Comments for Jim Other sermons.                 

The great spiritual teachers say that there are three ways of giving. The first is called "beggarly giving." This includes the giving of alms, a requirement in many religions and expected behavior in many cultures. You give because you have much and others have little. It is your duty. I remember when Lois and I were rushing through a crowded New Delhi train station, and a quite elderly woman came up to me, pleading for money in a most abject way. My heart went out to her. I extended a ten-rupee note to her. She immediately snatched it out of my hand, her expression changed at once, and off she went in search of another foreigner. I had expected at least a smile, a nod of appreciation, a "thank-you." Nope. But as I reflected on this, it became clear that this was my expectation. A "thank you" would have balanced out the transaction, somehow made us more equal, and made me feel better. But that was my need. The reality was that, in terms of wealth and power, we were unequal. In such cases, in our unfair world, it is our duty to give, and we ought not to expect gratitude. In a Christian Church this kind of giving has its place – helping the homeless, victims of disaster, the poor in our communities and throughout the world. We should not expect thanks. And though it is nice to feel good, we shouldn’t depend on that either. Such giving is a duty.

A second kind of giving can be called "friendly giving." This is when we present gifts to people we like – friends, family, hosts: a bouquet of flowers for a partner, a bottle of wine for a hostess, and all the Christmas giving to dear family members. I love giving gifts to my grandson. The pay-back is seeing his happiness and glee and appreciation. Such giving is a transaction in which both parties win. Appreciation, thanks, and getting a gift back go into this. In a Christian Church this kind of giving takes place when we support programs and projects for which we can see the benefits. It gives us pleasure to see a thriving church school or youth ministry or elders program or wonderful music ministry. What we give comes back to us in ways that obviously benefit us. It is a shared ministry of mutual support.

The spiritual teachers tell us that each of these two kinds of giving is good and necessary and serves valuable purposes. One depends on duty and the other depends of reciprocity. That is, each has its limits. The third way to give is what is called "Royal Giving." It can also be called "sacrificial" giving. It is the giving of all or most of one’s possessions, or one’s sense of self, or one’s actual life. In the Gospel lesson this morning Jesus points to the poor widow who gives away all she has – a total of one penny. For him, she is the model for giving, and the model for true faith.

Remember, several weeks back, the scripture was the story of the rich young ruler. A good guy – devout, law-abiding, and generous. But yet something was missing. He knew eternal life was eluding him. Jesus said, "You lack one thing." What should he do? Jesus said to give everything away and follow him. And the man went away sad, for he had many possessions. The young man had done very well at the first and the second kinds of giving, the beggarly and the friendly, but he couldn’t risk the third kind – the Royal. Often we fret about the impossibility of Jesus’ commands. Who could really be expected to give everything away? But yet, here we find the poor widow doing just that. She did it. And the rich young man couldn’t.

What was the difference between the two? One dared to take the risk of trust, and the other couldn’t. Having money and possessions, and giving them away is not material, it is profoundly spiritual. And Jesus, along with the great spiritual teachers, is simply saying that the kind of giving that really matters spiritually is when you risk. Because you trust God and God’s vision, you step out there. Jesus didn’t say to the young man that he should give everything away to the poor because of the dramatic benefits for the poor of such giving (which would have been obvious enough). He said to the young man, "You must give everything away to the poor, so that you can follow me, so that you can have eternal life." This is not simply giving alms because the poor are needy, or giving to friends we love, or even giving to God for that appreciative pat on the head ("Well done, good and faithful servant!") This is about losing life in order to find it. This is losing one’s life for someone or something much bigger. And the payback is nothing less than real life itself.

There is a story told about the Buddha in one of his previous lives. He was meditating on the edge of a high cliff. He happened to look down and saw a starving mother lion and her cubs. They were suffering and would soon die. Instantly, he threw himself off the cliff, died, and they ate him. He gave his life, and they survived. What was in it for him? In his next life he was one step closer to buddhahood. But the story shows that that outcome wasn’t a calculation on his part. What moved him was his compassion. So great was his compassion that he gave all he had. This should be no surprise us as Christians. Someone once asked Huston Smith, the great scholar of world religions, why God didn’t do anything to stop evil in the world. Smith answered, "He gave up his own Son. What do you want?" Or we could say from another theological angle, "God gave God’s very Self up" to defeat evil, so that we might have life. What more could God do?

We are at the half-way point to the goal of $1.25 million in our Recommitment Campaign. This close on the heels of a remarkable capital campaign, two stunningly successful stewardship campaigns, and some very good special giving. Giving to this campaign reduces our debt and creates more space in our current budget for program and mission. We can all be very proud of this. I am. But at the same time I am hearing, "We’re tired. Our giving is maxed out. We gave our ‘once in a lifetime’ gift. Now it’s up to somebody else. We recognize that we haven’t completed our building program. There is phase two. But why don’t we just wait a little bit until we have more energy. And maybe the market will pick up soon." And at the same time I hear people say, "We cut mission in order to balance the operating budget. Let’s restore that before we put anymore money into the building." Have you heard these thoughts expressed? I would in no way treat such feelings with insensitivity or disrespect. If someone says "I am tired. I am maxed out. Leave me be," then my, or anyone’s response, has to be "I respect what you are saying. How can we help you take care of yourself?" But let me speak for myself. I get a little uneasy when people begin sentences with the pronoun "We." I would expect that anyone who has been in Marriage Enrichment or Couples Communication would agree with me that we should always speak for ourselves. So I’ll only speak for myself. I am not tired. Not at all. I feel energized (Maybe it’s all that meditation I’ve been doing). I marvel that anyone could attend last Sunday’s All Saints Communion Service and not feel totally energized. I am not tired. My giving hasn’t maxed out. I don’t think it’s a choice between the building and mission and program at all. I believe in phase II of the building project. I think we should get on with it as soon as we can. I don’t want to see it put off. Personally, I want what got started on my watch completed on my watch. I want everybody to share that excitement and help make it happen. And I am excited by the new energy coming out of the Board for Social Witness.

There is this wonderful quote from Rabbi Hillel that, to me, says it all:

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I am not for others, what am I?

And if not now, when?

And if I don’t lift the weight, who will become strong?

It is entirely possible for CCC to have a balanced budget, to maintain or even expand staff, to restore and enlarge the mission budget, and to proceed with phrase II in a timely fashion. Is this impossible? Of course not. But if our giving is more like that of the rich young ruler than the courageous widow, it becomes a lot harder. Jesus said to him, "You lack one thing. One thing only." Look at her. She trusted and she risked. And in that trust and in that risk she found eternal life. AMEN.

Return to CCC Home Page