From ‘Uh-OH’ to ‘Ah-HAh!’: Attitude RUMC December 12, 2010

From ‘Uh-OH’ to ‘Ah-HAh!’: Attitude

RUMC December 12, 2010

Isn’t that beautiful?  The Magnificat is one of the most beautiful songs of the Christian faith - it’s Mary’s Song.  But it is not just beautiful it is powerful.

  William Barclay writes: "There’s a loveliness in the Magnificat but in that loveliness there’s dynamite." 

The former Archbishop of  Cantebury, William Temple, warned pastors about the magnificat. You see, during the last days of the British occupation of India, the police often visited church services because of the Christian community’s support of the Indian Revolution.  He told pastors not to use the Magnificat in worship because "It’s a most revolutionary canticle!"

It seems innocent enough when Krystyn Getty’s sings it. Her angelic voice could calm any troubled soul.  The song just relaxes me and makes me feel warm inside.   But that is not the  whole story.

It happened this way:

The angel visited Mary one day. 

^26-28In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

   Good morning!
   You're beautiful with God's beauty,
   Beautiful inside and out!
   God be with you.

 ^29-33She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

   He will be great,
      be called 'Son of the Highest.'
   The Lord God will give him
      the throne of his father David;
   He will rule Jacob's house forever—
      no end, ever, to his kingdom."

 ³⁴Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man."

 ³⁵The angel answered,

   The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
      the power of the Highest hover over you;
   Therefore, the child you bring to birth
      will be called Holy, Son of God.

 ^36-38"And did you know that Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."

   And Mary said,

   Yes, I see it all now:
      I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
   Let it be with me
      just as you say.

   Then the angel left her.

This is a miracle story.  Not just because the angel of the almighty God, named Gabriel, appeared; not just because of the annunciation; but because the angel appeared to a previously unknown child, from an anonymous family, that lived in a virtually unknown city, located in a region considered by most people to be utterly insignificant if not backwards.

But wait. . .  if that weren’t enough of a miracle, the divine  messenger brings word to the little girl that she is going to be pregnant, a teenage mother. She knows that this means people will look down upon her.  They will talk, as people do.  They will label her, and call her unkind names. In those few moments with the angel, her reputation and prospects for marriage crumbled.  Without any chance of marriage, she is doomed to a life of gleaning in the fields and begging.  That would be better, however,  than the other option of becoming a prostitute.  Better, . .  but just barely better.

The way I look at it, the big miracle here is that Mary does not run away, tearing her hair out, and screaming!

Isn’t that what most young girls would do?  This is the most frightening, humiliating, life-dream crushing, hope killing news Mary could have received.  It is a huge “Uh-OH”

‘Uh-OH’ I’m going to be pregnant.  ‘Uh-OH’ what will Joseph think. ‘Uh-OH’ what will my parents and the rest of the village think? ‘Uh-OH’ Will it hurt?  ‘Uh-OH’ Will it loose my figure?  ‘Uh-OH’ Will I be a good mom?

The story goes on to say “Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea.” She went to see Elizabeth

What was she thinking?  Did she get scared?  Was she ashamed?  Did she intend to hide out with the favorite Aunt hoping this spirit would not find her and cause her to be  pregnant?  It doesn’t say, and I don’t know.  While she was there, however, another message came to her. This one from Elizabeth  who was also pregnant with the one we shall come to know as John the Baptist.

As soon as Elizabeth saw Marry, the baby John leapt inside of her.  He probably let out a great big kick.  Elizabeth confirms the Angel’s message by saying “Blessed is she who has believed that what the lord has said to her will be accomplished.”

That is when Mary breaks forth in this song.

The message translation does a beautiful job with the lyrics to her song.

I'm bursting with God-news; 
      I'm dancing the song of my Savior God. 
      God took one good look at me, and look what happened— 
      I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! 
   What God has done for me will never be forgotten, 
      the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. 
   His mercy flows in wave after wave 
      on those who are in awe before him.

