more than we want to give, especially to strangers. Compassion can be inconvenient, and may make demands of us when we are tired, hungry, or poor ourselves.

When the disciples asked Jesus to send that same crowd into town so they could find dinner, his response was: “You give them something to eat.” The disciples’ first reaction was to claim they couldn’t afford food for everyone. How often have we answered the call to compassion with similar excuses? Yet Jesus only asked them to give what was at hand, which turned out to be more than enough. He didn’t ask them to evaluate who was truly deserving, or to run a stewardship campaign to determine what resources were available. He trusted that God would use the gifts of the people to provide what was needed.

We can try to instill fairness, wisdom and compassion into secular society and government, but in the end Jesus is telling each of us: “you feed them” (or clothe them, or heal them, or help them). Will we respond with compassion or an excuse?

Comfort: The gifts you already possess are enough to make an important difference to someone.

Challenge: Of course you can’t be all things to all people at all times, but also try not to let yourself off the hook by dismissing what you have to offer.

Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for the gifts you have entrusted to me. Please bless me with the strength and will to use them in your service. Amen.

Discussion: In what ways are you stingy with your compassion? What excuses do you make for not using your gifts?

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Attitude of Abundance

/ JJS / 5 Comments

GRASPFUTURE

Today’s readings (click below to open in a new tab/window):
Psalms 88; 148, Genesis 17:15-27, Hebrews 10:11-25, John 6:1-15

Our culture promotes irony and cynicism. These can be useful and enlightening, but many times they simply mask an underlying state of fear. When push comes to shove, we tend to hoard the resources we have rather than trust them to God’s abundance. Even in faith communities simple optimism is often characterized as simple-mindedness.

God told Abraham and Sarah, at 100 and 90 years old respectively, they would conceive a child. Abraham laughed in disbelief. When their son was born, they did as God had instructed and named him Isaac, meaning “he laughs.” With God in the mix, irony became hope.

When thousands gathered at the Sea of Galilee to hear Jesus preach, he asked his disciple Philip where they could buy bread to feed everyone. We don’t know if Phillip laughed, but it’s easy to imagine a dismissive chuckle when he told Jesus they would need more than six months’ wages to buy enough food. And it seems likely there might have been some eye rolling when Andrew mentioned a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish. Yet from this tiny bit, upon Christ’s instructions, they managed to feed everyone with twelve baskets left over.

At first glance the common theme between these stories seem to be that God is most visibly present in the impossible. Unfortunately this idea pushes God outside our normal expectations into a realm where we can only experience his blessings through reality-warping events.

An important lesson in these stories is that God has created us not be starved by fear and doubt, but to feast on possibilities and faith. The approach we take affects the quality of our lives, and the lives of others. More than a simple “can-do” attitude, faith that God’s world is abundant opens us up to true generosity. If we stop worrying that what we have is not enough, we grow comfortable with being generous even in uncertain times. Individuals with this faith can have a positive impact, and communities that cultivate this attitude will find endless doors opening. Behind them is revealed God’s presence in our everyday lives.

The world teaches fear. An abundant faith – focusing not on scarcity and stinginess, but on hope and generosity – is countercultural and revolutionary. Live on the edge.

Comfort: You need less than you think you do. You can give more than you think you have.

Challenge: Embrace hope.

Prayer: Loving God, please help me to remember there is far more to your gifts in the world – seen and unseen – than I could ever comprehend. I will trust you. Amen.

Discussion: In what areas of your life – money, time, affection, etc. – do you take an approach of scarcity? How can you become more generous?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

 

Generosity and Grace

/ JJS / 1 Comment

Santorini Skyline

Today’s readings (click to open in a new tab/window):
Psalms 67; 150, Genesis 13:2-18, Galatians 2:1-10, Mark 7:31-37

When Jesus healed people, he didn’t treat just their physical ailments; he also acknowledged them in a way that restored the dignity they had been denied. Charity and mercy should not be top-down experiences where the more fortunate look pitiably upon the less fortunate. They are more like the closing of a circuit through which grace flows and connects us all in the Spirit.

It’s easy to squeeze the grace out of our generosity. We insist on knowing who is worthy of it. We decide what is best for people without getting to know them. If it gets uncomfortable, we distance ourselves socially and emotionally from the people we are helping. Sometimes we dismiss the efforts of people who take a different approach than we do. Our focus can be too much on how charity makes us feel, rather than on the need we are meeting.

How Jesus healed a man of deafness and a speech impediment (a common combination, since it is difficult to mimic what we can’t hear) is a wonderful model for works we do in Christ’s name. First, he didn’t try to determine worth or blame, but accepted a person who came to him in faith. Next, instead of making a public show of his kindness, he took the man aside, thereby giving him a choice of whether to tell his own story. Then Jesus literally got his hands dirty and put them on the man in an intimate way, because sometimes love has to be messy. All the while Jesus was prayerful, but confident that God would guide him. He comprehensively addressed both the root of the problem (the man’s deafness) and the symptoms (his speech impediment). Finally, after word of his generosity spread, Jesus humbly gave the glory to God.

