The Boldness of Giving

Acts 4:32-35

Psalm 133

         Here we are, the first week after Easter.  We made through Holy Week.  We walked in the path of Jesus’ last days.  We shared in the Last Supper, mourned his horrific death on the cross, sat in vigil, praised the fact that Jesus became and is our risen Savior.  What a long and moving week! 

         What we sometime lose is that Easter is not just a once a year anniversary, but a specific time in the year of the church.  This is a time when we celebrate not only the day that Jesus conquered the grave, but a celebration of the weeks that Jesus spent on Earth until His Ascension to Heaven.  We also celebrate all that He still is.

         If we look at the reading from Acts, we see some of what the early Christian community looked like.  It was a gathering of many different people who were all different.  There were Gentile and Jew; rich and poor. However, everyone looked out for each other and everyone had enough.  We are told that the rich sold everything they had and gave it to the community and it was distributed to each as they had need.

         They laid their proceeds at the feet of the disciples, which was important because not only was the money being used for everyone, but it showed how much faith there was in the disciples to do what was right.   

         Can you imagine a place where everyone was satisfied with less, so they can all be on the same level?  A place where everyone was equal with the purpose of helping each other out?  A community where no one is trying to be ahead of another?  A place where everyone is gathered together in the joy and love of God?

         Of course, like most of the stories in the Bible, this was something that worked for a specific time, but we can learn from this ideal, and strive to be people who are able to give boldly, or should I say, more boldly, because this room is filled with people who give of themselves.  The people in this room give their money, their presence, and their knowledge in many different ways every day.

          I have been overwhelmed, sometimes to tears, at all the giving that goes on at this church.  For those who are visiting besides the weekly offering at this church there are several times a year they volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.  There are special collections for Heifer International.  There was drives for needy children at Christmas time, and the youth groups collected and distributed over 650 items of warm clothing for the homeless in Boston, just to name a few.  This is a church with outreach as their main goal, and it shows!

         I have also been overwhelmed at the giving that the Free-Masons do.  They donate over 2 ½ Million Dollars a day to charity. They are consistently one of the biggest groups to give blood annually.  There are all kinds of medical equipment, like beds, wheel chair, walkers, that are available to anyone who needs it. Their Child Identification program has been recognized by the FBI as one of the most complete and best programs of its type in the US.  These are just a few examples of the work that is done by the Masons.

         I bring this up because there are similarities between the first Christians and us. We are people who strive to help others when we can.  This is as important today as it was back then.  In a time when the gap between the rich and poor has become a chasm that is so deep and wide that there is no hope at crossing to the other side, we must be able to help whenever and wherever we can. 

The Early Christians, as well as us, are people who are dealing with money and how to use it to survive and to help others.   True the options open to us are much different than those of the early Christians, but at the root, the problem is the same.  How can we help others and take care of ourselves and families at the same time?

         We are people caught between two worlds.  One world tells us that we need to have the biggest and the best.  The person with the most toys wins.  We need to look out for ourselves above others.  The other world tells us that we need to live as simply as we can and give everything away to others. Or concerns should be for others, especially those who are less fortunate than us.

         Like most of life, the answer is somewhere in between these two poles.  We live in a world where we need money.  This is how our society works, for better or worse.    

I was at the Massachusetts Conference meeting in Sturbridge last summer and went to a breakout session about the suggested guidelines for what to pay a UCC minister in our conference.  With the exception of two other seminarians who, like me, were looking for information, everyone else was upset that ministers were being paid too much, especially in this time of recession.  Shouldn’t it be the minister’s place to care over the congregation, no matter what?

The facilitator answered this protest with a simple proposed agreement.  He said that if the congregation he served could convince the doctor’s office, grocery store, his daughter’s college, etc. to accept prayer as a form of payment, he would be their minister for free.  While this doesn’t solve the problem of how to pay for the minister, and other things for the church, I think it demonstrates the fact that we are all standing with a foot in two different worlds, and have to figure out how to reconcile them to each other.

         We are in a world where money is important.  We seem to have less than we need, but more than many others.  How can we donate boldly, if we are not sure we can make ends meet in our own houses?  How can we continue to give to the church and other worthy places when we are concerned with the rising price of, well everything, never mind give more this year than we did last year?

         This is hard for many of us, because we are not spending extravagantly; some of us are struggling to pay the bills that we do have.  It is easy for us to say that we will cut out a night of eating out and give that money away, but much harder if we don’t eat out often at all.    

What we need to do is find that spark inside us, the spark that we have because we are anointed like Aaron, but instead of oil, we are anointed with blessings from God. 

In the Psalm we herd today, Aaron was anointed with so much oil that it poured down his head, into his beard, and onto the collar of his robes.  In the time when this Psalm was written, this was a symbol of blessing and hospitality.

We are anointed because Jesus did rise from the dead.  We are bathed in this blessing from God.  Jesus was most hospitable example, as he laid down his life for us. 

         This is what the people who were able to give in this community did.  They gave as Jesus gave. They gave without looking for anything back.  They gave all they had.  They gave boldly. 

What we need to do is change the way we look at how we give.  When we wright a check to the church for our pledge, is it just another one of the bills we pay? Are we donating out of a feeling of requirement, or is it out of the joy we feel from being able to help those who are less fortunate than we are? To be fair, it might be a combination of the two.

I had time to meet with the youth groups before we distributed the clothing to the homeless and we talked a lot about helping people.  The conclusion that we came to was this, that you are uplifted by uplifting others.  Another way of putting this is one I hear around my Masonic lodge when new members join.  You get more back than you put in, that isn’t the reason you put yourself in, but it feels great all the same.

There is a reason God made us in a way where we feel good when we make others feel good.  It is our bonus for living like how God wants us to live.  It is not the reason we help others, but it is an unavoidable side effect of doing God’s work.  No matter how hard the task; No  matter how far we go out of our way; No matter how much we sacrifice; if we can give boldly, our reward will be far greater what we give.  That is what was understood by the Early Christians.  That is our legacy, to always strive to be better, not just for ourselves, not just for our communities, but because we are able to glorify God because of the blessings that we have received from God, flowing down our heads, encompassing our whole being.  How could we not be people who are able to help others, when we have so much?

Let us pray,

Dear Supreme Architect of the Universe, we come to you as people who are trying to find our way in two worlds.  Help us to keep you with us as we attempt to live our lives as examples to others.  We strive to take the gifts that you have given us and share them with all we meet.  May our service to others by way of out our treasures, talents, and time be pleasing to you and all we are able to affect, Amen.