So far so good.  So far the song is easy and beautiful and lovely. So far the song is a beautiful testimony to Mary’s faith in God and trust in what God is doing.  So far the song is a testimony to the faithful response of a scared little girl, upon finding out that she is about to give birth to God himself.

Mary made the move from “Oh-OH to AH-HA” and faithfully accepted her role in the salvation story.

Now we turn to the radical part.  The middle of the magnificat is so radical that I even read a story about a wealthy suburban church where the pastor would only used the first half of the magnificat because he didn’t want to upset his people.  I’m not afraid so here goes. . . The song goes on. . .

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
   and lifted up the lowly; 
he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and sent the rich away empty.

It’s revolutionary because the world’s values are turned upside down.  Our values are turned upside down.  We may even be turned upside down.

Whether we like to admit it or whether feel like it, economically speaking, WE are among the world’s proud, and powerful and rich and the magnificat should make us uncomfortable. 

Whether we like to admit it or whether we feel like it or not, our nation is among the world’s proud, and powerful and rich and the magnificat should make us uncomfortable.

We should be uncomfortable because we are targets.  We are the among those at whom God is taking aim with the upside-down , inside-out, radical act of incarnation.

Understand this. . .  we are targets not because we are comparatively wealthy.  We are not targets because we are comparatively powerful.  We ARE targets because all these things tend to make us proud.  We are targets because all of these things tend to cause us to trust primarily on ourselves and our things rather than God.

Hebrew poetry is famous for its parallelisms.  Saying the same thing different ways.  That is one of the great study tools for Hebrew poetry like the Psalms. 

The first line here is the Key line he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. The lines about bringing down the powerful and sending the rich away empty are in my opinion parallel lines.  They illustrate what is meant by the scattering the proud.    Basically the promise is those who put themselves on a pedestal are going to get knocked off.

Hey my pedestal partners!  We better hope our pedestals are not very tall.

In some ways I think our response to the magnificat represents our advent journey.

We enter Advent thinking “this is easy.”

We enter advent thinking “this is beautiful”

We enter advent thinking it is about silver bells, candles in windows, trees and gifts.  We proceed through advent thinking it is about cute little angels, curious shepherds, a romantic story about young love, an adventurous little journey, and the fulfilling of all the old promises.

But if that is all we see in advent we are headed to be knocked off of our pedestals.

If that is all we see in advent we are among the most prideful of the proud and we deserve to be knocked off our pedestals and land hard on our butts.

Advent is also about preparing for a new life, a new world and a new age!

Advent is also about the coming of the perfect almighty God into our sinful world and lives.

Advent is also about the appearing of the God of righteousness among the  unrighteousness of our culture, politics and relationships.

Advent is also about turning everything we think we have under control, upside down and revealing who is really the master of our lives and  the universe.

Advent Is also , like the magnificat, not  just sweet and sentimental.  Advent is about radical change for a world and for people who need to be radically changed.

The advent attitude then should not just be one of eager anticipation for the sweet baby Jesus, all neatly wrapped up in swaddling “bows” for us to ooo and aaaah over.

Our advent attitude should be two pronged: UH-OH and AH-HA.

FIREWORKS video

UH-OH here comes Jesus.  AH-HA  he’s coming.

UH-OH here comes the one who turns the world upside-down.  AH-HA  we need to be turned upside down.

UH-OH here comes the God who is always sticking his nose into my business, AH- ha I guess my business  isn’t really my business anyway.

Our attitude ought to be UH-OH here comes God with his no sinner left behind policy. AH- Ha God isn’t content to leave me in my sin.

Like The magnificat, Advent is a strange blend of UH-OH and AH-HA.

May this be a season of advent be for you as much  UH-OH as AH-HA.

And may it be for you as much AH-HA as UH-OH.

“From ‘Uh-Oh’ to ‘Ah-Hah!’: Attention”

“From ‘Uh-Oh’ to ‘Ah-Hah!’: Attention”

RUMC Second Sunday in Advent 2010

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

 (Isn’t that just like the government?  They sit up there at that state house and make decisions with hardly a thought of how much it will disrupt our lives.  It’s SO frustrating!)

