M is for generosity
RUMC 11/8/09
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Last month we talked about the first M in generosity:
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Motivation. Does anyone remember what I said?
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Does that look familiar? That is our Motivation. We live generously because we overflow with gratitude.
Today I want to talk about another M. The “Means.”
<< Means >>
By “means” I mean “Resources.” What means or resources do we need in order to live generously?
The first thing you might think of is think that I should have had you all bring your bank statements or tax returns. That’s exactly why I chose the passage we read from scripture today. It quickly and easily puts that idea to rest. The widow came to the temple. She didn’t bring her bank statements because she didn’t have enough money to open a bank account.
She didn’t put in a lot of money because she didn’t have a lot of money.
Yet Jesus said her contribution was greater than all the others.
For Jesus it wasn’t about bank statements, or charitable contributions, or making budget. It was about living generously. For Jesus it was all about her heart and her hands.
So when I’m talking about having the means to live generously I am not talking about your bank statement. I’m also talking about you: your heart and your hands.
First I want you to ask “How big is my heart?”
We are coming up to the Christmas season: a season of giving. And the stories are plentiful. Do you remember Ebenezer scrooge? He had more worldly means than anyone else in town. But his heart was cold and dead. His giving was calculated on an accounting ledger. But it took the ghostly apparitions to get him to look at the size of his heart and begin giving from his heart.
The Grinch is another great example. In the Grinch that stole Christmas, after taking everything about Christmas from Whoville, the Grinch goes back up his mountain and hears, in the distance, the Who’s singing their Christmas song. And his heart grows three sizes that day.
Think about that: Ebeneezer who had so much the Grinch who had so little, but they both had undersized hearts and therefore couldn’t live generously. Notice it wasn’t the wallet or the bank account. It was about the heart.
We live in a time when hearts can be bypassed, ablated, stinted and defibrillated. Yet we live in a time when most people have the most serious heart defect of all. There hearts are three sizes too small. They beat only for themselves.
Ø Americans spent more on legalized gambling ($2500 for every American) than on groceries.
Ø $10-13 trillion dollars in inheritances will be transferred to the baby boomer generation within the next 10-20 years. Yet less than 10% of those with wills will leave anything at all to charity.
Ø There has been a 30+ year decline in the % of income Christians give to their churches On average, churchgoers are giving just 2.52% of their after tax income. That’s about 1.7% pretax. If the Grinch’s heart was three sizes too small, that 2.5% is at least 4 sizes too small compared to the tithe.
Ø 20-35% of church attendee giving records are blank
Sure, I’ll be the first to admit we are in terrible economic times. But you can’t blame these shameful statistics on the economy. I went back to a survey that was taken 4 years ago when the economy was breaking records. Those statistics have nothing to do with a recession or unemployment. They have everything to do with hearts that are three or four sizes too small and beat only for themselves.
The first means to generous living is having a generous heart. I challenge you to ask today “How big is my heart?”
Second, I want you to look at your hands. Are they open or closed? John Ortberg tells a story that when his Grandmother passed away, his grandfather was cleaning out the attic and came across a set of dishes. He called his daughter and said “I found a set of old dishes in the attic. If you want them, they are yours. If not I’ll get rid of them.” Rev Ortberg says his mother went to look at the dishes and they were the most beautiful dishes she had ever seen. They were each hand painted with a pattern of forget me nots. The cups were mother of pearl with gold rims. They were made by a Bavarian china factory that was destroyed during World War II. They were literally irreplaceable.
The mystery was that no one in the family had ever seen them before. Why were these beautiful and valuable dishes packed away in the attic with all the junk? When they finally chased down the story, they found out that his mother had received these dishes as a gift over a number of years when she was a child. They were not a wealthy family but the dishes were very expensive, so on special occasions, like a birthday or confirmation she would receive another piece of china. She would wrap it in tissue and carefully pack it away for a very special occasion. But that no one special enough ever came. The dishes sat packed away in the attic for decades. Since almost no one knew they were there, they were certainly safe. But grandma went to her grave with the greatest gift of her life hidden away, and never used.
I think that is sad. But it is a parable about how some people live.
There are people who live like this with both of their hands tightly grasping and protecting and preserving.
And there are people who live with their hands open, offering, and serving.
And again, it doesn’t have anything to do with how much they have.
You see stinginess, which is the opposite of generosity, is not necessarily the result of greed. More often it is the result of fear. Fear that something will happen to the dishes. Fear that someone more special may come along and we won’t have the best dishes for them.
Fear keeps us from living generously.
· We aren’t generous with our time because we are afraid that more will be asked.
· We aren’t generous with our skills because we are afraid that someone will take advantage of us.
· We aren’t generous with our love because we are afraid we might be hurt.
· We aren’t generous with compliments because we are afraid someone will take it wrong
· We aren’t generous with our hope because we are afraid of disappointment.
· We aren’t generous with our forgiveness because we are afraid of being a pushover.
· We aren’t generous with our joy because we are afraid that we will be considered naive or foolish.
· We aren’t generous with our money because we are afraid that there won’t be enough for later.
· We don’t generously step out and follow God because we are afraid that God won’t take care of us.
You see I don’t think it is greed or stinginess that keeps us from unpacking and using the dishes. It is fear. So our hands are constantly busy protecting and preserving, rather than offering and serving.
How did the widow use her hands in today’s scripture? She picked up her two coins and offered them. She unpacked the china and sat down to a fest of generosity with God. She opened her hands and gave generously.
That is what Jesus loved about the widow in today’s story. He saw not her two coins, but her generous heart. He saw not her bank account, but her serving hands. And he said “She has given more than all the others added together.”
Today or this week we will all be filling out our estimates of giving for 2010. But that is not what Jesus is going to be interested in. He is not interested in how many zeros are on your pledge card. What Jesus is interested in is whether you have the means to be generous. What he will be watching is your heart and your hands as you decide on whether you will live with a small heart and closed hands, or an enlarging heart and open hands. You are not just deciding on next year’s support of the church. You are deciding how you will live. And that is what Jesus is interested in. What will he see as he watches you?
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