Grace-filled generosity does not insist on its own way, but responds to the needs of others. Unlike enabling, it empowers recipients to make their own decisions about what to do next. Once someone’s ability to hear (or eat or sleep warmly) is restored, they are free to speak the good news as they will.

Comfort: Sometimes we offer assistance, sometimes we receive it, and at all times we are worthy of dignity.

Challenge: Do some volunteer work that allows you to interact with the recipients of the work. Try to see them not as people who need something you have, but as people who are equally in need of God’s gifts as you are.

Prayer: Gracious and generous God, I will do my best to give as you would have me do, not as my fears and doubts would. Amen.

Discussion: When you give someone a gift, what expectations accompany it?

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Decrease to Increase

/ JJS / 3 Comments

YourBest

Today’s readings (click below to open in a new tab/window):
Psalms 15; 147:1-11, Genesis 9:18-29, Hebrews 6:1-12, John 3:22-36

The ministry of John the Baptist was a big success. Business was so good he had customers lined up from Bethany to Aenon, where he moved because it had more water to let him do his job. He had his own disciples and irritated all the right authorities. Yet when Jesus arrived on the scene, John willingly gave it all up. John knew something we often forget: successful ministry is not determined by numbers or longevity, but by how well it advances the message and mission of Christ. When John’s followers began flocking to Jesus, John didn’t start planning how to win them back. Instead he said of Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Christian ministry is not a competition, but our competitive nature can sneak into it. Choir solos, sermons, fundraisers, offerings, praise hands, potluck contributions – sometimes we can’t help comparing these things, especially if we are good at them. If healthy competition pushes us to do our best work, the ministry may benefit. When we start thinking of our collaborators as rivals, we do a disservice to everyone, and undermine the community and the ministry. Whether an individual or church, we let our lights shine to illuminate the love of Christ, not to put a spotlight on ourselves. Even if we are the very best at something, sometimes we must intentionally step aside to let others play their parts. Being our best – not the best – is what matters.

Mature preachers will say praise and criticism are the same. In other words, they hear feedback, but do Christ’s work for the sake of the work, not the reaction. Praise does not swell their heads, and criticism does not defeat them. This ego-free attitude requires cultivation, but our work will be the better for it. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a compliment for a job well done, but if our focus moves from Jesus to acquiring compliments (or members, or money, or readers), our work suffers.

For others to increase, sometimes we must decrease. But if we do it to help Jesus increase, we rise along with him.

Comfort: The best ministries are collaborations; you don’t have to do everything yourself.

Challenge: Whenever you feel competitive with someone, ask yourself whether it is healthy or unhealthy.

Prayer: Gracious God, teach me to appreciate the diversity of the Body of Christ. Amen.

Discussion: Where do you find yourself competing when you could be cooperating?

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Why Three Kings?

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/browser):
Psalms 72; 147:1-11, Isaiah 49:1-7, Revelation 21:22-27, Matthew 12:14-21
Epiphany readings: 
Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

Today we celebrate Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles. Traditionally the gentiles are represented by the Magi. The gospel of Matthew tells us wise men followed a star from the east, paid tribute to the infant Christ, and returned home by a different route because a dream warned them King Herod was plotting against the newly-born messiah. Most nativity scenes depict them as three kings, though there is no scriptural basis for their rank or count other than the number of gifts.

Maybe they’re better off dropping the king bit and sticking to being just wise. Psalm 72 describes what it means for God’s presence to be felt throughout the gentile world, and kings don’t fare well. They bow before the presence, offer tribute, and oppressive ones are crushed. On the other hand the poor, needy, and oppressed are mentioned favorably ten times in this twenty-verse psalm. God judges them with justice; he defends, delivers, redeems, helps, pities, and saves them. Jesus’s message of the first being last and the last being first doesn’t originate with him; it is a natural evolution of the messages of the psalmists and the prophets. Jesus is the one who brought it home.

A mainstay of modern Roman Catholic social teaching is a preferential option for the poor. In other words, Christians are obligated to serve those who are impoverished financially and/or spiritually. Theologians of other denominations share similar teachings. Depending on our worldview, how we choose to meet that obligation can take many forms. Christ has trusted us with a duty, and also trusts us to determine the best means to execute that duty. Sometimes that means we can disagree about how we should serve. What it never means is starting from an attitude where the poor – of pocket or spirit – are a nuisance, morally lacking, or lesser than anyone else. Whatsoever we do for the least among us, we do also for Christ. We are to be kings bowing to babes.

The Magi’s gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh represented royalty, holiness, and death. Jesus re-gifted them to us as humility, grace, and life regardless of our worthiness. Let’s pay it forward.

Comfort: God’s love is for all, not just the privileged or perfect.

Challenge: What programs in your local community help the poor? How can you help them?

Prayer: Loving God, thank you for all I have. I will not forget that you ask me to share it with those who have less. Amen.

Discussion: We are often distrustful or uncomfortable with people who have significantly more or less material wealth than we do. Why do you think that is?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!