 All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.

(singing:  I’ll be home for Christmas. You can plan on me.  Please have snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree….)  

He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.

(Oh!  I have to remember to wrap that gift for Rebecca.  I KNOW she’s going to have that baby this week!)   

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

 (Shoot!  I think I forgot to write down the confirmation number for our hotel stay in Cedar Rapids.  Uh Oh!  I don’t even think I remember the name of the hotel.  What do I do now?)

Does that seem familiar to you?  We’ve all been there haven’t we?  We have all had days when we have been so distracted, tuned out, or busy that we can’t even attend to even the little things in life, let alone the big things.  Doctors Call that ADD Attention Deficit Disorder.  It has been described as part of your brain is going 10 miles an hour, and the other part is going 100 miles an hour.  It would be like nailing one foot to the floor and running a marathon . . .  around and around and around.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not making light of a serious problem.  In fact, I think ADD might be more prevalent than we ever imagined.  Not as a medical diagnosis, but as a spiritual diagnosis.  Spiritual ADD.

Though not medically recognized I think Spiritual ADD is very real.

Spiritual ADD is fundamentally an inability to take the time to attend to the things that matter most to us.  It might be described as the spirit trying to go 10 miles an hour while the rest of you is going 100 miles an hour.  We do this because we live in a 100 mile an hour world.

·         When the speed limit is 55 MPH how fast do you drive?  If was 65 how fast would you drive?  Never fast enough is it.

·         What kind of restaurants are the biggest in the world?  Fast food?

·         Why are commercials customarily 30 seconds?  Because that’s all the longer we can pay attention.

·         Have you ever sat at your computer that processes information at the speed of 1 GHz per second, and complained that it was too slow?

Why are we like this?  Because we live in a 100 mile an hour, 1 gigahertz per second, microwavable, fast food world.  We expect our spirituality to work the same way.  And it simply doesn’t!

Another symptom of Spiritual ADD is a lack of attention.  We attend, but we don’t pay attention.  Your bodies might be here but your minds are somewhere else

·         Do you remember what I preached about 2 weeks ago?  If not that could be a commentary on my preaching, or it could be a sign that your attention was pulled too many different ways. (By the way, I had to look it up too- so I include myself in this Spiritual ADD)  I preached about our need to be generous and burned the money at the beginning of the sermon.

·         When you get home do you remember the prayer concerns that have been shared?  People share their deep hurts and hopes and we forget them!  Why?  Because we are attending but not paying attention.

·         Do you remember the Bible passage from your devotions this morning or yesterday?  Isn’t that supposed to stick with us so we can meditate on it and our lives revolve around it?  But often they seem to bounce off like a ping pong ball.

This is one of the reasons Christians are accused of being hypocrites.  We show up . . .  we attend, but we don’t pay attention, and our lives are not changed.  Technically I suppose it is hypocrisy. Mostly it is just sad.

Our ADD spirituality, characterized by the frenzy of our activity, by an inability to pay attention to that which is really important.  Spiritual ADD drains us of the joy of salvation. That which is supposed to fill us with hope frankly drains us dry.  Call it burn-out, call it exhaustion, call it dropping out.  Call it what you will- it feels as though we have been abandoned by God.

Into the midst of that comes John the Baptist. The camel hair wearing. Locust eating, freaky cousin of Jesus.  He almost comes out of nowhere shouting “prepare the way.  Repent.”    John’s job was to get people’s attention.  Just as God had been trying with varying success to get our attention since creation went awry.  God had used floods, and fires, judges and kings and prophets and teachers.  Miracles and threats.  Sure people would pay attention for a while, but then the spiritual ADD would take over. Kind of a spiritual amnesia.  And they would be right back where they started.

Here comes John the Baptist.  He says “STOP!”  Well, not exactly but that is the spirit of what this wild man from Galilee says.  He says “STOP.  STOP waiting because the promised one is at hand.  STOP running around at 100 miles an hour or you’ll miss him. Stop doing religion and live faithfully.   STOP For God sake STOP.  For your sake STOP.  Just STOP.

Last Spring I did that.  I’ll admit that I slipped back into my busy crazy mode recently, but this sermon has pulled me back.  The stop sign was a line by John Ortberg.   There is nothing in the spiritual life can be done in a hurry. Let me say that again slowly . . . there is nothing . . . nothing in the spiritual life that can be done in a hurry.

When a child has ADD they often give them Ritalin or a related drug.  The odd thing is that Ritalin is a stimulant.  Exactly the opposite that you would think to give a child like that.  If I took Ritalin I would bounce off the walls.  When a child with ADD takes it, it synchronizes that 100 mile an hour side of their brain and the 10 mile an hour side. 

Today I want to prescribe some spiritual Ritalin for you. I can’t think of a better gift for a people so busy and pulled so many different directions.  I can’t think of a better gift for a people who have trouble focusing on the spiritual things of life.   I can’t think of a better prescription for a people suffering from Spiritual ADD.   My prescription is just as counterintuitive as Ritalin.  It runs directly against common sense.  My prescription is STOP.

My prescription for a busy life is STOP.

My prescription for a frenzied life is STOP.

My prescription for a “packed too full” “How can I pack 5 more things into my day” life is STOP.  STOP RIGHT HERE.  STOP RIGHT NOW. 

STOP trying to be all things to all people and be the best you can be for God.

STOP trying to be the perfect holiday host and just be a guest in the heart of God.

STOP attending to church and be attentive to the word of God as we proclaim it and teach it.

I know it is scary; but just STOP.  I suspect that you will realize, as I did, that the blur you saw out of the corner of your eye just might be Jesus. 

Last spring when I did this.  John the Baptist would have included me in the brood of vipers.  I just knew I was way too important to slow down, and I had the to-do list as long as my arm to prove it.  After a week my to-do list “I stopped driving myself crazy, to attend to what God was doing in my life and in the life of those around me”  You know what?  And after a week my to-do list was shorter than it was when I started. 

Though I have slipped a little (OK more than just a little) this fall.  I am committed to going back.  I quit!  Right here and now, LET’S QUIT!

Let’s quit running around like we are the most important people in the world.

Let’s quit doing things just because someone else thinks we should. 

Let’s quit reading the Bible with distracted minds. 

Let’s quit spending our worship time thinking about all the things we should have done.

Let’s quit our frenzied pseudo-lives and distracted Para-Spirituality.

Right now.  Let’s just quit and leave out Spiritual ADD behind.

My prescription:  STOP everything and call God right now.  Just STOP.  For your own well being and your relationship with God I prescribe that you just stop.  The nice thing is you can take this prescription as often as needed.  You can’t overdose. 

Many of us enter Advent and the Christmas season with a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs and instead of singing an angel song we groan ‘Uh-Oh.’

Advent should not be a season of Uh Oh.  Advent should be a time of moving from the HO HUM of our daily lives to the ‘Ah-Hah!’ of realizing that life and the world will never be the same.

I know you are saying ‘Uh-Oh’ right now.  I can’t stop.  I have too much to be done.  I can’t give up my self-importance.  Because I really am important.  I can’t give up my spiritual ADD.  Because I kind of like not paying much attention.

But, trust me.  Try it, and I pray that as Christmas Morning dawns, and the Christ child cries, you will see the dawning of new life.   And instead of crying Uh-Oh’ you’ll be shouting ‘Ah-Hah!’

AMEN

(I think I can do that.  I wonder if anyone else will?)

The Generous God RUMC 11/14/2010

The Generous God

RUMC

11/14/2010

What do you see here?  What about here? 

This story from Matthew  is a little bit of a Rorschach test

A lot of people cringe at this story.  The landowner paid the laborers who worked all day their customary day’s wages.  Then we see that those slugs who were hired at the last hour- get paid the same full days wage.  That just stings the sensibility of many people.  That’s not right!  Those who worked a full day should receive 12 times as much as those who worked only an hour.  Those who labored through the hottest part of the day- in the dirtiest parts of the vineyard deserve more than the others do.  If this happened in Carpenters local 4 to which I belonged they would have been on strike against that contractor faster than you could say “unfair labor practices.”

But is that the only way to see it:?  Is it really a story about how unfair God seems?  I don’t think so.  I think the way this parable gnaws at our craw is like that ink blot test.  It reveals whether we see ourselves as deserving or blessed.  

If we consider ourselves deserving we align ourselves with the men who worked all day and got “Cheated” because someone who worked less got paid as much as we did.

Would  you complain if you were one of the short times? Would you complain when he handed you a full day’s wages?  Of course not.  You would rejoice and be glad- for the children will eat, the lights will stay on.  What a radical, wonderful, unexpected thing to do!  What a generous man!!  Suddenly instead of being Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch and the IRS all rolled in to one ugly monster; the landowner is the most generous man we have ever met.  Suddenly he is better than the tooth fairy and better than Santa Clause.

It seems that when we look at the story, through deserving eyes  we believe we are being cheated. 

If we look at the story from the other side as though we are among the blessed, this story is no longer about injustice.  It is about generosity.  It is about God’s wild and extravagant generosity!  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  God spent 6 days creating the earth in order to  place his wonderful Adam and Eve in the garden.  The beautiful lush garden of Eden.  More beautiful than we can imagine, with every kind of plant and bush and tree flowering and bearing beautiful fruit.  Every animal there just for the enjoyment and for the eating.  Every stream, every hill, every rock and every valley more beautiful than anything before.  Of course there had been nothing before.

We aren’t in Eden.  We are sinners to the nth degree.  Constantly refusing God.  Constantly flaunting our unfaithfulness.  Constantly breaking God’s heart.    We don’t even deserve 3 hots and a cot.  But have you seen the sunsets this month?  Did you stop to notice how long the colors lasted this fall?  Have you ever stopped to think about how much food there really is on this planet.    Thank God that God is not fair.  God is more generous than we could ever deserve. .  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  God freed the people from slavery in Egypt.  There was no way they could have escaped themselves.  What a wonderful thing.  Revealing himself to scare Pharaoh and leading them out through the red sea.

Then it happened.  They started to whine.  It would  be better to be back in Egypt- were going to starve to death- we’re going to die of thirst- we need a golden calf to worship.  We want- we need- you know the story.  If I were God I would have picked them up by their ungrateful scruffs and dropped them right back in Egypt.  Fortunately, God is ultra generous and instead of given them back to Egypt, he lead them to the promise land. God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  The people of Nineveh weren’t even among God’s chosen people.  They were foreigners and they were wicked, and cruel and hateful and sinful and full of every other bad thing you can imagine.

Did God destroy them?  Did God wipe them of f the face of the earth as they deserved?  No, he sent Jonah.  And even though Jonah didn’t want to go.  He said the word and the people repented.  Jonah thought they should still be destroyed.  Not God.  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  You know people have always sinned.  They tried to build a tower o heaven so they could become God.  They killed, and warred, and stole and raped and every other filthy thing you can imagine and you know we deserved to be wiped off the face of the earth 10 times over again.  But instead, God sent his son, Jesus Christ to teach, to heal and to show us the way to God. . .  the way to salvation. We didn’t deserve it by any means, but thank God that God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  Even when Jesus came and lived among us we did our worst.  We rejected him. We mocked him. We beat him. We denied him. We destroyed him; executing him on a cross. Do you really want to be judged by a fair God?  Thank God, that God is generous rather than fair.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

God is a supremely, wildly, outrageously generous God.  And God calls us to be the same.

Shortly after World War II came to a close, Europe began picking up the pieces. Perhaps the saddest sight of all was that of little orphaned children starving in the streets. Early on chilly morning an American soldier was making his way back to the barracks in London. As he turned the corner in his jeep, he spotted a little lad with his nose pressed to the window of a pastry shop. Inside the cook was kneading dough for a fresh batch of doughnuts. The hungry boy stared in silence, watching every move. The soldier pulled his jeep to the curb, stopped, got out and walked quietly over to where the little fellow was standing. The boy salivated and released a slight groan as he watched the cook place them onto the glass-enclosed counter ever so carefully. The soldier’s heart went out to the nameless orphan and he asked. “Son...would you like some of those?” The boy was suprised. “Oh, yeah...I would!” The American stepped inside and bought a dozed, put them in a bag, and walked back to where the lad was standing in the foggy cold of the London morning. He smiled, held out the bag, and said simply: “Here you are.” As he turned to walk away, he felt a tug on his coat. He looked back and heard the child ask quietly: “Mister ... are you God?” We are never more like God than when we generous. “God so loved the world, that he gave ...”21

·                  How about a story close to home   Like most churches our Sunday school program had been declining for 15-20 years.  Not our fault, just the way it was.  One day we got an idea and started a Wednesday night program that we call  LIGHT.  There was nothing particularly special about us.  They are ordinary farmers and construction workers and employees and retirees of various kinds.  The pastor was just your average pastor.  The families in their town average families.  The town is an average town.  There was no particular reason why this program should be any different than many other  flash in the pan programs that have failed in small churches across America a thousand times.  But you know what is happening.  Lives changed, families worshipping together, volunteers serving faithfully.  Why?  Because they were extraordinary?   NO   but because, God is extraordinarily generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously of ourselves.

·                  Little ideas seemed to explode into great witnesses to God’s generosity like this week’s  veterans day dinner that touched so many lives and families. God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously of ourselves.

·                  Or take  the 14 year old who insisted that we needed  a Sunday morning program for children so she started it herself and now 10-15 children learn about and sing about Jesus every week because of her faithfulness and generosity.  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously of ourselves..

·                  You are a generous congregation.  You are so generous that you often exceeded anyone’s wildest imaginations in mission giving,  $1000 to Bidwell, 107 Christmas boxes, dozens of health kits.  $17,000 in one year.  When the roof needed to be fixed it was.  When a parsonage needed to be built it was.  When the church burned it was rebuilt and paid for.  It was not unusual to have a $400 special offering for Ricks house of hope or mosquito nets.  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously.

·                  This is my 4^th year here.  I have noticed that as generous as you are, we  struggle year after year with meeting our regular budget.  Every year is the same story.  We start out strong but then summer hits and by the end of the year we are 7,000- 8,000- 10,000 dollars short.  Some years you did not meet the goal.   Most years you have.  I don’t know how this year will turn out but I know that  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously.

·                  And today we think not only about finishing this year, but what will happen next year?  I don’t want to frame the question in terms of  percent ages and numbers.  I struggled with all kinds of statistics to share with you, and you know what? A person can make statistics say just about anything they want.

I this it is much more important  for us to  take stock of  how wildly, excessively, passionately, outrageously generous God has been to our church and your family.  Think about the wonderful year we have had!  Even if it doesn’t mean much to you personally think about how much is means to those 60 children who attend light and the 24 families who have been touched by LIGHT who never had anything to do with our church before.   Think about the generosity experienced by the families of the active duty service men.  Think about what God ‘s generosity and your generosity means to women being released in Mitchellville.   Think about what God’s generosity and your generosity means to the mother who can put her child under one of our mosquito nets to sleep safely tonight.  Think about how God’s generosity is experienced by those who come to share in the witness of the spring choir concert.  Think about the experience of God’s generosity – that your generosity makes available to lonely, sick, tired, poor, and ashamed neighbors and friends.  Think about how you experience God’s generosity.  And ask yourself how you will share that generosity this coming year.

I do have to share one number with you.  10%.  That is the amount of the tithe.  For all of my adult life  I have been in debt and lived paycheck to paycheck.   I have grown in my generosity since I came here to the point that this year I became a thither for the first time.  When we made the decision to tithe we were still in debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Since we became tithers, we are now completely out of debt and have a little money in the bank.  Now we don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.  I can’t explain it, but I’m grateful.  Grateful every time I experience the outrageous generosity of our wonderful God.

God is wildly, excessively, tremendously generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously.  How will you respond to God’s generosity this year?